[lbo-talk] Lettuce Wars by Bruce Neuburger

[michael yates]

Monthly Review Press has just published Lettuce Wars: Ten Years of Work and Struggle in the Fields of California. This is an excellent, ey-opening account of work in the fields of California agriculture during the years when the UFW was making history. It is also a great story of one person's political awakening. Bruce was an open communist in his workplaces and in the union. As the UFW grew more reactionary and Chavez more paranoid, Bruce faced severe antagonism from the union, at one time even having his own personal goon. Bruce went to work in the fields with Frank Bardacke, whose Trampling Out the Vintage is a marvelous history of farm labor, the UFW, Chavez, and his own labor in the fields. Frank strongly recommends Bruce' book. For more information, see http://monthlyreview.org/press/books/pb3324/

I know a lot about the UFW, but I learned a great deal from Bruce's book, which gives a unique rank and file perspective that adds much to Bardacke's narrative.