Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers

Abstract

Although there is yet no major and definitive biography of César Chàvez, several studies of the farm workers movement and the rise of the United Farm Workers of America (ufw) during the 1960s and 1970s have recently been published. These new studies go beyond the glory years of the union when Chàvez and key co-leaders such as Dolores Huerta accomplished what had never been done before: successfully organize farm workers in this country. Chàvez showed that despite major opposition from growers and their political allies, including rival unions such as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, it could be done (and from this grew his famous mantra “Si, se puede” [Yes, we can]). These newer studies examine the later 1970s and into the 1980s when the ufw lost membership due to attrition or internal differences, and when it also became more difficult to sustain new boycott initiatives that had helped achieve the earlier victories. These exposés reveal a different Chàvez and a different ufw—a darker side composed of major strategic mistakes and a failure of leadership.