Editing Cesar Chavez (section)

===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}}
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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}}