It had originally been called the Union centrale des syndicats agricoles (UCSA) but in 1934 changed its name to the Union nationale at the same time as Jacques Le Roy Ladurie, a landowner who had led the dynamic Calvados syndicat became secretary-general.
In 1934 the UNSA joined with other groups to form Front paysan, of which Le Roy Ladurie was the General Secretary, of which the quasi-fascist Greenshirts of Henry Dorgères were also members.
[2] The weekly Syndicats paysans, co-edited by Salleron and Le Roy Ladurie, first appeared on 1 July 1937.
[3] They were opposed to the Popular Front government which they believed aimed at the eventual collectivisation of farms and in June 1938 Le Roy Ladurie and his ally Alain de Chantérac were arrested for leading a peasant rally in Castres.
[6] During the Vichy Government the UNSA became subsumed by the short lived Peasant Corporation which transformed after the war into the Fédération nationale des syndicats d'exploitants agricoles (FNSEA).