The Farah Strike (1976, sound)

Description: Documents the massive Latina-driven union organizing effort by workers at Farah manufacturing in the early 1970s. With interviews, verité style strike footage and historical sequences in color and in black and white, and with the use of still photography to build a picture of labor exploitation and resistance in Texas and elsewhere, inclusive of previous and simultaneous organizing movements among oil industry workers in California and including footage of United Farm Workers organizing activity in California agriculture. Includes footage of a march and rally in San Francisco, California. Advocates for a globally coordinated world of organized workers.

May have also been released under title "The Beginning of Our Victory."

"Emerging from the San Francisco-based social justice film distribution and production company California Newsreel, Single Spark was the film unit of the Revolutionary Communist Party (formerly the Revolutionary Union)." (Quoted from roxie.com/film/single-spark-film-we-are-the-palestinian-people-16mm/, accessed July 3, 2026).

Wikipedia entry about the Farah strike:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farah_strike (accessed 8/15/2024)

Reuse Statement: For information on reusing Prelinger Archives footage and obtaining written usage agreements, please visit www.prelinger.com.

Subjects: 1970s, Activism, Labor, Labor unions, Racism--Resistance to , Latina/o/x/e and/or Hispanic history and culture , Strikes, History

Tags: labor unions; Maoism; communism; Latina activism; feminism; feminist activism; Latina/o/x/e history; strikes; protests; garment manufacturing; garment workers; workers; merchants; labor unions; protest marches; street protests; May Day; International workers day; International Workers of the World; calls for racial unity; Farah strike; history; historical documents; historical photographs; black and white photographs; labor history; historical footage; farm workers; miners; railroads; Pixley strike; 1970s clothing; 1970s material culture; 1970s grocery stores; store interiors; grocery shopping; food scarcity; cash registers; alleys; brick construction; poverty; cities; El Paso, Texas; wealth disparity; police oppression; agricultural workers; farm workers; UFW; grape strike; singing; protest songs; Mervyn's stores; Black workers; law enforcement; police activity; police oppression; leaflets; leafletting; oil industry; oil workers; baseball; softball; baseball game; coeducational sports; picnicking; picnics; May Day picnic; 1970s fashion; company doctors; pills; medicine; workers' health issues; racial discrimination; inequity; union drives; immigrant workers; huelgas; Unemployed Workers Organizing Committee; strike funds; union organizing; boycotts;

Film Sponsor:

Creator: Single Spark Films

Credits:

Distributor:

Contributor: Prelinger Archives

Source Collection: Prelinger Archives

Digitizing Sponsor: Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (FFDW) and Internet Archive

Production Date: circa 1975

Release Date: 1976

Geographical Location: USA; Texas; El Paso, Texas; California; Central Valley, California; Los Angeles County, California; Martinez, California; San Francisco, California

Genre/Form: activist, documentary

Language: eng,spa

Rights: notice on film states: "(c) Cine News, Inc. 1976"

Film Format: 16mm film

Element: print

Color: color

Color Process:

Sound or Silent: sound

Film Soundtrack Type: optical

Edge Code: plus square

Frame Rate: 24 fps

Length (feet): 1788