What is "statare"

Statare were married farmworkers in Sweden who received payment primarily in kind. The name also comes from the Swedish word for payment in kind: stat. The system existed mainly in southern Sweden and reached its maximum extent in the late 19th century. Thereafter the system gradually declined until it was formally abolished in 1945.

These agricultural laborers were generally viewed as being on the lowest rungs of Swedish society. Their lives were described by prominent Swedish novelists and writers such as Ivar Lo-Johansson, Jan Fridegård and Moa Martinson.