LA Raza Unida Party A Chicano Challenge to the U.S. Two-Party Dictatorship

Over the years, third parties have arisen sporadically to challenge the hegemony of the United States' two major political parties. But not until the emergence of the Raza Unida Party (RUP) in 1970 did an ethnic group organize to fight for political control at the country's ballot boxes. This book, by noted Chicano movement theorist Armando Navarro, is the most comprehensive study of the party ever put together. La Raza Unida Partytraces the party from its beginnings in 1970 to its demise in 1981-the events, leaders, ideology, structure, strategy and tactics, successes and problems, and electoral campaigns that marked its trajectory. The book covers political organizing in California, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and the Midwest, as well as RUP's national and international politics and its party profile. In addition, it suggests options for future political action. Based on 161 interviews, access to numerous documents, letters, minutes, diaries, and position papers, as well as such published sources as contemporary newspaper and magazine accounts and campaign literature, the study is enriched by Professor Navarro's accounts of his own experiences as one of the organizers of the RUP in California. La Raza Unida Partyrepresents the culmination of the story of Chicano militancy that Professor Navarro has related in his earlier books. It goes beyond mere history-telling to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of ethnic-identity political parties and the perils of challenging the two-party dictatorship that characterizes U.S. electoral politics. Author note: Armando Navarrois Professor and Chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author ofMexican American Youth Organization: Avant-Garde of the Chicano Movement in TexasandThe Cristal Experiment: A Chicano Struggle for Community Control.Navarro, Armando is the author of 'LA Raza Unida Party A Chicano Challenge to the U.S. Two-Party Dictatorship' with ISBN 9781566397711 and ISBN 1566397715.