VLVL PR3 and "the Movement"

[Terrance]

> 
> Were any of those bottles of wine in the hotel rooms Frenesi slept in,
> the one in the fantasy about Weed and Rex, California wines, made with
> grapes picked by workers in the valley.

"Never?" asked a local TV interviewer once, somewhere back in the San
Joaquin. VL195.15-16


UFW tactics and strategy at Delano mirrored Chavez's personal
philosophy. Profoundly
impacted by both Gandhi and Dr. King, he had come to embrace the
philosophy of
militant nonviolence. Like his two renowned mentors, Chavez, a devout
Catholic, was
against violence on principle; but he also realized, as they did, that
violence was
elf-defeating when directed at a power with a monopoly on armed force.
On the other
hand, the idea of turning the other cheek, while praiseworthy as a
Christian ideal, was
calculated to preserve the status quo. It was essential, he felt, that
the oppressed unite and assert themselves, using a variety of strategies
to gain their ends. In the case of farm workers, those objectives were
better working conditions, including higher wages, and recognition of
their union. Unlike many other militants of the time, Chavez believed
that the American middle class was basically responsive to the needs of
poor people and would support them if given the opportunity.







During the long struggle, Chavez recruited help from various disparate
sources. These
included the trade union movement, especially the AFL-CIO, with which he
affiliated in
1966; Christian organizations, both Protestant and Catholic; radical
student
associations, including the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); and
other civil
rights groups. Aside from alliances, he relied, too, on demonstrations,
prayer sessions,
marches, and fasts. His basic tactic was the strike, the huelga, the
time-honored weapon
of organized labor. Eventually, though, he discovered that a work
stoppage had limited
potential in small agricultural towns like Delano, where powerful
growers could
generally count on the support of the local citizenry, including the
Mexican petite
bourgeoisie, and even many of the farm workers themselves. Beginning in
1968, Chavez
came to rely on the boycott, a consumer strike, which meant that his
success would
depend to a large extent on winning support in urban areas throughout
the country. His
boycott of nonunion grapes in 1968-1975, the first nationwide boycott of
any kind, was
highly successful