This work documents the Chicano movement as it developed within the Mexican American community of East Los Angeles during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The author offers a unique comparative and diachronic analysis of several component organizations of this mass movement. Includes analysis of five protest organizations which developed within the East Los Angeles community. Several questions are addressed concerning the origin, development and evolution of movement organizations. Based upon case materials and actual observations, the author provides an eye-opening view of contemporary social change as well as description and analysis of issues such as: group formation and institutionalization, organizational maintenance, competing belief systems, internal conflicts, eternal support, and relations among rival organizations.