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May Day, aka International Workers' Day, is meant to observe the struggles and gains made by workers in the labor movement. It got started in 1889 when a network of socialist groups and trade unions designated May 1st as "May Day" to commemorate the Haymarket Affair of 1886, where workers fought a bloody and brutal fight for an eight-hour workday.
President Grover Cleveland later made "Labor Day" an official U.S. holiday, celebrated the first Monday in September, but separate from May Day because Cleveland was "uneasy with the socialist origins of Workers’ Day."
The Soviet Union backed May Day "believing it would encourage workers in Europe and the United States to unite against capitalism." It has since become one of the most important holidays in communist countries, like China, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba, and for American communists, including those in Connecticut.
NPR argued May Day is "not just a communist holiday" and said, "for the most part" it's about "the opposite of capitalism."
In addition to communist and socialist groups, teachers unions, labor unions, immigrants rights groups, and other left-wing organizations celebrate May Day... and maybe even some pagans, considering May Day was originally an ancient pagan holiday that marked the return of spring.
Of course this year, a coalition called "May Day Strong" has emerged to help guide and coordinate actions (and messaging) all around the country.
It's not unlike how "Hands Off", "Tesla Takedown" or "50501" organized previous actions.
They all follow a similar playbook, and often rely on the same organizations (e.g., MoveOn, Indivisible, Working Families Power, the National Education Association) to coordinate and plan these nationwide actions.
As with previous actions, May Day Strong provides a toolkit that includes information on messaging, a sample email and press release, social media templates, graphics, guides on protesting, and much more.
The mission is similarly about stopping Trump and "the billionaire takeover."
"We are demanding a country that puts our families over their fortunes—public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, prosperity over free market politics," says May Day Strong, which describes their campaign as a "multi-year offensive" anchored by grassroots activists.
The coalition held a zoom call on April 23rd to whip up energy and ensure people take to the streets during the workday in all 50 states on May 1st. Though, some protests will be held in the evening or on the weekend, like in Greenwich and Stamford.
The zoom was moderated and hosted by an NEA member from Chicago, Jackson Potter, who serves as Vice President of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Connecticut was well represented on the call, with folks from Cornwall, Danbury, Easton, Hamden, Hartford, Harwinton, Greenwich, Litchfield, Mystic, New Haven, Norwalk and Orange, along with representatives from Connecticut For All and Extinction Rebellion.
"May 1st is a work day to demonstrate just a fraction of what's possible when we shut shit down," said Potter, who went on to demand the "return" of their union brother, "a sheet metal worker" named Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Potter made no mention of Kilmar's MS-13 tats, the wife beating allegations, or that human trafficking thing. Instead, he described Kilmar's situation as "an attack on our immigrant sisters and brothers" ... not unlike how the Communist Party USA thinks of Kilmar as a "brother".
The first guest speaker was a familiar face, Ash-Lee Henderson, from Working Families Power, a radical progressive group that fights for things like racial justice, gender equity, climate sustainability, and fundraises through alleged money launderer ActBlue, which is now squarely in the Trump Admin's cross-hairs after it launched an investigation into "unlawful straw donors and foreign contributions in American elections" on April 24th.
Hendersen pushed her comrades on the call to host, partner and/or attend May Day Strong actions in every state. She also asked everyone to sign a "solidarity pledge" to show their commitment to the cause.
Next up was Congresswoman Delia Ramirez from Illinois' 3rd District -- that's when things took a bit of a "dark woke" turn. She said that "Congress should not be operating as business-as-usual" and promised "on May Day it changes."
She wants to see people verbally accosting members of Congress in public, even in church, demanding to know "what the hell" is happening with Medicare, social security, etc.
"We need to legislate, and we need to litigate, and we need to agitate, and we agitate by mobilizing together," she said. "It's your mobilization that will get us through this moment and get us to a place where all of us can have the quality of life that we deserve, not those greedy-ass, terrible, evil billionaires."
"We know that when we fight, we f*cking win," she exclaimed.
Then came Marcia Howard, President of Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, who started off by mentioning she lived just 263 steps from "George Floyd Square" which she described as "the longest running autonomy zone in American history." Then she instinctively brought up the "24 demands of justice" the community had after George Floyd died.
"Someone wise once said a protest ain't a protest unless you f*cking up somebody's day," Howard said.
"They are attacking all of us," she asserted. "And what we are saying on May 1st is, we ain't waiting for 2028. We ain't waiting for 2026. We are starting now. It's enough! Enough is enough, and so if a protest ain't a protest unless you f*cking up somebody's day, they f*cked up and they gonna find out. That's what we're doing on May 1st."
At that point the chatroom lit up with calls to "f*ck it up!"
Then came Elise Foster, the President of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 11, who was fired up to "fight like hell" against corporate greed on May Day.
She gave a long rambling speech about how postal carriers saved the world multiple times over, and promised to resist any changes the Trump Admin has in store for the post office.
"I'm gonna continue to fight like hell. I need you to fight like hell. We're gonna fight with everybody," promised Foster before she started chanting, "When I say hell, you say no! Hell no! Hell no!"
Then came a feisty gal from Make the Road New York City by the name of Hae Lin Choi. Make the Road also operates in Connecticut, where it has received government funding, and members have advocated for expanding Husky for illegals, abolishing ICE and CBP, etc.
"We're standing up to the billionaire agenda to fight for the world we want. So, yes, these are dark times. But the history of the movement really shows us that in countries that slipped into authoritarianism... a united movement of the people was the force that beat back those f*cking dictators," she charged.
Choi urged everyone to "f*cking make history" this May Day.
By the time she was done, the sentiment in the chatroom went something like this:
The ~2,400 comrades on the call are now all fired up, angry and ready to take to the streets to "celebrate" a holiday that represents the opposite of the capitalist system that "brought greater economic wealth and cultural freedom to more people than any other system in the history of man."
But instead of celebrating a communist holiday by shouting angrily about "Donald Trump and his billionaire takeover" and marching with the same recycled signs for the umpteenth protest ...
Perhaps these folks should do themselves a favor, and start learning about the horrors of communism so they don’t become victims of communism themselves.
