79 Helping the Farm Worker

Reformers are men and women who see situations that they consider unfair and then set forth to remedy them. Sometimes these individuals enjoy quick victories, just as frequently, however, the gains are slow in coming and easy to lose. But lasting worthiness of the cause was as well as its success.

Cesar Chavez’s cause was the struggle of the migrant farm worker. As a boy, Chavez saw his own father lose his farm and be forced into a migrant worker’s lifestyle. Chavez himself worked full time in the fields in Arizona in the 1930s.

After a stint in the Navy in World War II, most of them returned to California to begin a union where they could fight for fairer living and working conditions. The struggle was difficult, for the farm owners were clever and the laborers easily intimidated. But in 1962 the National Farm Workers Association was established, and the group enjoyed early success and political support. A 1965 strike against California grape growers for elicited the backing of Robert F. Kennedy and resulted in the first-ever contracts for migrant workers in the United States.

Unfortunately, in a long downturn slide then began. By the time of Chavez’s death in 1993, migrant workers had lost many of the advantages that Chavez had gained for them, Chavez’s supporters, however, believing his cause to be just, remain confident that conditions will once again improve for workers and that the reforms that Chavez fought for will be reestablished.

79 帮助农场工人

改革者是那些看到他们认为不公平的情况，然后着手去纠正的男男女女。有时这些人能迅速取得胜利，但同样常见的是，成果来得缓慢且容易失去。但事业的持久价值和它的成功一样重要。

塞萨尔·查韦斯的事业是为移民农场工人而斗争。小时候，查韦斯看到自己的父亲失去了农场，被迫过上移民工人的生活。查韦斯本人在20世纪30年代就在亚利桑那州的田地里全职工作。

在第二次世界大战期间在海军服役一段时间后，他们中的大多数人回到加利福尼亚，开始建立一个工会，在那里他们可以为更公平的生活和工作条件而斗争。斗争很艰难，因为农场主很狡猾，而劳工很容易被恐吓。但在1962年，全国农场工人协会成立了，该组织获得了早期的成功和政治支持。1965年针对加利福尼亚葡萄种植者的罢工，赢得了罗伯特·F·肯尼迪的支持，并促成了美国有史以来第一份移民工人合同。

不幸的是，随后开始了长期的衰退。到1993年查韦斯去世时，移民工人已经失去了查韦斯为他们争取到的许多权益，但查韦斯的支持者相信他的事业是正义的，仍然相信工人的条件会再次改善，查韦斯为之奋斗的改革会重新确立。