Levy, Jacques E.

Jacques Levy, author of Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa (New York: Norton, 1975).

Cesar Chavez (1927-1993), founder of the first successful labor union for farm workers in the United States.

Jacques Levy, author of Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa (New York: Norton, 1975).

Cesar Chavez (1927-1993), founder of the first successful labor union for farm workers in the United States.

Jacques E. Levy, author of Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa (New York: Norton, [1975]), was a journalist in California before he began work on his Chavez biography in 1969. Levy began his writing career on the Harvard Crimson as an undergraduate at Harvard (Class of 1950). After graduation, he worked for various newspapers around the country before joining the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, California in 1954, where he worked as a reporter, political editor, and assistant news editor. In 1957 he was awarded the Top Story Award at the California State Fair for a nine part series on union organizing techniques in the Redwood Empire, and in 1965 he received an award from the San Francisco Press Club for a five part series titled "Target: Poverty." For two years, he taught a course in journalism at Sonoma State College.

In April 1969 Levy took a leave of absence from the Press Democrat to start work on a biography of Cesar Chavez, later resigning from the newspaper to devote himself full time to the project. Chavez made himself available to Levy for lengthy interviews and encouraged family, friends, and union colleagues to cooperate with Levy as well. Levy travelled with Chavez, attended union rallies, press conferences, and executive board meetings of the United Farm Workers union, and at the 1970 grape strike negotiations with growers was present as Chavez's notetaker. Levy interviewed numerous other people related to Chavez and the farm worker movement, including Governor Jerry Brown, Jack Armstrong, and other prominent growers. While researching the book Levy worked occasionally as a press agent for the United Farm Workers union, and after the book was published, helped Chavez write his speech nominating Jerry Brown for President at the 1976 Democratic National Convention.

In 1971, Larry Shears, a police informant in gun and drug deals, went public with information on a growers plot to assassinate Chavez. Chavez asked Levy to use his contacts as an investigative reporter to learn the names of the growers involved. Levy purchased Shears' collection of surreptitiously taped phone conversations, hired a private investigator, and made a deal with Rolling Stone to finance the investigation in return for an article. The case was dismissed for lack of evidence, and Levy pursued the possibility of a cover-up of the plot by government and law enforcement officials on behalf of prominent growers. The deal with Rolling Stone fell through, and the article was never published.

Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa takes the form of reminiscences of Chavez and others, culled from interviews conducted by Levy. Levy has also written many newspaper articles about Chavez and the farm labor movement, and conducted research on the assassination plot against Chavez. After Chavez's death in 1993, Levy explored the possibility of expanding his 1975 biography, interviewing Chavez's family, friends, and former colleagues. Tentatively titled More Time Than Life: Cesar Chavez -- His Life and Legacy, this work has not been pursued.

Cesar Chavez, founder of the first successful labor union for farm workers in the United States, was born Cesario Estrada Chavez on March 31, 1927 in Yuma, Arizona to Librado and Juana Estrada Chavez, both of Mexican-American descent. In 1939, the Chavez family lost their farm in Arizona and moved to California where they began working in the fields. Cesar left school after the eighth grade and worked in the fields full time until World War II, when he served in the Navy for two years. After the war, he returned to working in the fields, and married Helen Fabela in 1948. They had eight children, many of whom became active in the United Farm Workers union with their father.

In 1952, Chavez was recruited by Fred Ross to be an organizer for the Community Service Organization, a self-help group designed to encourage Mexican-Americans to participate in elections. Chavez quickly became a full-time organizer for the CSO, fighting racial discrimination against Chicanos, arranging voter registration drives, and organizing new CSO chapters. In 1958 he became general director of the CSO. As director, Chavez challenged the Bracero Program, a government sponsored initiative during World War II to import Mexican workers to work in the fields during the labor shortage occasioned by the war. The program had continued after the war, and Chavez accused growers of taking advantage of the lower wages and poor conditions they could impose upon Mexican workers, thus denying Mexican-American workers jobs and driving down wages.

While learning the principles of organizing workers, Chavez came to the conclusion that what was really needed was a farm workers labor union. In 1962, at the age of 35, Chavez resigned from the Community Service Organization in order to found the National Farm Workers Association. Chavez became its president, with Dolores Huerta and Gilbert Padilla as vice-presidents. The union adopted a flag with a black eagle on a red background, a motto, "Viva La Causa", and established a newspaper, El Macriado, a credit union, a co-op, and death benefits for union members. The union came into prominence in 1965 after it voted to support the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee in its grape strike in Delano, California. Chavez's non-violent tactics of pressure on the scabs and growers garnered national attention. The union performed skits on the picket lines, marched to Sacramento, picketed at grocery stores, and staged a public campaign about the dangers of eating table grapes raised by agribusiness pesticides. Chavez became well-known for another tactic, the fast. Inspired by Ghandi, Chavez staged several fasts over his career, a 25 day fast in 1968 to rebuild morale among picketers, and the second lengthy fast in 1988 to protest the pesticide poisioning of workers in the fields. These fasts, and many smaller ones, affected his health permanently.

The National Farm Workers Association merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee in 1966 to become the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee within the AFL-CIO. The grape strike ended in 1970, when most grape growers agreed to sign contracts with the UFW. The union continued to champion the rights of workers, and boycotted lettuce growers and a variety of other agribusinesses in similar ways, which often resulted in the signing of bargaining agreements. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters began to organize farm workers themselves, however, and set up its own union, one more favorable to the growers. When the UFW table grape contract came up for renewal in 1973, the growers signed with the Teamsters. The UFW called for a new boycott of table grapes, one which received nationwide support. Because of this pressure, the growers supported Governor Jerry Brown's 1975 Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which provided oversight in the relationship between agricultural employers and employees. After several years of conflict, the Teamsters and the UFW signed a contract in 1977, giving the UFW the sole right to organize farm workers.

The effectiveness of the UFW began to lose steam in the late 1970's and the 1980's, plagued by dissent within the union, and the changing perception of the union from social cause to standard labor union. In the 1980's, Chavez charged that the farm labor board had ceased enforcing the law, and called for a renewed grape boycott to draw attention to this problem.

In April, 1993, while in Arizona testifying for a civil trial between Bruce Church, Inc. (BCI) against UFW for their 1980's supermarket boycott of BCI lettuce in Arizona, Chavez died in his sleep at the home a friend. He was buried at the union headquarters, La Paz, in Keene, California. In 1991, Chavez was awarded the Aguila Azteca, given by the government of Mexico to people of Mexican heritage who have made significant contributions outside of Mexico. In 1994, Chavez was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.