What Cesar Chavez Taught Us What Cesar Chavez Taught Us This
year marks the 38th anniversary of one of the most extreme and
effective acts of sacrifice in U.S. labor history - a truly
heroic act by farm worker leader Cesar Chavez. For 25 days he
fasted, in February and March of 1968, surviving on nothing but
occasional sips of water. The fast was crucial in winning
support for the nationwide grape boycott that forced growers to
grant California's vineyard workers the first union contracts
ever won by any farm workers - contracts that were essential if
they were to finally escape abject poverty. Waging the boycott
was extremely difficult for the farm workers. With little money
and experience, they traveled to unfamiliar cities far from
their rural communities to seek support. Chavez' act inspired
them as well as their potential supporters and made their own
considerable sacrifices seem much less onerous. Chavez had
another urgent purpose. He dedicated the fast to reaffirming the
principles of nonviolence that