Report Back from NYC May Day Anarchist Contingent

This reflection and report back from New York City discusses the events on May Day.

This relay is from comrades in NYC who wish to share their experiences from the MayDay anti-capitalist anti-statist bloc. We hope that other folks in NYC and beyond can use this info as inspiration and examples for building an even better event next year!

The day started at Union Square. The Parks Department has denied the permit for the rally this year, traditionally held on the south side of the park, so protesters gathered on the north side. Most of these protesters gathered inside a police barricade pen to listen to speeches by speakers from the various organizing groups.

Others however, refused to let themselves be corralled and gathered on the corners, or simply slid in and out of both area’s as they wished. The area was nicely propagated with anarchist propaganda and flyers, presumably put up the night before. Right wing trolls attempted to engage the crowd in conversation and film people, but folks did a good job of pushing them away and an attempted flag grab by a far-Right troll was foiled.

The anarchist contingent gathered around the outside of the pen, and a particularly nice moment was when a teacher brought their students to the black bloc as part of a political science field trip in order to learn about the history of May Day and anarchism. As the march started, anarchists were asked to take the front in order to “set the tone.”

There was an attempt to take the streets which was stopped by bike cops, pushing the march to the sidewalk. Soon after, another attempt was made to take the streets and march against traffic, this time more successful but ultimately split up by the pigs who attempted unsuccessful arrests. Comrades escaped and blockade the streets impeding the progress of pursuing police.

Throughout the day, the police attempted multiple times to arrest folks and kettle the march, but failed each time and people successfully de-arrested each other, pushed back against police lines, and never stopped trying to escape the sidewalk and pull people onto the streets. At one point, a bourgeois concert hall was attacked and at another, a Nike shop window was damaged. One frustrating aspect was the reality of dealing with liberals and tankie peace police, who may have been upset that there was an explicit call for an anti-capitalist anti-statist bloc which called out 3rd positionism and criticized the tendency of statist leftists to idealize reactionary leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Bashar Al Assad.

Every time anarchists (who were were encouraged to set the tone and be militant anyway) tried to take the streets, they were discouraged by self proclaimed peace keepers in the march who complained about unnecessary arrests, and worked to keep people moving in a straight line. Not everyone listened to them, but they definitely hindered progress that could have been made. One thing we should think further about is the necessity to work and organize away from these groups who are more concerned about maintaining order than actually making a point and honoring the legacy of May Day.

At the end of the march, socialist groups sent some representatives to apologize to the black bloc for the behavior of certain peace policing self-proclaimed socialists/Marxists in the crowd. Afterwards, a noise demo was held at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, with good response from those held inside. It was closed off by a successful flag burning after which everyone successfully dispersed into the night.

Overall, MayDay NYC both built upon successes from last year and also improved up failures, and was an encouraging day with no reported arrests. Let’s hope that we can build upon these successes once again in 2019!