The Main Lesson from Chavez’ Downfall

A charismatic leader can be important to a social improvement effort. The betterment will not last, however, if things devolve into a personality cult. The tragedy of Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) is a case study in the danger of a well-intentioned movement that allows a leader to become a quasi-divine, unaccountable force.
It is wrong to presume that farmworker unions did not exist until the saintly pioneer, Chavez, created the National Farm Workers Association in September 1962. Nor was it ever accurate to think that Chavez single-handedly brought the experience of Mexican-Americans to national attention. In fact, the laborers initially involved in striking grape vineyards were Filipino-Americans, not primarily Mexican-Americans.
Further, Chavez was not a self-developed champion, as was once imagined. In the early 1960s two priests, Fr. Donald McDonnell (1923-2012) and Fr. Thomas McCullough (1922-1989), with the permission of their bishop, became missionaries-at-large to California’s poor. They came upon Chavez and instructed him in theology and agriculture issues. In the late 1940s Saul Alinsky (1909-1972), founder of Chicago-based Industrial Areas Foundation, got involved with Mexican-American homeowners in California. In 1953 he hired Fred Ross (1910-1992) as his West Coast director. Ross structured the groups as the Community Service Organization. Ross identified Chavez as a leader. Within a year, Alinsky hired him too. After nearly a decade with CSO, Chavez turned his attention to farmworkers.
Larry Itliong (1913-1977), a Filipino-American, preceded Chavez in farm worker organizing, and even he was not an originator. The United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers, affiliated with the CIO, was long active in the State of Washington, Alaska and California. Itliong was involved with UCAPAW and in the 1940s he led strikes among asparagus pickers. In 1959 an Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee was formed in the merged AFL-CIO. In the summer of 1965 Itliong led a successful AWOC strike in the Coachella Valley, southeast of Los Angeles.
In September 1965 Itliong gathered hundreds of workers into Filipino Community Hall in Delano, California for a vote to strike the area’s grape growers. It was a bold move and Itliong realized he needed help. As is common with ethnic groups, Filipino-Americans and Mexican-Americans did not easily mingle in the community. Plus the two ethnic groups competed for jobs. Yet Itliong approached Chavez to join in the strike. Until then, Chavez spent his time talking with farmworkers but had yet to launch any job action. Chavez realized the opportunity and joined forces with the Filipino-Americans. Thus began the now famous Delano Grape Strike and National Boycott. Four flags were prominent in the first demonstration: the U.S. flag of course plus the flag of the Philippines, of Mexico and the flag/banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
In time the group’s named was changed to United Farm Workers Organizing Committee and then to United Farm Workers Union. Itliong served the new union, including as director of national boycotts. However, Itliong was soon overshadowed by Chavez.
Jill Cowan recently spoke with Itliong’s relatives for New York Times (7/25/26). They and others say Itliong was muscled out of the way by Chavez and his loyalists. Aquilina Sariano of Pilipino Workers Center in Los Angeles draws the correct lesson from the disconcerting disclosures about Chavez: Society tends to “venerate individuals instead of the messy collectives who make change.” There is no need to swap Chavez’ name for another name on buildings and signs. The goal remains justice for workers.
Unlike Chavez, charismatic leaders do not normally engage in deviant behavior. Still, when a pastor, a community organizer, a union official, or another group leader exhibits excessive fondness for attention, let it serve as a warning that the goal of social improvement is giving way to self-promotion. Social improvement needs those who project confident qualities that will attract and retain busy and creative followers. Yet, the genuine change agent must stay out of the limelight and nurture the collective mission. “Loyalty to Chavez” superseded the development of farmworker leaders and the external mission of the organization, Mirian Pawel concludes in her excellent biography, The Crusades of Cesar Chavez (Bloomsbury, 2014).

Droel is an editor at National Center for the Laity (PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL 60629)