Democratic Socialist Solidarity and the Farm Workers’ Struggles

[Omaha Steve]

http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=303

By Guest Author • Jul 25th, 2008 • Category: Features
Democratic Socialist Solidarity and the Farm Workers’ Struggles



The ties between American democratic socialism and the struggles of farm workers have existed for over a century. Since the founding of the Socialist Party of America (SPA) in 1901, democratic socialist ideals have been often found at the root of farm workers’ struggles. The Socialist Party of America was formed by the merging of the Social Democratic Party and a faction of the Socialist Labor Party. The SPA focused on interaction with organizations such as the Industrial Workers of the World, whose objectives emphasized industrial inequities and the necessity of worker unification. Thus, the SPA revolutionized the idea of industrial unionizing by expanding to the level of mass organization. The notion of mass organization is parallel and further demonstrates the long-standing links between democratic socialism and the struggles of the working class, particularly farm workers. In fact, democratic socialist solidarity has often found itself manning the frontlines in this battle for justice.

While democratic socialism finds its roots in a multitude of philosophies, the central theme is that democracy and socialism go hand and hand and more importantly, that there is a need to extend true democratic accountability to the political and economic spheres of society. Thus, Democratic socialists believe organized labor is a necessary check to the power of business under capitalism, and that organized labor will play a central role in the movement towards a post-capitalist future. American democratic socialist involvement in organized labor and farm worker struggles are exemplified in the 1930s by the formation of the Share Cropper’s Union (SCU). The SCU was a large labor force in the deep South consisting primarily of disenfranchised tenant workers and sharecroppers, a majority of whom were minorities. The ability of share croppers and tenant farmers to successfully organize in the face of the mechanization and proletarianization in the South marked the first of many major victories of farm workers in the struggle for justice. Using strikes and taking direct action against both police and corporate authorities, the SCU along with other sharecropper organizing substantiated the notion of the potential power held in these farm worker organizations.



This belief proved vital to the formation and success of the National Farm Workers Association, founded by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, who is today a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Honorary Co-Chair. The National Farm Workers Association soon became the United Farm Workers Association (UFW), the nation’s first successful and largest farm workers union. In 1965, an independent group of Mexican and Filipino farm workers orchestrated the beginnings of the historic grape boycott that would last through 1970, staging a walkout that Cesar Chavez used as a spark to nationally ignite the UFW. Chavez understood the importance of demonstrating the potential power within an organization such as UFW and set about sending representatives of the grape boycott throughout the entire country. In New York and Chicago, the local Socialist Party chapters were known to be particularly helpful in aiding these representatives. Organizations that were affiliated with the Socialist Party of America, before the formation of DSA, took on the jobs of finding them homes and providing them with the networks that allowed for success. Democratic socialist solidarity was particularly helpful in New York where grape consumption was decreased by 90%, due in large part to the cooperation between UFW activists and democratic socialist advocates such as DSA Chair Michael Harrington.

Medina is a DSA Honorary Co-Chair and Carl Shier, now deceased, was a DSA Vice-Chair and founderOne of the more important results of the connection between DSA and UFW became the work of Eliseo Medina, currently the Vice President of the Service Employees International Union and highest ranking immigrant union official in the United States. Medina, a UFW activist in the 1960s, was sent to Chicago with the orders of organizing and extending the grape boycott. In 1969, Medina came into contact with Carl Shier, a member of the local Socialist Party of America chapter and later to be one of the founders of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, the organization that preceded DSA. Shier connected Medina with the Chicago Labor movement, a decision that propelled Medina’s success with both the grape boycott and his career. At a 2001 DSA national convention dinner honoring Eliseo Medina and the work he did for organized labor and as DSA Honorary Co-Chair, he epitomized the experience of many UFW activists in their interaction and cooperation with democratic socialist solidarity:

FULL story at link.