Viva La Causa Summary

Viva La Causa is a documentary about how hundreds of farmworkers fought for their human rights because they were treated poorly. This took place in the early 1960’s because the workers were not receiving their benefits and civil rights. A farmer himself, Cesar Chavez, spoke on behalf of the rest of the farmers saying why should they put up with the low wages and no benefits. After watching this documentary it helps me understand the functions of the legislative and executive branches of the Texas State Government by providing interesting concepts of how the government was back then and how they took action.
Before the strike for higher wages began, migrant workers worked in very horrible conditions. Men, women, and children would work on these farms for only a dollar an hour. The

children that would work were too small that the tomatoes they were picking were larger than their hands. These children had to work in order to help out their parents since they couldn’t afford food or a place to live. The workers received no health benefits so many of them would get sick because of the conditions they were under.

While working on the farms they would be sprayed with pesticides. The farm owners did not care at all for these people, only for their crops. They would work long hours without rest and little to no access to water or restrooms. All the workers would share drinking water by passing around a can and everyone would drink from there. Women had it more difficult because restrooms were not available, “it would be embarrassing, extremely humiliating,” as union co-founder, Dolores Huerta, described it in the video. This mistreatment kept going for years, some workers even said that it felt like slavery. In 1962 the National Farm Workers Association was created in Delano California to protest against all the farm owners that took advantage of the migrant workers. The founder of this association was a farmer named Cesar Chavez. He gathered farmers of all cultures to launch a strike that would hopefully undo all of these injustices that the workers had to go through. The farmers began their strike walking and yelling “Huelga” on the roads alongside the farms. This strike lasted two years but

the farm owners would only ignore them by playing loud music. They also made the police arrest anyone that would scream out Huelga. No matter how they were men or women, old or young, they would arrest them. Because they were not seeing any results they started boycotting local markets. They would tell the people to stop buying produce that were from these unfair farm owners. It was not enough, Cesar Chavez declared a march to Sacramento it took 25 days and about 10,009 people supported their boycott. Cesar Chavez wanted people to be aware of what was going on and give support to the people in these situations. He started fasting for a month, this made him a symbol for all of the workers and their human rights. Another important person in this movement was Robert F. Kennedy, he announced the issues that were going on to the people. He wanted to help change the way California laws affected these migrant workers and give them their rights. Unfortunately shortly after his speech he was shot and killed. This led to the conclusion of the strike, millions of people stopped buying grapes making farm owners to lose about 26 million dollars. Farm owners realized that they will continue to lose an immense amount of money if they did not change the working conditions of their workers.
The outcome that these workers had and shown in Viva La Causa was astonishing. This diverse unity stood together for justice, everything they did paid off and not giving up resulted in their success without the use of violence. Because of them, today workers get paid minimum wage and are given their deserved rights. Viva La Causa is a story to remember and we are able to through this film. New generations like us can learn from this and be aware of the issues that happened back then and the ones that are still happening today in our government.