The United Farm Workers Was More Than Cesar Chavez
The United Farm Workers is often seen as a simple extension of labor giant Cesar Chavez. But the UFW’s rank-and-file workers were a militant, organized core that won inspiring strikes and formed the true heart of the union.
Protesters and supporters march during the United Farm Workers’ 1,000 Mile March in California, summer 1975. (Cathy Murphy / Getty Images)
Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers (UFW) may seem synonymous. The charismatic leader headed up the union through strikes and boycotts that garnered nationwide attention and made him a labor icon.
But as former farmworker Frank Bardacke argues in his book, Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers, the history of the UFW needs to be understood from the bottom up. Rather than focusing solely on Chavez, Bardacke spotlights the UFW’s militant rank and file, who brought their own radical traditions to the union and clashed with union staff in ways that shaped the organization’s fate.
Radical journalist Sasha Lilley interviewed Bardacke on the California-based radio show Against the Grain about his book, life as a farmworker, and the rise and fall of the UFW.
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