The records of the Centro de Acción Social Autónomo-Hermandad General de Trabajadores (CASA-HGT) document in large part the organization's ten-year transition from a service center designed to aid its members in obtaining legal aid and social services to a Marxist-Leninist political organization dedicated to organizing working-class people of Mexican origin and publishing its views in the bilingual newspaper, Sin Fronteras. Consisting primarily of the Los Angeles office records, the collection's subject strengths include: policy and decision-making processes within the CASA national leadership, the creation and dissemination of Sin Fronteras, the Federal Bureau of Investigation surveillance of CASA, immigration reform, the immigration case of Mexican attorney Jose Jacques Medina, Chicano activism in East Los Angeles schools, the narcotics case of Los Tres del Barrio, and domestic and international socialist movements. The collection also includes photographs and tape recordings of CASA activities and its members.

Founded in Los Angeles in 1968, the Centro de Accion Social Autonomo-Hermandad General de Trabajadores (Center for Autonomous Social Action-General Brotherhood of Workers or simply, CASA) operated for ten years as a vocal and active political group within the Mexican American community. Though short-lived, the organization nonetheless occupied an influential position in a portion of that community, and, in many ways, reflected the growth and development of a distinct Mexican American political consciousness during the 1960s and 1970s. The organization's problems, ranging from internal factionalization and ideological dispute to external repression and financial difficulties, likewise mirrored the obstacles faced by many activist organizations of the era.

27.5 Linear Feet

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