Radical Prophet

Dorothy Day was in jail again last week, and when Dorothy Day goes to jail, it is usually for a cause worth examining. Since her first arrest as a suffragette in 1917, the 75-year-old author-activist has proved herself a prophet of causes that others will eventually join. A redoubtable spokeswoman for pacifism and social reform, she earned an almost annual trip to New York City jails during the '50s for her refusal to participate in compulsory air-raid drills. This time she was arrested, with more than 2,100 Mexican-Americans and members of the Catholic clergy, for demonstrating on the picket lines of the United Farm Workers in violation of court orders. These have been hard times for Cesar Chavez's UFW. His union, caught in a squeeze between the growers and the more powerful Teamsters, has dwindled from 40,000 to 15,000 members. Compromise talks between the two unions broke off in anger. As for Miss Day, in the Fresno jail, she was told she could go free, but she refused to leave until all picketers were released. Instead, she joined a number of her fellow prisoners in fasting.

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