Dr. King’s entire life was an example of power that
nonviolence brings to bear in the real world.
It is an example that inspired much of the philosophy
and strategy of the farm workers’ movement.
This observance of Dr. King’s death gives us
the best possible opportunity to recall the principles
with which our struggle has grown and matured.
Our conviction is that human life is a very special
possession given by God to man and that no one has
the right to take it for any reason or for any cause,
however just it may be.
We are also convinced that nonviolence is more
powerful than violence.
Nonviolence supports you if you have a just and moral cause.
Nonviolence provides the opportunity to stay on the offensive,
and that is of crucial importance to win any contest.
If we resort to violence then one of two things will
happen: either the violence will be escalated and there
will be many injuries and perhaps deaths on both
sides, or there will be total demoralization of the
workers.
Nonviolence has exactly the opposite effect.
If, for every violent act committed against us, we
respond with nonviolence, we attract people’s support.
We can gather the support of millions who have a
conscience and would rather see a nonviolent resolution
to problems.
We are convinced that when people are faced with a direct appeal from the poor struggling
nonviolently against great odds, they will react
positively.
The American people and people everywhere still yearn for justice.
It is to that yearning that we appeal.
But if we are committed to nonviolence only as a
strategy or tactic, then if it fails our only alternative is
to turn to violence.
So we must balance the strategy with a clear understanding of what we are
doing.
However important the struggle is and however much
misery, poverty and exploitation exist, we know that
it cannot be more important than one human life.
We work on the theory that men and women who
are truly concerned about people are nonviolent by nature.
These people become violent when the deep concern
they have for people is frustrated and when they are
faced with seemingly insurmountable odds.
We advocate militant nonviolence as our means of
achieving justice for our people, but we are not blind
to the feelings of frustration, impatience and anger
which seethe inside every farm worker.
The burdens of generations of poverty and powerlessness
lie heavy in the fields of America.
If we fail, there are those who will see violence as the shortcut to change.
It is precisely to overcome these frustrations that
we have involved masses of people in their own
struggle throughout the movement.
Freedom is best experienced through participation and
self- determination, and free men and women instinctively
prefer democratic change to any other means.
Thus, demonstrations and marches, strikes and
boycotts are not only weapons against the growers,
but our way of avoiding the senseless violence that
brings no honor to any class or community.
The boycott, as Gandhi taught, is the most nearly
perfect instrument of nonviolent change, allowing
masses of people to participate actively in a cause.
When victory comes through violence, it is a
victory with strings attached.
If we beat the growers at the expense of violence, victory would come
at the expense of injury and perhaps death.
Such a thing would have a tremendous impact on us.
We would lose regard for human beings.
Then the struggle would become a mechanical thing.
When you lose your sense of life and justice, you lose your
strength.
The greater the oppression, the more leverage nonviolence holds.
Violence does not work in the long run and if it is temporarily successful,
it replaces one violent form of power with another just
as violent.
People suffer from violence.
Examine history.
Who gets killed in the case of violent revolution?
The poor, the workers.
The people of the land are the ones who give their bodies
and don’t really gain that much for it.
We believe it is too big a price to pay for not getting anything.
Those who espouse violence exploit people.
To call men to arms with many promises, to ask them to give up
their lives for a cause and then not produce for them
afterwards, is the most vicious type of oppression.
We know that most likely we are not going to do
anything else the rest of our lives except build our
union.
For us there is nowhere else to go.
Although we would like to see victory come soon, we
are willing to wait.
In this sense, time is our ally.
We learned many years ago that the rich may have
money, but the poor have time.