The National Federation of Sharecroppers (Italian: Federazione Nazionale Coloni e Mezzadri, Federmezzadri) was a trade union representing agricultural workers who farmed a piece of land in exchange for paying a share of their income to its owner.
It was affiliated to the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), which was keen for the union to distinguish between agricultural labourers and sharecroppers, due to their differing rights and economic positions.
Officially founded at a conference in Siena, it represented agricultural workers who fell into two specific legal positions, "mezzadri" and "coloni", both of which can be loosely translated as "sharecroppers".
Unlike other CGIL unions, Federmezzadri retained most of its social and Christian democratic members.
[2] By 1954, the union had 543,806 members,[3] but this gradually fell, as left-wing government encouraged people to move away from sharecropping to other forms of employment contract.