Why David Sometimes Wins : Leadership, Organization, and Strategy in the California Farm Worker Movement

Why David Sometimes Wins tells the story of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers' groundbreaking victory, drawing important lessons from this dramatic tale. Since the 1900s, large-scale agricultural enterprises relied on migrant labor--a cheap, unorganized, and powerless workforce. In 1965, when some 800 Filipino grape workers began to strike under the aegis of the AFL-CIO, the UFW soon joined the action with 2,000 Mexican workers and turned the strike into a civil rights struggle. They engaged in civil disobedience, mobilized support from churches and students, boycotted growers, and transformed their struggle into La Causa, a farm workers' movement that eventually triumphed over the grape industry's Goliath. Why did they succeed? How can the powerless challenge the powerful successfully? Offering insight from a longtime movement organizer and scholar, Ganz illustrates how they had the ability and resourcefulness to devise good strategy and turn short-term advantages into long-term gains. Authoritative in scholarship and magisterial in scope, this book constitutes a seminal contribution to learning from the movement's struggles, set-backs, and successes."A brilliant new book."-Peter Dreier, The Nation"Why David Sometimes Wins is an exceptional book that will be of widespread interest to scholars and activists alike."-Howard Kimeldorf, American Journal of Sociology"This book is a must read for organizers. The analysis of how a small and poor, but motivated, group of workers triggered a social movement provides invaluable lessons on what to do and not do as we struggle with the challenges of the 21st century."-Andy Stern, President, Service Employees International Union "How does David defeat Goliath and, equally important, avoid becoming Goliath? The answer is to develop strategic capacity, an ongoing interactive process of experimentation, learning, and adapting. This fascinating book shows how Cesar Chavez and the UFW created and then lost its strategic capacity-an important lesson on leadership and organization."-Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Harvard University "Through unforgettable and compelling stories, Marshall Ganz convincingly shows how we need not wait for the right time in history, but how we can all participate in making history together and how the resources to do so can be found in one another. Why David Sometimes Wins will enter the canon of readings on social change. Get this book. Read it. Use it!"-Gerald Torres, co-author of The Miner's Canary This work tells the story of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers' groundbreaking victory, drawing important lessons from this dramatic tale. Since the 1900s, large scale agricultural enterprises relied on migrant labor, a cheap, unorganized, and powerless workforce. In 1965, when some 800 Filipino grape workers began to strike under the aegis of the AFL-CIO, the UFW soon joined the action with 2,000 Mexican workers and turned the strike into a civil rights struggle. They engaged in civil disobedience, mobilized support from churches and students, boycotted growers, and transformed their struggle into La Causa, a farm workers' movement that eventually triumphed over the grape industry's Goliath. Why did they succeed? How can the powerless challenge the powerful successfully? Offering insight from a longtime movement organizer and scholar, the author illustrates how they had the ability and resourcefulness to devise good strategy and turn short term advantages into long term gains. This book constitutes a seminal contribution to learning from the movement's struggles, set backs, and successes; it is a lens through which to explore the reasons why the powerless sometimes win against the powerful

Why David Sometimes Wins tells the story of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers' groundbreaking victory, drawing important lessons from this drametic tale. Since the 1900s, large-scale agricultural enterprises relied on migrant labor-a cheap, unorganized, and powerless workforce. In 1965, when some 800 Filipino grape workers began to strike under the aegis of the AFL-CIO, the UFW soon joined the action with 2,000 Mexican workers and turned the strike into a civil rights struggle. They engaged in civil disobedience, mobilized support from churches and students, boycotted growers, and transformed their struggle into La Causa, a farm workers's movement that eventually triumphed over the grape industry's Goliath. Why did they succeed? How can the powerless challenge the powerful successfully? Offering insight from a longtime movement organizer and scholar, Ganz illustrates how they had the ability and resourcefulness to devise good strategy and turn short-term advantages into long-term gains. Authoritative in scholarship and magisterial in scope, this book constitutes a seminal contribution to learning from the movement's struggles, set-backs, and successes.

Contents......Page 14 Abbreviations......Page 16 ONE: Introduction: How David Beat Goliath......Page 22 TWO: Beginnings: Immigrants, Radicals, and the AFL (1900–1959)......Page 42 THREE: New Opportunities, New Initiatives: AWOC, Teamsters, and the FWA (1959–1962)......Page 72 FOUR: A Storm Gathers: Two Responses (1963–1965)......Page 112 FIVE: The Great Delano Grape Strike (1965–1966)......Page 138 SIX: Meeting the Counterattack: DiGiorgio, the Teamsters, and UFWOC (1966)......Page 186 SEVEN: Launching a New Union (1966–1967)......Page 220 Epilogue......Page 258 Appendix......Page 274 Notes......Page 296 References......Page 336 B......Page 356 C......Page 357 G......Page 358 K......Page 359 N......Page 360 S......Page 361 U......Page 362 Z......Page 363 Preface. 1. Introduction: How David Beat Goliath. 2. Beginnings: Immigrants, Radicals, and the AFL (1900-1959). 3. New Opportunities, New Initiatives: (1959-1962). 4. A Storm Gathers: Two Responses (1963-1965). 5. The Great Delano Grape Strike (1965-1966). 6. Meeting the Counter-Attack (1966). 7. Launching a New Union (1966-1967). Epilogue. Appendix. Notes. References. Index In this work, Marshall Ganz tells the story of the United Farm Worker's ground-breaking victory in 1966, drawing out larger lessons from this dramatic tale. A longtime leader in the movement and current lecturer in public policy at Harvard, he offers unique insight.