Betty Firth

May Day is known by multiple names with multi-faceted origins. The maypoles and young maidens dancing with baskets of flowers version stemmed from the pagan celebration called Beltane, celebrating spring, rebirth, and fertility. That’s the one you’ll see on Hallmark cards.
But the May Day that originated in America was birthed in the labor movement with bloody beginnings in Chicago in 1886. As industry had developed in the U.S., working class conditions had worsened, with many jobs demanding 10- to 16-hour shifts in unsafe conditions as portrayed in Upton Sinclair’s book, “The Jungle.”
The Industrial Workers of the World website (iww.org) states that “workers had seen firsthand that capitalism benefited only their bosses, trading workers’ lives for profit…with life expectancy as low as the early twenties in some industries. Socialism offered another option. Many were drawn to its ideology of working-class control over the production and distribution of all goods and services.”
Many socialist political parties and other organizations emerged in the second half of the 19th century. Chase states that “many of these socialists were ham-strung by the political process which was evidently controlled by big business and the bipartisan political machine.” Sound familiar? Anarchist groups were created by people who felt just reforming the current system was inadequate; that revolution was needed to upend the hierarchical structures, including government; that whether workers worked eight or ten hours a day, they were still slaves.
Recognizing that an estimated quarter million workers in the Chicago area were mobilizing to fight for the eight-hour day, the anarchists conceded and led the way with fiery speeches as 40,000 Chicago workers went out on strike on May 1, 1886, which quickly grew to 100,000 in a few days. More than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the country joined them.
Strikers were peaceful until police intervened, acting on misinformation. They beat strikers with clubs, who retaliated with rock-throwing; the police responded with gunfire, wounding and killing some strikers. The following day in Haymarket Square, anarchists gathered to discuss the police brutality. May Day historian Peter Linebaugh described the police as “basically the armed force of the capitalist masters.” The police attempted to disperse the crowd when an anonymous bomb was thrown, aimed at the police, who responded by firing randomly into the crowd. Civilians and police were wounded and killed; the police who died were most likely victims of their own erratic gunfire.
Eight anarchists were arrested and convicted of murder, although only three were at Haymarket and there was no evidence to connect any of the eight to the bombing. The jury was made up of business leaders and was considered a kangaroo court by many, convicting these men for their political and social beliefs. People protested the mockery of justice in the U.S., Mexico, and abroad, pleading for mercy, but four men were hung, one committed suicide, and three were pardoned six years later by Governor Altgeld, who decried the injustice of the court as an atrocity.
To honor the Chicago workers, the 1889 International Socialist Conference named May Day a labor holiday, which today is celebrated throughout the world as International Workers Day.
However, in the mainstream media, “anarchism became synonymous with bomb throwing and socialism became un-American” according to the IWW website. Those who held the reins of power in countries like the U.S. and Canada feared the collective power of workers identifying with an international brotherhood and did not want to promote a holiday that banded workers together globally.
In the early 20th century, the U.S. government attempted to override the memory of the strikes and violence, renaming May 1 “Law and Order Day.” Continuing the effort in 1958, President Eisenhower pronounced May 1 to be “Law Day,” to honor the role of law in the creation of the United States, which was confirmed by Congress three years later. The American Bar Association stated that Law Day “underscores how law and the legal process have contributed to the freedoms that all Americans share.”
While other countries celebrate International Workers Day and the rights of the working classes to participate in government, Law Day supposedly focuses on every American’s rights as laid out in the our fundamental documents: the Declaration of Independence, the federal Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
I would venture a guess that while many Americans may still be aware that May 1 is celebrated as International Workers Day in the rest of the world, the majority of Americans probably are not aware that May Day was renamed Law Day in our country. Additionally, I could say with some certainty that our current administration is neither aware nor cares that Law Day is happening this week, celebrating the rights of free speech, free press, and fair trial. They may have also overlooked that America was founded by people fighting for their rights.
We have witnessed Trump, Musk, and their appointed henchmen stealing taxpayer money, invading personal data, violating the rule of law, flaunting opposition to court orders, and gutting staff and money from federal agencies that are essential in many ways for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The rights of due process were blatantly ignored in the kidnapping and deporting of immigrants to a gulag in El Salvador, such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was given protected status in 2019 and had committed no crime.
Americans have been shocked by the rapid-fire decimation of critical service agencies and funding to higher education and scientific research along with threats to Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and public education at all levels…but are not taking it lying down. Millions of Americans have been protesting these lawless, irresponsible actions and will continue to do so as long as the atrocities continue. No doubt some people are still hoping their confidence in Trump as a positive game-changer will be proven true, but that seems to me to be a very difficult delusion to hang on to.
People are coming out to protest who have never before joined a protest in their life. I talked to one man holding a sign, “Have you seen this Congressman?” who had voted for Pete Stauber and has been appalled by his unwillingness to stand up or show up to represent and answer to his constituents. So he’s standing up in protest. Have you had enough?
People will be out on the streets all over our region this week in support of family, friends, and neighbors who have lost jobs, opportunities, and needed services. A few of the events in our region:
May Day Rally for Democracy, May 1, 3-5 p.m., Hwy. 53 and 12th Ave., Virginia.
May Day Strong: We Are the Many, May 1, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Old Central School, Grand Rapids.
Hands Off Our Wild Rice, May 1, 3-4:30 p.m., Online MPCA WebX.
May Day Demonstration for unions, workers, and families, May 3, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Whiteside Park, Ely.
National Day of Awareness for MMIWR (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives), May 5, 1-5 p.m., Duluth City Hall.
Go to NorthernProgressives.org for ongoing updates, events, actions, and training in our region. Information also available on Facebook and BlueSky.