Editing Cesar Chavez (section)

==Later activism==

===Salinas Lettuce Strike: 1970–1971===
[[File:National Farm Workers Association protest buttons.png|thumb|right|National Farm Workers Association buttons advertising their campaigns]]

In July 1970, the Grower-Shipper Association representing lettuce growing companies in California's [[Salinas Valley]] renegotiated its contracts with the Teamsters, allowing the latter union to represent their employees.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=71|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=214}} Chavez was angry at this, traveling to Salinas to talk with the lettuce cutters, many of whom were dissatisfied with the way that the Teamsters represented them.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=215–216}} In August, thousands of cutters marched into Salinas, converging at [[Hartnell College]] where Chavez addressed them.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=216}} Rallying against the Teamsters, he emphasized that their union was run by white people, in contrast to the largely non-white makeup of the lettuce cutters.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=215}} There, the cutters voted to go on strike.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=216}} Over the coming days, many of them joined the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=216}} Chavez decided that the strike should initially target the valley's largest lettuce grower, [[Interharvest]], which was owned by the [[United Fruit Company]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=216}} Seeking to avoid industrial action, the Teamsters set up a meeting with Chavez, where they eventually reached an agreement. The Teamsters agreed to relinquish their contracts with the Grower-Shipper Association, opening the way for the Salinas lettuce cutters to choose the UFW as their representative.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=217}}

The Salinas lettuce growers secured a temporary restraining order preventing a strike, at which Chavez initiated another protest fast.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=217}} Amid a ten-day truce, he reached an agreement with Interharvest but not the other Salinas growers.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=75|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=218}} Thus, the strike against them began on August 24, when cutters started picketing the lettuce fields.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=218}} Lettuce production slumped by three quarters and prices of lettuces doubled.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=218}} Various restraining orders were issued against the picketers, and when they broke them they were fined; the UFW paid many of these, as well as financially supporting the strikers in other ways.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=219}} This proved expensive for the union, and Chavez decided that the pickets could not be maintained. Instead he decided to switch towards a boycott of Salinas lettuce.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=219}} Chavez selected the [[Bud Antle]] company as the first target of the boycott campaign.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=221}}

Bud Antle secured an injunction legally preventing a boycott against them, but Chavez continued regardless.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=221–222}} Due to this, Chavez was charged, found guilty of [[contempt of court]], and sentenced to ten days imprisonment in the Monterey County jail.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=73|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=222–223}} During Chavez's imprisonment, supporters held a round-the-clock vigil outside the jail.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=73|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=224}} Among those who visited him were Martin Luther King's widow [[Coretta Scott King]],{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=226}} and Robert Kennedy's widow, [[Ethel Kennedy]]. She took part in a rally which included a Roman Catholic Mass; it was opposed by a group of local counter-protesters who opposed the concentration of leftist activism in their community.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=224}} These events attracted national media attention.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=224, 225}} Soon after, the California Supreme Court voted to dissolve key aspects of Bud Antle's injunction and ordered Chavez's release.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=227}}

Chavez wanted a more remote base for his movement than Forty Acres, especially one where he could experiment with his ideas about communal living.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=229}} To this end, the Hollywood movie producer [[Edward Lewis (producer)|Edward Lewis]], a wealthy supporter of Chavez's, fronted the purchase of an old tuberculosis sanatorium in [[Keene, California|Keene]], along the foothills of the [[Tehachapi Mountains]], for the union.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=229–230}} Chavez named this new base Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz ("Our Lady Queen of Peace"), although it became commonly known just as "La Paz".{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=74|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=230}} Renovating the existing buildings,{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=230}} he invited various families to come and live there.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=233}} In creating this commune, he drew on Gandhi's experiments with ''[[ashram]]s'' in India;{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=233}} he envisioned it as a retreat center where workers could come for three day retreats modeled on the Roman Catholic ''[[cursillo]]''.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=230}} La Paz became the union's new headquarters, something that various backers and funders were critical of due to its remote location;{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=235}} Chavez said that this was necessary for his security, particularly following allegations of a plot against his life.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=236}} At night, the perimeter of the commune was patrolled by armed guards.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=236–237}} The organization at La Paz was often chaotic, with frustrated detractors in the movement referring to it as "Magic Mountain".{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=282}} Amid his growing frustrations with Chavez's leadership, Itliong resigned in October 1971.{{sfnm|1a1=Zerzan|1y=1972|1p=127|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=253}}

===Expanding beyond California: 1972===
[[File:Phoenix-Santa Rita Hall-1962-1.JPG|250px|thumb|right|The Santa Rita Hall was used as a meeting place for a local Chicano group; Chavez undertook his Arizona fast there.]]

Arizona became the first state to pass a bill that was designed to keep the UFW out of their state; this would criminalize boycotts and make union elections among farm-workers almost impossible.{{sfnm|1a1=Street|1y=1996|1p=374|2a1=Bruns|2y=2005|2p=77|3a1=Pawel|3y=2014|3p=239}} In response, Chavez drove to Arizona and demanded a meeting with [[Governor of Arizona|Governor]] [[Jack Williams (American politician)|Jack Williams]], who refused.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=77|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=239, 240}} They subsequently launched a campaign to gain a recall election to remove Williams from office.{{sfnm|1a1=Street|1y=1996|1pp=374–375|2a1=Bruns|2y=2005|2p=78|3a1=Pawel|3y=2014|3p=241}} This started the UFW's first major farm-worker campaign outside California.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=239}} Farmworkers rallied outside Williams' office while Chavez embarked on a fast in the [[Santa Rita Center]], a hall used by a local [[Chicano]] group.{{sfnm|1a1=Street|1y=1996|1p=375|2a1=Bruns|2y=2005|2p=77|3a1=Pawel|3y=2014|3p=240}}<ref name="Shaw, R. 2008 p.92">Shaw, R. (2008) ''Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and the struggle for justice in the 21st century'' University of California Press, p. 92.</ref> On the nineteenth day of his fast, Chavez was hospitalized.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=241}} He then broke the fast at a memorial Mass on the anniversary of Robert Kennedy's death, where he was joined by the folk singer [[Joan Baez]].{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=7|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=241–242}} It was during the Arizona campaign that the UFW started using the slogan "Si Se Puede" ("It Can be Done"), which subsequently became closely associated with it.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=78|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=241}}

Chavez increasingly pushed for the UFW to become a national organization, with a token presence being established in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Texas, and Florida.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=244}} Parts of the union expressed concern that it was now overstretching its resources.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=244}} Chavez also pushed for the [[California Migrant Ministry]], which supported the UFW, to transform into a [[National Farm Worker Ministry]] (NFWM), insisting that the UFW should have the power to veto decisions made by the NFWM.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=242}}

At the AFL-CIO's request, Chavez had suspended the Salinas lettuce boycott, but prepared to relaunch it eight months later as the growers had only conceded to one of their demands.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=244–245}} Tensions grew between the UFW and AFL-CIO, with the latter's president [[George Meany]] concerned that if the UFW broke [[National Labor Relations Act of 1935|the law]] by extending its boycott to cover supermarket chains then the AFL-CIO could be held liable.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=245}} As a result, Chavez formally requested a charter so that the UFW could become an independently chartered union separate from the AFL-CIO; he was loath to do so as it meant losing the AFL-CIO's subsidy.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=245}}

While Chavez had been focusing on Salinas, his brother Richard had been tasked with overseeing the UFW's activities in Delano. In early 1972, Richard visited Chavez and confronted him about the problems in Delano, telling him that the union was losing support among farmworkers and that they were in danger of losing the contracts when they came up for renewal.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=251}} In Richard's opinion, Chavez was losing touch with the union's membership.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=251}} There was anger that members were expected to pay monthly dues to the union when their work was usually seasonal;{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=249–250}} there was also frustration at the union's $1-a-week voluntary fund to support the Salinas strikers.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=251}} Part of the membership thought that Chavez's new isolation at La Paz was leading him to take decisions unpopular with the farmworkers.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=251}} There were concerns about the inept and inexperienced volunteers, mostly English-speaking European-Americans, who were running the UFW's hiring halls;{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=254}} growers were complaining that these volunteers were often hostile and uncooperative.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=254–255}} Union branches had been ordering members to miss work to engage in political rallies and Salinas picket lines, further angering growers.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=255–256}} Chavez responded to these criticisms by reassigning his brother away from Delano.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=253}} In late 1972, Richard and Huerta, his partner at the time, briefly left the UFW in frustration with Chavez's leadership.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=257}} Other senior members continued to warn Chavez about the same issues that Richard did, but Chavez dismissed their concerns as grower propaganda.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=253}}

[[File:CAESAR CHAVEZ, MIGRANT WORKERS UNION LEADER - NARA - 544069.tif|thumb|left|Chavez photographed in 1972]]

California growers then organized a ballot on Proposition 22 for November 1972 which would ban boycott campaigns in the state.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=245}} Chavez tasked [[LeRoy Chatfield]] with running the campaign against it; at the ballot, Proposition 22 lost by 58 percent to 42 percent.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=246}}
In April 1973, the UFW's contact with grape growers in the Delano area expired.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=260}} At this, Chavez called a strike in the Coachella Valley.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=261}} The Teamsters union saw this as an opportunity to replace the UFW in representing the region's farmworkers.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=258–259}} The Teamsters organized counter-protests; their picketers were often armed and violent clashes between members of the two unions broke out.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1pp=81–82|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=261}} The UFW used these instances of Teamster violence to rally public support for their cause.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=262, 264–265}} The AFL-CIO was concerned by this clash between unions, and Meany struck a deal with Chavez that they would provide the UFW with renewed financial support if it pushed for state legislation to govern the rights of farmworkers to organize. Chavez agreed; although he did not want such a law and he thought that Governor Reagan would never agree to it anyway.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=263}} The AFL-CIO gave the UFW $1.6 million, allowing the latter to pay Salinas picketers $75 and later $90 a week.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=265}}

Amid the Delano strike, one of the UFW strikers, the [[Yemeni people|Yemeni]] migrant Nagi Moshin Daifullah, died after an altercation with a police officer breaking up a bar-room fight. The UFW portrayed Daifullah as a martyr for the cause and over 5000 people marched at his funeral, with Chavez fasting for three days.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=83|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=269–270}} Chavez then called off the Delano strike, stating that he would do so until the federal government guaranteed the safety of UFW protesters; the government believed that this was a cover to conceal the financial problems that the strike was causing the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=271}} By this point, the UFW had lost much of its membership, and most of its California contracts, to the Teamsters.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1pp=83–84|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=271}} Many farmworkers found that while the Teamsters appeared less interested in workers' rights, they did not expect their employees to spend their weekends on political campaigns and boycotts as the UFW did.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=251}}

===Immigration and legislative campaigns: 1973–1975===
[[File:Cesar chavez2.jpg|thumb|right|Chavez speaking at a 1974 UFW rally in Delano, California]]

In September 1973, the UFW's first constitutional convention was held in Fresno, representing the final step in the organization becoming a full union.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=273–274}} A new constitution was announced that gave the group's president, a post occupied by Chavez, significant powers; he feared that greater democracy would paralyze the group.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=275}} At the convention, the UFW agreed to scrap monthly membership fees in favor of charging members 2 percent of their annual income.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=276}} It also announced that volunteers who had worked for the UFW for more than six months could become members with voting rights. Previously, membership had been restricted primarily to farmworkers.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=276}} The new executive committee, which included Huerta and Richard Chavez, was racially mixed, although some members expressed dissatisfaction that it did not contain more Mexican Americans.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=276–277}}  By 1974, the UFW was again broke and its boycott was floundering.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=286}} That year, ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' opened with a headline: "Is Chavez Beaten?".{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=285}} Chavez flew to Europe to urge the unions there to block the imported goods that the UFW were sending there. He traveled through London, Oslo, Stockholm, Geneva, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Brussels, and Paris, although he found that the unions were cautious about joining his campaign.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=286–287}} In Rome, he met with [[Pope Paul VI]], who commended his activism.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=287}}

Chavez increasingly blamed the failure of the UFW strike on [[illegal immigration|illegal immigrants]] who were brought in as strikebreakers.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=293}} He made the unsubstantiated claim that the CIA was involved in part of a conspiracy to bring illegal migrants into the country so that they could undermine his union.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=313–314}} He launched the "Illegals Campaign" to identify illegal migrants so that they could be deported, appointing Liza Hirsch to oversee the campaign.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=293}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/strawberryfields0000well|url-access=registration|quote=ufw undocumented.|title=Strawberry Fields: Politics, Class, and Work in California Agriculture|first=Miriam J.|last=Wells|pages=[https://archive.org/details/strawberryfields0000well/page/89 89]–90|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=New York|year=1996|isbn=978-0801482793}}</ref> In Chavez's view, "if we can get the illegals out of California, we will win the strike overnight."{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=294}} This was a reiteration of an early view he expressed concerning the problems the UFW boycott faced in 1972. Chavez believed that any strike undertaken by agricultural workers could be undermined by "wetbacks" and "illegal immigrants".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/189746|title=Chavez explains the need for boycotts - Bay Area Television Archive|website=diva.sfsu.edu}}</ref> Huerta urged him not to refer to migrants who had come to the U.S. illegally as "illegals" but Chavez refused, stating: "a spade's a spade."{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=294}} Some UFW field offices refused to collaborate with the campaign,{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=294}} and the [[National Lawyers Guild]] (NLG) refused to allow its interns to work on it, at which Chavez cut the UFW's links with the NLG.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=294}}

{{Quote box
| quote = Chavez pulled up to my Laurel Canyon house in an old car with a German shepherd dog named Huelga—Spanish for strike. We talked for several hours about whether the proposed state law or any labor law could actually help farm workers. Chavez repeatedly said that his boycott was a much better organizing tool because the law would always be corrupted by the powerful economic interests that control politics. I argued with him and said that a law would be his best protection. He finally agreed but remained skeptical.
| source=— Jerry Brown on his relationship with Chavez{{sfn|Bruns|2005|p=67}}
| align = left
| width = 25em
}}

While Chavez had been in Europe, his cousin Manuel Chavez had established a UFW patrol, or "wet line", along [[United States-Mexico border|Arizona's border with Mexico]] to stop illegal migrants crossing into the United States.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=288}} There were rumors that this patrol was employing violence against these migrants, beating and robbing them and in one case castrating a man. These allegations soon appeared in the local press.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=288–289}} A Mexican investigation determined that the UFW had bribed [[San Luis, Arizona|San Luis]] city officials to prevent them from interfering in these activities along the border.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=290}} A Mexican union, the [[Confederation of Mexican Workers]], broke its links with the UFW over the issue.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=289}} Chavez dismissed the reports of violence as the smears of paid provocateurs,{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=293}} a claim which many of his supporters accepted.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=295}} Chavez protected Manuel,{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=291–292}} while the executive board kept silent on his activities, regarding him as useful.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=292}} The Chicano activist [[Bert Corona]] staged a protest against the UFW wet line, at which Chavez directed Jerry Cohen to launch an investigation into the funding of Corona's group.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=294}}

In 1974, Chavez proposed the idea of a Poor People's Union with which he could reach out to poor white communities in the San Joaquin Valley who were largely hostile to the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=296–297}} Meanwhile, the UFW announced that it would launch a boycott of the [[E & J Gallo Winery|Gallo Wine]] company.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=303}} In February 1975, the UFW organized a four-day march from San Francisco to the Gallo headquarters in Modesto, where a crowd of around 10,000 protesters amassed.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1pp=87, 89|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=304}} The Modesto march had been a means of trying to rekindle the successes of the late 1960s and a public display of strength despite the setbacks that the UFW had experienced.{{sfn|Bruns|2005|p=87}}

In November 1974, the Democratic Party's candidate, the [[Modern liberalism in the United States|modern liberal]] [[Jerry Brown]], was elected governor of California.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=88|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=302}} At this point, farm-worker's rights took center stage in the state's political agenda.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=302}} Chavez met with Brown and together they developed a strategy: Brown would introduce a bill to improve farmworkers' rights, at which the UFW would support a more radical alternative. Brown would then negotiate a law with other stakeholders that included all the UFW's bottom lines.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=305–306}} The purpose of this law would be to guarantee farmworkers the right to a secret ballot in which they could decide which union, if any, should represent them in their negotiations with their employer.{{sfn|Bruns|2005|p=89}} Brown signed the [[California Agricultural Labor Relations Act]] (ALRA) into law in June 1975.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=91|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=307}} This was widely seen as a UFW victory, as California now had the most favorable labor bill in the country.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=308}} Chavez nevertheless worried that it would kill the movement's spirit, stating that the cause would now lose "the essential fight of recognition, which is the one that appeals to the human mind and the heart", instead focusing on more prosaic issues such as wages and benefits.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=308}}

===Proposition 14: 1976–1977===
[[File:Democratic Convention in New York City, July 14, 1976. Cesar Chavez at podium, nominating Gov. Brown.jpg|thumb|Chavez placing Jerry Brown's name for nomination during the roll call vote at the 1976 Democratic National Convention]]

The ALRA law created a state agency, the [[California Agricultural Labor Relations Board]] (ALRB), to oversee union elections among farmworkers.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=312}} Brown appointed a five-person board to lead the ALRB which was sympathetic to Chavez; it included the former UFW official LeRoy Chatfield.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=312}} As the UFW prepared for the elections in the fields, Chavez organized a "1000 mile march" from the San Diego border up the coast in July 1975.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=311, 315}} During the march, he stopped to attend the second UFW convention.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=316}} For the campaign, the UFW hired 500 organizers, many of them farmworkers.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=318}} The UFW won more elections than it lost, although in instances where it went head-to-head with the Teamsters, the latter beat the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=320}} This indicated that the UFW's greatest strengths were among vegetable and citrus growers, rather than in their original heartlands of the Delano vineyards.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=321}} The Teamster victories in the Delano vineyards angered Chavez, who insisted that there had not been free elections there.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=318–319}} Chavez criticised the ALRB and launched a targeted campaign against [[Walter Kintz]], the ALRB's general counsel, demanding his resignation. He also put pressure on Governor Brown to remove Kintz.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=319}}

UFW organizers moved to follow their electoral victories by signing contracts with the growers;{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=321}} the UFW needed these contracts to stabilize its finances.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=326}} Meanwhile, to develop the UFW's administration, Chavez hired the management consultant [[Crosby Milne]], whose ideas led to a restructuring of the union. These reforms further centralized the union's powers among the executive committee.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=323–325}} The changes involved decision-making powers being delegated from Chavez to the department heads, although Chavez—who liked to oversee everything personally—found this difficult to adhere to in practice.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=327}} As part of these reforms, Chavez continued to call on the union's leaders to all relocate to La Paz, which many were reluctant to do.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=325}} In July 1976, Chavez traveled to New York to attend the Democratic Party's [[1976 Democratic National Convention|National Congress]], at which he gave a speech nominating Brown as the party's presidential candidate. Brown would come third in the contest, which would be won by [[Jimmy Carter]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=330–331}} Carter went on to win the [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 election]], initiating an administration that was keen to fund UFW projects.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=432–433}}

In 1976, the ALRB ran out of its budgeted money for the year. The California legislature refused to allocate more money, so the ALRB closed shop for the year.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=322}} Seeking to get the farmworkers' rights introduced by ALRA enshrined in California's constitution, in early 1976 UFW activists put forward the idea of Proposition 14, which would go forward to the electorate later that year.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=332}} Chavez thought that Proposition 14 had little chance of being passed by the electorate and was concerned that devoting its resources to the campaign would be financially costly for the UFW.{{Sfn|Pawel|2014|p=330}} Brown also warned them not to, arguing that it would backfire on farmworkers by polarizing communities.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=332}} Despite these concerns, Fred Ross urged the union to take on the issue,{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=330}} and after much debate, the UFW's executive board voted to involve itself in the 'vote yes' campaign on Proposition 14.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=332}} Growers responded with a well-funded multi-media campaign that emphasized the claim that the measure would give unions the right to trespass on private property.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=97|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=332–333}} When it went to the electorate in November 1976, Proposition 14 was defeated by a measure of two-to-one.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=333}} Although this defeat had little serious impact on the UFW, Chavez took it as a very public rejection of him personally.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=333–334}}

Chavez blamed the defeat on the UFW's national boycott director, Nick Jones, who had been the only staff member to publicly voice disquiet over the Proposition 14 campaign. He claimed that Jones and the New York boycott director, Charlie March, had been part of a far-left conspiracy to undermine the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=335–339}} Under pressure, in November 1976, Jones resigned; in a letter to the executive board he stated that he was "deeply concerned" about the direction in which Chavez was taking the union.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=339}} Chavez also fired Joe Smith, the editor of ''El Macriado'', after accusing him of deliberately undermining the newspaper.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=339–340}} He then ordered Ross and Ganz to interrogate everyone who worked on the campaign, ostensibly to decide on new assignments but also to route out alleged malcontents, agitators, and spies.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=339}} Many of those involved in running the UFW's boycott expressed concerns about a [[McCarthyism|McCarthyite]]-style atmosphere developing within the union,{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=341}} and Chavez's purge attracted press attention.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=340}} As the criticisms of his leadership intensified, Chavez responded with further purges, inspired by those in China's [[Cultural Revolution]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=343}} He became convinced that there was a far-left conspiracy, whose members he called the "assholes" or "them", who were trying to undermine the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=380, 402}} At a La Paz meeting in April 1977, later called "the Monday Night Massacre", Chavez called together a range of individuals whom he denounced as malcontents or spies. They were verbally abused by members of the executive board and ejected from the community.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=343–345}} He later accused [[Philip Vera Cruz]], the oldest member of the executive board, of also being part of the conspiracy, and forced him out.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=379–380}}

Chavez reversed many of the changes he had implemented under Milne's guidance, with executive board members being reassigned to cover geographic areas rather than having union-wide responsibilities.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=346}} Milne, who had been living at La Paz, soon left, with Chavez later alleging he had been part of a conspiracy against the union.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=346}} UFW had also entered into a negotiation with the Teamsters union, a process led by Cohen. The two unions reached an agreement by which the UFW would cease bringing litigation against the Teamsters if the latter ceased operating among farm-workers altogether. This left the UFW as the only dominant union among the farmworkers.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1pp=97–98|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=351}} The Teamsters agreed because farmworkers were a marginal group for them; their typically low incomes also meant that farmworkers did not generate sufficient funds for the union to warrant its ongoing and costly clashes with the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=351}}

===Links with Synanon and Ferdinand Marcos: 1977===
{{Quote box
| quote = I'm going to tell you something. It's not threatening, it's just plain fucking fact. If this union doesn't turn around and become a movement, I want no part of it. I'll help and everything, but I don't want to be in charge. I want to do something else. I tell you because that's the way I feel.
| source=— Chavez arguing with the executive board to reform the UFW in 1977{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=353}}
| align = right
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Chavez told the executive committee that radical change was necessary in the UFW; he stated that they could be either a union or a movement, but not both. If the former, they would have to start paying wages to their staff rather than relying on volunteers, which at that time they were not in a financial position to do.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=351–352}} He instead urged them to become a movement, which he argued meant establishing communal settlements for members, drawing on a Californian religious organization, [[Synanon]], as an exemplar.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=351–352}} Chavez had become increasingly interested in Synanon, a drug-treatment organization that had declared itself a religion in 1975 and which operated out of a compound east of [[Fresno]]. He admired Synanon's leader [[Charles Dederich]], and the way that the latter controlled his planned community.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=348–350}} In Chavez's opinion, Dederich was "a genius in terms of people".{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=355}}

In February 1977, Chavez took the UFW's executive board on a visit to the Synanon compound.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=348, 350}} There, they took part in a therapy system based on Dederich's own process, "the Game", as part of which each "player" was singled out in turn to receive harsh, profanity-laced criticism from the rest of the community.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=350, 353}} Dederich had told Chavez that "the Game" was key to reshaping the UFW,{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=350}} and the latter decided that he wanted everyone at La Paz to play it.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=353}} He received tacit agreement from the executive board, although some of its members privately opposed the measure.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=354}} The Game took place at La Paz on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, and at its height, about 100 people were taking part in it each week.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=365}} There it was used to shape behavior and punish nonconformity.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=356}} Many individuals dreaded the humiliation it involved, disliked the obscenities that were part of it, and found going through it to be a traumatic experience.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=357}} Chavez remained enthusiastic about the Game, calling it "a good tool to fine-tune the union".{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=357}} Many of those close to Chavez, including his wife and Richard Chavez, refused to take part.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=357}} The farmworkers were not informed about the Game.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=362}} Various long-term supporters of the UFW, including various clerical figures, visited La Paz at this time and left alarmed by how it had changed.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=366}}

Synanon provided the UFW with $100,000 worth of cars and materials;{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=389}} building links with Chavez's movement burnished Dederich's reputation with rich liberals who were among Synanon's core constituency.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=354–355}} Dederich suggested that Synanon and the UFW establish a joint communal farm, and although the option was explored, it did not materialize.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=255–356}} Following Dederich's advice, Chavez began grooming young people who had grown up in the movement to remain committed to him and his ideals.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=363}} He created a curriculum for them to follow, which included the Game.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=363}} Whereas Chavez had previously refused to accept government money, he now applied for over $500,000 in grants for a school and other projects.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=363–364}} Formal celebrations and group rituals became an important part of life at La Paz,{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=360}} while Chavez also declared that on Saturday mornings all residents of La Paz should work in the vegetable and flower gardens to improve sociability.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=369}} A rule was passed that everyone at La Paz had to wear a UFW button at all times on penalty of a fine.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=371}} After attending a course in Los Angeles, Chavez began claiming that he could heal people by laying on his hands.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=387}}

[[File:Ferdinand E. Marcos.jpg|thumb|left|Chavez's support for the Filipino government of [[Ferdinand Marcos]] (pictured) brought strong criticism.]]

In the field elections, the UFW was largely rebuffed by Filipino-American workers. Seeking to remedy this, in 1977 Chavez traveled to the Philippines as the guest of its president, [[Ferdinand Marcos]]. There, he was treated as a high-ranking dignitary, and received both an award from Marcos and an honorary doctorate from the [[Far Eastern University]] in [[Manila]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=367}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century |last=Shaw |first=Randy |year=2008 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Los Angeles |isbn=978-0-520-25107-6 |page=253 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWa8A9GwRd4C&q=Cesar%20Chavez%20%22Ferdinand%20Marcos%22&pg=PA253 |access-date=May 18, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Union of Their Dreams: Power, Hope, and Struggle in César Chávez's Farm Worker Movement |last=Pawel |first=Miriam |year=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |location=New York|isbn=978-1-60819-099-7 |page=233 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DmRyQiRP16YC&q=Cesar%20Chavez%20%22Ferdinand%20Marcos%22&pg=PA233 |access-date=May 18, 2011}}</ref> He then spoke to a reporter from ''[[The Washington Post]]'' where he spoke positively about Marcos' introduction of [[martial law]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=367}} This generated outcry in the U.S., especially among religious groups, who argued that Chavez was overlooking the human rights abuses taking place under Marcos' administration.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=368}} Chavez then organized an event on Delano for five senior Filipino government officially to speak to an assembled audience.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=368}} The incident eroded support among religious organizations, a key constituency for Chavez and the UFW.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=368}}

''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine published a story reporting on violence and child abuse at Synanon, which it termed a "kooky cult". Synanon launched a boycott of ''Time'' in response, with Chavez urging the UFW to support it, stating that they should assist their friends and help protect [[Freedom of religion|religious freedom]].{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=389}} Los Angeles police then raided Synanon's compound and revealed evidence that Dederich had sanctioned the use of violence against the group's critics and ex-members; several senior members were also found guilty of murdering a lawyer representing ex-Synanon members.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=395–396}} Shortly after, the [[Peoples Temple]] run by the civil rights activist [[Jim Jones]], a group which had been closely linked with California's leftist movement, committed mass suicide at their [[Jonestown]] community.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=396}} A Democratic assemblyman soon issued a press release comparing the cult surrounding Chavez to the Peoples Temple.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=396}} The UFW stopped using the Game in response to these developments;{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=395–396}} Chavez's calls for it to resume were rejected by other senior members.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=407}}

The UFW continued to rely on voluntary labor, only paying a small number of employees, such as lawyers. When the union's lawyers, who were paid, asked for a raise, it generated a major debate among the executive committee. Chavez framed the issue along the lines of whether the UFW should start paying wages to everyone or instead continue to rely on volunteers. The executive committee split largely on generational lines, with older members backing Chavez's desire to remain a voluntary organization, and this attitude narrowly prevailed.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=394}} Medina, one of only two former farmworkers on the board, resigned over the issue.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=393–395}} Drake also resigned.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=395}}
Half of the lawyers left straight away, and the others in the coming weeks as the UFW switched to a voluntary legal department; the new volunteers were largely inexperienced.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=396}} It was also in 1977 that the UFW declared that contributions to the union's political fund would become mandatory for members; this was then used to support political groups and candidates considered sympathetic to the UFW's interests.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=444}}