Anger Boils in the Streets As Tens of Thousands March Across the US & Beyond on May Day

On May Day weekend, tens of thousands of people across the US and the world took to the streets, celebrating the rebellious spirit of the anti-capitalist holiday which commemorates the anarchist Haymarket Martyrs, with strikes, demonstrations, and direct action. As Margaret Killjoy wrote:

All around the world, people celebrate May 1st as the labor holiday. In most countries, it’s an official holiday. Not in the United States–we have Labor Day for that. Which is a bit strange, because the day got its start in Chicago.

In the United States, it’s also become a day to celebrate immigrant labor–and fight for immigrant rights–specifically. That makes sense–it’s a day that celebrates the organizing and actions of immigrant workers.

We celebrate May Day because at the birth of the labor movement, in the 1880s, a large group of disgruntled, overworked immigrant workers got together with a woman who had been born into slavery and her ex-confederate-soldier of a husband. Collectively they tried their hardest to overthrow the capitalist order and institute a stateless, socialist society–an anarchist society. Police and rightwing thugs opened fire on them, time and time again, and the workers fought back. They fought back with marches, they fought back with speeches. They also fought back with handguns and dynamite.

On May 3rd, 1886, as part of a nationwide general strike to fight for an eight-hour workday, police attacked striking workers at a factory in Chicago. On May 4th, 1886, the police attacked an anarchist rally at Haymarket Square and someone threw a bomb into the police. A gunfight broke out, though most of the police that died were killed by friendly fire. Anarchists across the city were rounded up and eight people were tried. The court was quite clear: they weren’t on trial for throwing the bomb, or even organizing the rally. Anarchism itself was on trial. In the end, five of the men were sentenced to hang for murder despite no one claiming they’d done the crime themselves. One of the defendants took his own life in prison, and four faced the noose.

Their lives, words, and deeds have echoed across history, leaving us with a mournful holiday that connects us to our lineage of struggle against the state, against capitalism, against borders, and for anarchist socialism.

In the United States, tens of thousands demonstrated against the increasingly authoritarian grip of the second Trump administration, which has moved to attack labor unions, anti-war protesters, trans people, and kick-off a draconian crackdown on migrant workers. Thousands of protests were held outside of Telsa dealerships, ICE facilities, and in town squares. As In These Times wrote, May Day also saw numerous workplaces go out on strike:

May Day arrived in the time-honored tradition of strikes. As the Trump administration and the billionaire class threaten to shred the fundamental right to collectively bargain, one of the most important front lines is defending that right against the tyrannical depredations of powerful employers.

More than 57,000 workers with AFSCME 3299 and UPTE-Communications Workers Local 9119 representing workers across the University of California system are on strike in response to what they say are illegal hiring freezes. Both unions are fighting for more staffing. Sonya Mogilner, a clinical social worker at University of California Davis Medical Center, says her caseload is up to 120 patients at a time.

Nearly 1,000 Lockheed Martin workers in Colorado and Florida walked out on a strike over alleged unfair labor practices during contract bargaining as the United Auto Workers members seek to negotiate higher pay in the face of the company’s billions in profits.

And hundreds of nurses in New Orleans with the National Nurses United are striking today as they negotiate for a first contract amid safety concerns they attribute to understaffing. ​“They have spent millions and millions of dollars just trying to break our spirit and break us down, but it’s honestly really only empowered us more,” says nurse Hailey Dupre.

Many cities also saw “A Day Without an Immigrant” protests, rallies, and student walkouts, as demonstrations were held against ICE and the growing attempt by the Trump administration to carry out mass deportations.

As we wrote in 2018:

And just as in 1886, the State today views autonomous social movements which are building and fighting for a new world to be the principle threat to the established order. This is why they are attempting to pass new laws making already illegal behavior, like blocking freeways and pipelines, to instead be met with higher fines and jail time and the serving of possible conspiracy charges. Like in 1886, our true “conspiracy” is that of wanting to struggle and fight for a different world.

With that spirit in mind, in the following roundup we feature several report-backs, taking a look at how anarchists and autonomous anti-capitalists celebrated May Day in several different cities.

Pacific Northwest

The May Day Rally in Anchorage was a great way to spend the evening, even with a bit of rain. I had fun with our celebrity, Jesus, talked with a lot of folks about the history of May Day, & distributed some awesome zines!#mayday2025 #alaskasky #akpol

— katsylver (@katsylver.bsky.social) 2025-05-02T15:07:07.902Z

May Day rallies, protests, and community events took place across the Pacific Northwest, from Anchorage, AL to Portland, OR.

Anarchists held numerous events across the Pacific Northwest. One comrade offered this roundup from the region:

Thousands were drawn into the streets in the Pacific Northwest on May Day and going into the weekend.

In Aberdeen, WA, May Day started early with a radical festival and potluck on April 26th, featuring live music, art making, anarchist distros, puppet theater, and more.

Moving south, in Seattle, WA on May 1st, around 3,000 people marched from Cal Anderson Park, the sight of the so-called CHAZ in 2020. Most of the messaging present at this march was liberal leaning, anti-Trump, and defensive of the rule of law and the state, although a small anarchist contingent did materialize.

Also on May Day in Seattle there was a May Day memorial bonfire at the Beacon Hill food forest, a space that focuses on equitable food systems, environmental stewardship, and mutual aid. Further to the south, in Tacoma, WA, grassroots immigrant solidarity group La Resistencia led a march to the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC), a crucial node in ICE infrastructure administered by the GEO Group. The NWDC is also where Willem Von Spronsen was martyred attacking deportation buses in 2019.

Continuing southward, in Olympia, WA anarchists and their accomplices managed to undertake rowdy economic disruptions of multiple businesses despite heavy police presence by choosing favorable terrain and dispersing into the neighborhoods losing the cops.

Further south in Portland, OR, May Day had a similar vibe to Seattle where there was a large march of several thousand, which was put on by the same people who have been doing the Hands Off! demonstrations. Later that day, anarchists organized a picnic and gathering, drawing 75 in Peninsula Park, a site of much activity in the opening days of the George Floyd rebellion.

May Day activity in Portland also continued on May 3rd with more demonstration and an anarchist BBQ that where people saw old friends, made new ones, and tightened bonds. Around Portland there were also several other May Day events ranging from Telsa Takedown shutdowns of showrooms to union backed anti-ICE rallies. On May 4th there was also a small picnic in the park where poetry was read in honor of Joshua Clover, a comrade who recently passed who was no stranger to autonomous anti-capitalist struggles.

Moving south again to Eugene, OR, on May Day, organizers with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (GTFF) worked with the police to crack down on a rowdy radical contingent of anarchists and others resulting in multiple arrests. For more information, see Eugene Jail Support.

Finally in Medford, OR some anarchists donned the iconic black bloc to run an “Ask an Anarchist” table at the 50501/Women’s March May Day rally. The crowd loved it, showing that there is a real hunger for anarchist presence right now. No town is too small!

THANK YOU to everyone who came out to celebrate May Day with us this weekend! ❤️We are so grateful to offer this event to our community and are looking forward to many more years of dancing, eating, and learning together! See you next year! 🌹🥖

— Neighborhood Anarchist Collective (@naceugene.bsky.social) 2025-05-06T22:04:53.271Z

Reporting on the May Day festival that brought out hundreds of attendees, the Neighborhood Anarchist Collective wrote:

THANK YOU to everyone who came out to celebrate May Day with us this weekend!  We estimated around 500 people attended this year’s completely free celebration, with over 400 people fed and an overflow of donations to the free market. We are so grateful to offer this event to our community and are looking forward to many more years of dancing, eating, and learning together! See you next year!

The Boise May Day! 2025 Event went well and had great turnout!Bands played rad music, local organizations tabled and chatted with the community, there were activities and a grief altar, tons of food, plus a maypole!Then there was A LOT of rain!

— Boise Autonomous Solidarity Hub (@bigbash.bsky.social) 2025-05-04T16:27:32.836Z

In Boise, ID:

About 50 people showed up to our May Day event in Boise. We had live music, food, zines, a grief alter, local mutual aid groups and other orgs tabling, and games/skillshares. It was a fun day!

Pacific

May Day march Sacramento!! #unionpower #mayday

— Skellyluv🌹✊🏼 (@skellyluv.bsky.social) 2025-05-01T19:32:44.184Z

In California, mass marches and May Day rallies took place in large cities and smaller towns, with thousands taking to the streets in the Bay Area, Fresno, Sacramento and in Los Angeles.

In Humboldt, CA:

…we kicked off Mayday with a celebration taking over the Arcata plaza. We hung a banner, had a grill goin, people were banging on instruments and reading zines, food not bombs did a serve, and the local harm reduction center (HACHR) gave out supplies.

After the BBQ we moved over to our new community space, Moss Oak Commons, to watch a documentary on the Haymarket riot. We ended the night by marching down the street with an effigy of the monopoly man, eventually setting him on fire.

In Nevada City, CA, hundreds came out to a May Day festival featuring music, food, radical zine tables, and games. From the Foothill Fire collective: “Thank you to everyone who came out to May Day last Thursday! 300+ people came through for Foothill Fire’s festival for revolutionary joy.”

In San Francisco, CA, members of Tenants Against Policing took to the streets against ICE, with one participant reporting:

May Day roared back to life in the California Bay Area. During midday in San Francisco, youth organizers led hundreds of community members on a march to City Hall.

Later, dozens of labor and tenant unions, community groups, and political organizations converged in Civic Center Plaza before marching to the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office where throngs of the thousands of rallygoers smashed a piñata of a border patrol vehicle set ablaze.

In the East Bay, hundreds more marched in through East Oakland with similar messages of solidarity with immigrant siblings before the coalition Oakland Sin Fronteras hosted an organizing fair for community groups to make connections with each other and the plug newly-mobilized people into ongoing campaigns.

Meanwhile in Berkeley, CA, members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) at Urban Ore, declared an end to their strike after almost six weeks on the picket lines. On Instagram, workers wrote:

The Strike is Over! Come down to the front gates of Urban Ore at 10 am and party with us! After 40 days on the picket line pressuring the owners of Urban Ore to meet with us, engage with us at the bargaining table and bargain seriously to address workers’ needs, we have reached agreement on terms to end our strike!

We have agreed to a 45-day cooling off period to bargain the rest of our contract while Urban Ore returns to normal operations and recoups some of its financial losses. We have reached tentative agreement on a number of key subjects and have settled on an interim adjustment to our wage structure which will stabilize wages and give everyone a little pay bump. We feel good about these interim terms and encourage you all to shop and donate during this period!!

We are feeling incredibly proud of the effectiveness of our strike, grateful for all of the support we’ve received from the community to make that happen, and we are looking forward to reaching a full collective bargaining agreement. We have made some big wins which wouldn’t have been possible without the pressure we were able to exert through our direct action!!

During these 45 days we plan to bargain regularly to finish our full contract. If the Company is unwilling to bargain fairly to reach a full agreement in that time, you might just see us out front with picket signs in 45 days!! Until then, stay posted for bargaining updates!

In Los Angeles, members of the Los Angeles Tenants Union (LATU) took part in mass demonstrations, while antifascists put on a concert to benefit groups in Gaza, and in San Diego, groups rallied at Chicano Park.

Southwest

In the Southwest, massive May Day rallies and protests took place, with thousands marching on the Arizona capitol in Phoenix and in Albuquerque, NM.

In Tucson, AZ:

In Tucson, AZ, a small group in bloc marched with a banner reading “CAN WE RIOT NOW?,” and pulling a wagon full of water balloons and water guns. The intention/hope was to have fun and create some positive association with people in bloc, this seemed very successful. A ton of water guns that were distributed throughout the march and among many children, leading to water fights between the group in bloc and roving bands of small kids!

Many people, especially older liberals were taking pictures of the banner and the crowd seemed a bit unsure but increasingly supportive/accepting as the march went on. At the beginning before the march had started an older woman approached and accusingly asked, “What’s your plan for this, are you just here to be violent?” In response, someone replied, “We’re here with water balloons to keep people cool and have fun.” She’s said, “OK! I support you then!”

Also in Tucson, the local chapter of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) held a May Day gathering.

In Salt Lake City, UT:

On May 3rd, 2025, over a hundred workers and unionists in Utah came together to celebrate International Workers Day. The event was put on by Organize Utah (OUT), a group of rank-and-file workers and organizers focused on building working class power in Utah. The purpose of this May Day event was to highlight labor wins in Utah, build out existing networks, and expand solidarity across sectors. Workers from around eight unions were in attendance, representing electricians, educators, healthcare workers, library workers, ski patrollers, and more.

The event began with speeches from rank-and-file unionists recounting recent struggles in Utah such as the 14 day Park City Ski Patrol strike and the first unionization of public library workers in Utah history. OUT members also wrote and put on a play on the life and legacy of IWW labor organizer and songwriter Joe Hill who was executed in Salt Lake City, which was followed by a performance by the Joe Hill Labor Choir. Over the course of the afternoon, attendees played yard games, ate hotdogs, and spoke with organizations distributing information on organizing tactics/strategy as well as information on how to join existing unions.

This May Day showed the current state of the Utah labor movement: burgeoning with new energy and excitement. People from workplaces large and small came to the event wanting to learn how to get involved, start organizing their coworkers, and showing up with solidaristic spirit for their union siblings across industry as well as the HB267 referendum to bring back public sector collective bargaining. At the current conjuncture, the labor movement is having to confront an authoritarian state and, in Utah, the end of administrative protections for collective bargaining for public sector unions. It is important for the labor movement in Utah and the rest of the so-called US to celebrate our victories and struggles. However, this event was not the end all, be all; rather, staking a mile marker for the labor movement in the Salt Lake region.

Also in Reno, NV, local anti-capitalist and mutual aid groups held a May Day gathering with speakers, food, and info-tables.

Central

Large May Day rallies and marches happened in cities such as Houston, TX, Dallas, TX, Fort-Worth, TX, Austin, TX, Denver, CO, and Missoula, MT.

In Denton, TX, a radical May Day gathering was organized, featuring anarchist and autonomous groups. Meanwhile in San Antonio, TX, an anarchist bookfair was organized.

Midwest

Protests took place across the midwest, with rallies happening in numerous Ohio cities, Chicago, IL, and beyond. In Cleveland, OH, people reported on a variety of May Day events:

May Day weekend in Cleveland this year ended up being a four day long affair. It started with the liberals holding a rally that around 1,000 people attended, focused on resistance to Trump. That evening we had a large social event at the Rhizome House hosted by Autonomous Action Cleveland, a new network of anarchists and fellow travelers in the area. The next day was a packed night at Rhizome House, were anarchist author and podcaster Margaret Killjoy hosted an amazing story-telling event focused on the story behind May Day.

On Saturday there were social events hosted by some of the local Food not Bombs (FNB) groups, with the day ending with a massive folk punk festival in a park, hosted by a local radical arts collective (Cleveland Art Workers) followed by an Apes of the State show at one of the local venues.

We ended things with our normal Sunday gathering at Rhizome House. All weekend the energy was a clear expression of the sense of community, resiliency, and resistance that is building up locally!

In Bloomington, IN, anarchists organized a May Day gathering in a park.

In Ypsilanti, MI:

On May Day, a popular assembly launched, which was in part facilitated by one of our liberal city-council members. They forgot to mention May Day till the very end when reminded. Comrades brought zines on authoritarianism, peace policing, community safety alternatives to police, and the history of May Day.

The next day we screened the first episode of IntereBellium from subMedia and had a discussion about how pop assemblies can be co-opted for liberal agendas afterward. Movie screenings in parks have been a critical way we’ve gathered loose networks of people to build relationships and radical values.

So many young kids we met at the encampments come out to these events and are getting plugged more deeply into anarchist community all the time. So cool to see kids, especially the ones who used to peace police or used to be with PSL, radicalize and be hungry for more.

Showing up to spaces like the encampment and the pop assembly thing in ways that live out our values while prioritizing relationship building with those ready for something more has paid off. We have a much larger anti-authoritarian community than just a year ago that we know will be better prepared to help organically intervene at encampments and the like toward more radical action.

The May Day parade is delightful, anarchic and anarchist. There is a block-long "Battle Train" of welded metal, earth-and-nature themed costumes and puppets, ambling bands, little kids. It is political, not patriotic.This band is playing "When The Saints"… or are they?

— Wiredferret! (@wiredferret.bsky.social) 2025-05-05T20:08:48.722Z

In Minneapolis, MN:

May Day in Minneapolis had its 50th anniversary, celebrated on May 4th in Powderhorn Park. Up to ten thousand people come and hang out in the park every year, with a parade, puppet ceremonies celebrating the coming of spring and almost a week of shows and other events leading up to the day. This year included an extravagant punk show in a cave in St. Paul.

The night before the 4th there was a ambitious wheatpasting and graffiti campaign in the area, putting up over a hundred posters and messages across town. Three separate and autonomous anarchist tables set up and gave out zines and other media in the park.

Also, in Lincoln, NB, the Everett Free Grocery Program hosted a block party. and in DC, the local IWW hosted a radical labor history walking tour.

Southeast

Large May Day rallies and marches took place in Atlanta, GA and in DC. In Charleston, SC, protests took place against Elbit Systems, demanding they end their role in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

In North Carolina, anarchists organized a variety of events in numerous cities. One person reported:

As they have in previous years, anarchists in central North Carolina organized a week of events for May Day, including at least ten activities across eight days in three different towns.

The week began on Sunday, April 27, with a regularly occurring gathering in a park titled Comrades in the Commons, at which people socialize, discuss, and share skills. This time, the gathering concluded with a participatory discussion about what anarchism is and how it is relevant today.

On Monday, April 28, people gathered for a reading group about the history of May Day. One of the readings was a zine by Margaret Killjoy, Hurrah for Anarchy, which Margaret debuted a year ago at a presentation in Chapel Hill for May Day 2024.

On Tuesday, April 29, students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill occupied the main quad all day in solidarity with Palestine. That evening, anarchists hosted an art build preparing for the May Day parade.

On Wednesday, April 30, Triangle Guerrilla Cinema, an anarchist collective dedicated to hosting unpermitted film showings in public spaces, showed a classic documentary about the protests that shut down the 1999 summit of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, titled Breaking the Spell. The event concluded with a raucous participatory activity in which the audience recreated the events of the 1999 protests, learning a variety of tactics in the process.

The anarchist May Day parade in Durham drew approximately 100 people, who marched around downtown for an hour without a permit, surrounding an impressively decorated float with a sound system. Fireworks were shot off throughout, including in front of the jail. Participants handed out zines to passersby and drivers stuck in traffic.

That same night, Migrant Fest, a celebration of “music without borders,” took place in Chapel Hill. The band Anarkuss played in Chapel Hill the following night, kicking off a month-long tour via which they will be distributing anarchist literature around the country.

Saturday’s Really Really Free Market in Carrboro drew hundreds of people, as usual, who got to choose between two different tables serving free meals and take their fill of free clothing, furnishings, home appliances, zines, and more. Anarchist banners hung from the pavilion, reading “total liberation from domination,” “carnival against capitalism,” and “immigrants welcome.” The monthly Carrboro Really Really Free Markets have inspired similar regular Really Really Free Markets that take place in at least five neighboring towns.

The week’s events concluded on May 4 with a fundraiser to open a new anti-authoritarian community space planned for Carrboro. Another such space is opening in Durham.

For the abolition of all forms of domination! For anarchy!

Behind the 50501 March is a group of anarchist that began at a different location.

— Goad (Legal Expert) (@goad.bsky.social) 2025-05-01T22:36:08.984Z

In Richmond, VA, one person reported on an autonomous May Day march:

Mayday in Richmond was celebrated with multiple marches, one led by 50501, the other organized and led by anarchists. The anarchist march, dubbing its theme “Revolt in Bloom,” began in Abner Clay park, which has historically held anarchist and communist gatherings. Marchers carried two banners, reading “Destroy Ice,” and “Burn the Plantation: Revolt in Bloom,” as well as many colorful signs, puppets, and even memorials to the Haymarket martyrs.

The march snaked through several neighborhoods, taking a main throughway before meeting up with the 50501 march. Here, participants sought not to join their masses, but to pose a joyous and combative pole to the demonstration. When it departed, several 50501 protestors joined.

This march did not seek to reach a target or accomplish a goal, but did succeed at bringing anarchists into the street, taking up space and taking main roads. This was the 3rd time that Broad Street – a busy downtown street – was taken with less than 75 people in the past year.

On Saturday, the May Day festivities continued with a barbecue, also in Abner Clay Park. Here, the posters from the march that bore the faces of the Haymarket Eight were recontextualized as part of an altar to our ancestors and martyrs of the struggle. In the afternoon, a discussion on the parallels between the Haymarket Affair and organizing today took place beneath the shade of the altar tent. Nearby a football team practiced and neighbors held a book drive; by the afternoon these onlookers had all taken part in the abundant grilled feast prepared by Food Not Bombs. All in all, friends, comrades, and passersby gathered to peruse the zine tables, eat heaps of grilled food, and enjoy the spring day.

Also in New Orleans, LA:

In city park, hundreds came out for an autonomously organized May Day gathering which included workshops and discussions around squatting, labor organizing, self-managed abortion, and digital security. There was a zine distro, ecology walk, big cookout, and an evening outdoor screening of subMedia’s new film InterRebellium. We had a blast!

Northeast

Large May Day protests took place in multiple cities and towns in the northeast, with thousands marching in Boston, MA, Philadelphia, PA, and in New York City.

In Williston, VT, the local IWW reported, “We were proud to join the 1000+ workers who marched on the ICE Data Center and Hannaford in Williston, Vermont this May Day. Now is the time to stand with immigrant workers and say NO to fascism!”

In Frederick, MD, several demonstrators were arrested, and can be supported here. Meanwhile, in Binghamton, NY, people came out to enjoy the Upstate Anarchist Bookfair, which featured numerous speakers and workshops.

Lastly in New York City, NY, people took over a squatted building and clashed with police. From one report:

NYC May Day was lit, more cultural event than combative; unused building takeover (3 stories and a gorgeous roof) of the former Yippie HQ turned hipster boxing gym in lower Manhattan. 5ish hours of revelry; people brought art to put up, everything got tagged, punk show in the basement, zine and distros galore, anarchist marching band, good free food, cops eventually came, bottles thrown…Couple hundred people dispersed most everyone marched together to finish the show on a generator in Sara D Roosevelt park, overall nice start to Spring and being outside together. By far best NYC May Day in ages!

Montreal:

In Montreal, the IWW took part in demonstrations to demand companies divest from apartheid in Palestine. Clash MTL also reported on the eye of May Day people engaged in mass food expropriation:

Tonight, people engaged in combative mutual aid. Food should be free, as with all essential items. The scourge of capitalism has made it so that necessities such as food and housing are things to be earned rather than inalienable basic needs.

Today we are making food free in our own way, by liberating sustenance to redistribute amongst the community. And we will do it again. The state apparatus may try to stop us, and in doing so, show its true colors. The government and the corporate interest it serves are not your friends. They will sooner let you starve than sacrifice their bottom line. Eat freely!

The massive turn-out on May Day shows that there is growing working-class opposition to Trump’s authoritarianism as well as the neoliberalism on offer from the Democratic party. The path forward is clear, autonomous anti-capitalist movements from below must seize the moment and build rank-n-file power and answer Trump’s attacks with self-organization, direct action, and our biggest collective weapon: solidarity.

Did we miss something? Let us know!