Love it or hate it, the farmworker movement reshaped California agriculture, labor law, and the political landscape of the West Coast in ways we're still living with today. Led primarily by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, the movement brought national attention to the brutal working conditions faced by migrant farmworkers and ultimately led to the creation of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975 — the first law in the country granting farmworkers the right to collectively bargain.

Now, here at The Dissent, we're not exactly in the habit of cheerleading for organized labor. Unions have a complicated track record, and government-mandated labor frameworks can create as many problems as they solve. But intellectual honesty demands we acknowledge this: the farmworker movement was, at its core, a story about people demanding basic dignity and using voluntary collective action — boycotts, marches, strikes — to get it. That's not big government. That's people exercising their freedom to associate and to speak.

The distinction matters. Before the movement got entangled in state-level regulation, it was a grassroots effort built on persuasion, not coercion. Consumers chose not to buy grapes. Workers chose to walk off the job. That's the free market of ideas in action.

Whether you're a history buff, a labor wonk, or just someone who wants to understand how California became California, a free talk like this is worth your time. You don't have to agree with every policy outcome of the movement to appreciate the guts it took — or to think critically about what came after.

Free events that encourage actual learning? In this economy? We'll take it.