In a synthetic review, the authors present the social structure and economic situation of the agrarian sector in the Slovene provinces before the First World War. The sector was affected by the land release, which definitively abolished feudalism, as well as a rapid industrialization and urbanization. The Slovene Social Democratic Party in general showed little concern for the Slovene peasantry and their rapidly worsening social condition, except for a few members who demanded that the Party be more sensitive and active among the rural population. However, this was never put into action, apart from some rare cases of cooperation between workers and peasants at local level.