Mayday! I Repeat, May Day!

The radical history of May 1st and what you can do now

In a world where capitalism wants us overworked, underpaid, and uninformed, we’re taking this month to remember International Workers’ Day!

Roots of May Day

May Day commemorates the 1886 Haymarket Affair in Chicago, where thousands of workers, many of them recent immigrants, were striking for an eight-hour workday. On May 4, after days of peaceful protest, police attacked the crowd. A bomb was thrown by an unknown individual. Police fired wildly. Multiple protesters and officers were killed. In the aftermath, labor organizers were arrested, many without evidence. Four were hanged.

The world took notice. The executed protestors- August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, and George Engel - became martyrs of the labor movement. At the 1889 International Socialist Congress in Paris, May 1st was officially declared International Workers’ Day in their honor. To this day, it’s recognized and celebrated by workers and labor movements across the globe.  

The U.S. government, terrified of the power of a radical, organized working class, deliberately distanced itself from the day. In 1894, it invented Labor Day, and placed it in September in an effort to scrub any trace of anarchists, immigrants, or worker-led resistance from the narrative.

May Day is not just history, it’s an ongoing call to action! 

Now What???

You don’t need to lead a revolution overnight. But you can make ripples. Here's how to start where you are:

• Tap into local organizing efforts with: 

  • PSL San Diego - San Diego branch for the Party of Socialism and Liberation.

  • Mid-City CAN - youth, housing, and transportation justice in City Heights.

  • We All We Got SD - mutual aid and community response.

  • Voices of Our City - arts and housing justice.

    
    

• Learn the history of local labor fights with resources like:

  • San Diego Labor History Association

  • Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center

    
    

• Get fuel for your fire by reading!

  • Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis - a collection of essays that connects global freedom movements with clarity, power, and urgency.

  • Hammer & Hoe by Robin D.G. Kelley - history of black communists organizing in the Deep South during the 1930s.

  • Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown - intentional community organizing meets nature, sci-fi, and collective care.  

  • On the Line by Daisy Pitkin - a memoir of union organizing at an industrial laundry.

  • Blood in My Eye by George Jackson - a revolutionary indictment of capitalism and the prison-industrial complex from behind bars!

  • All We Can Save edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine Wilkinson - climate justice and collective care by women at the forefront of environmental work.

    
    

Remember: the system is the drama, not you!