No work, no school, no shopping

May Day as “the workers’ day” started in the USA. On 4 May 1886, workers gathered in Haymarket Square, Chicago, to protest for an eight hour work day. An unknown person threw a bomb towards police as they encroached on the demonstration. 11 people, including seven police officers, were killed by either the bomb or retaliatory violence.

May Day, in the years that followed, became the day on which the massacre and the unfair trial that followed were commemorated, and more broadly the day on which working class organising and history is celebrated.

May Day is still celebrated by workers and trade unions internationally, including in the US.

A 15 February workers’ assembly in Minneapolis, organised by left-wing groups and trade unions, with over 300 workers attending, and voted for a “no work, no school, no shopping” day against Trump this 1 May.

A second Minneapolis workers’ assembly, on 4 April, debated and passed several resolutions, and pledged to organise a workers’ assembly contingent on the regular Minneapolis May Day demo, with a “No ICE, No War, No Billionaires” slogan.

The May Day Strong coalition is also pushing for “no work, no school, no shopping”, and currently reports over 4,000 planned demonstrations nationwide. Many trade unions, including the NEA, AFT, and SEIU, as well as left wing organisations such as the DSA and Socialist Alternative, are supporting these demos and organising to get workers on them.

While trade unions or workers’ organisations are yet at the forefront of May Day organising in the US, it is good and right that many are getting workers ready to participate on May Day demos and doing so with overt, anti-Trump political messages.

May Day will not see a real general strike happen across the US. But if the unions and the left are able to get a sizeable amount of workers engaged in fighting for their class, and against Trump, it will be a great step in the right direction, building from the massive 28 March No Kings demonstrations.