May Day Means Resistance

A Call to Take Action on May First

2025-04-08

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This May Day, gather in defiance of tyranny and oppression. Gather to create communities based in solidarity and mutual aid. Gather with everyone who wants a better life. Gather to honor those who fought before us. Gather to show that another world is possible.

As May Day 2025 approaches, we face an increasingly grim situation. Donald Trump and his lackeys are restructuring the state, redirecting even more resources towards repression and filling their pockets along the way. They are already deporting students on the basis of their political views and they have made it clear that they intend to escalate to deporting US citizens as well. All the while, the ecological damage, climate disasters, wars, and genocides that were already in progress are only intensifying.

While some are laying low, hoping that the tide will turn, that is a terrible mistake. How far this nightmare can go will be determined by what people do now to build movements of resistance. The more time passes, the firmer Trump’s grip on the institutions will be, and the better positioned he will be to expand and intensify repression. Even if Trump’s ill-thought-out policies alone suffice to turn the majority of the population against him, that will not answer the question of how to push him out of power—he has already shown that he will not leave office willingly. It also will not ensure that what comes after will be any better. Remember, we ended up in this situation because of the catastrophic reign of the Biden administration.

There’s no way around it: we have to build powerful grassroots movements through which to defend each other and popularize a radical analysis of what we are up against.

May Day offers a perfect occasion for this. For nearly a century and a half, anarchists and other revolutionaries have observed it as a day of celebration and resistance. Tapping into this longstanding tradition offers many reference points for what we can do right now.

Wherever you are, you can do something for May Day. Better yet, organize a week of events, including education, mutual aid, arts and entertainment, and a march or demonstration.

We’ve prepared a poster design to support you in organizing and promoting events in your community.

Click on the image to download the poster.

Most of the suggestions that follow here are things you can do with two dozen people. Organizing doesn’t have to involve massive numbers to be worthwhile. Even in movements that do involve massive numbers, the best way to ensure that they will be resilient and effective is to make sure that people are in the habit of talking, making decisions, and taking action in small groups so as to maximize the agency of the participants.

In Washington, DC, an ad-hoc group is calling for an occupation of the National Mall:

Our strategy is to establish a 24/7, legal, non-violent demonstration on the National Mall, calling on Congress to take the only logical step in this crisis: impeach and remove Donald Trump.

You can follow their announcements here.

Elsewhere around the country from Seattle and Eugene to Minneapolis, Bloomington, and Providence, longstanding groups are planning events. People in Aberdeen, Washington are planning a whole day of activities the preceding weekend just to get things started.

But don’t leave everything to them. If anything really exciting is going to happen, it’s up to you.

Outreach

Spring is in the air; it’s a good time to make new connections. Even if you are already organizing in a tight-knit community of anarchists, this is a chance to reach out to people you don’t know yet. Invite them to events! Talk to them about their concerns! Propose ideas for what you could do together!

Even if you are completely isolated and cannot organize events with other humans, you can order stickers from Municipal Adhesives—and, sure, from us as well—and bring the bus stops and electrical boxes of your neighborhood to life. Pocket a paint marker and add “ICE” to every stop sign in your county. Cut a stencil design into the bottom of a thick paper shopping bag and walk around your neighborhood with a can of spray paint in the bag, leaving a little trail of messages everywhere you go. If you are not a gifted artist, Municipal Adhesives mails out stencils, too. Download and print posters, make wheatpaste or obtain wallpaper paste, and go out putting postering. You could do all of these things even if you are the only sentient life form within a hundred miles.

On the other hand, if you are not the only sentient life form within a hundred miles, you could also print or order some zines and set up a literature table at a punk show, a campus, a farmer’s market, or, failing all else, at that bus stop where you put up your first sticker.

Education

For May Day, you could organize a reading group around a text engaging with the history of May Day. You could host a presentation on anarchism, or on the history of resistance in your local community. You could call for a discussion connecting one of those themes to the various attacks that the Trump administration is currently carrying out, with an eye to strategizing a response.

You could also announce a gathering in a public location at which people read aloud the final statements of the Haymarket martyrs—the ones whose sacrifice for the labor movement gave rise to May Day as we know it today. Likewise, you could read one of the speeches of lifelong anarchist organizer Lucy Parsons, whose husband was among the murdered.

As the Trump administration smashes and loots the infrastructure of state-sponsored education, it is important to be building up our own educational models in their place.

Organizing

You could call for an assembly bringing together different people affected by or working on an issue such as ICE deportations or environmental damage, at which to coordinate resistance.

Even if the administration has not targeted your local community yet, you should do this now, in order to be prepared. For example, you could come up with a plan and get all the resources in place to respond as soon as they take a given action.

Arts and Entertainment

The May Day parade is a time-honored tradition, especially in places like Minneapolis. If there is already something like that happening near you, great—all you have to do is organize a contingent for it. But if there is not a May Day parade in your area, that is also great—it means that you can organize one according to your own preferences.

Don’t neglect to prepare banners, giant puppets, or other artistic elements. In 2017, anarchists in Portland made giant spiders for their May Day parade.

The spiders of mutual aid, solidarity, and direct action: May Day in Portland, 2017.

For later in the evening—or over the weekend—you could book a benefit show featuring local bands. For extra credit, you could host a show in a subversive location, such as under an overpass or in an abandoned warehouse.

End the night with a dance party!

Mutual Aid

For the occasion, you could host a Really Really Free Market, a potluck, or a work day at a community garden or social center.

Taking the Offensive

All of this will be of little use if we can’t also go on the attack. Limiting ourselves to attempting to manage the details of our survival in a non-hierarchical way while the state inflicts brutal violence on more and more people means accepting defeat in advance. We should respond to their offensives, but it is crucial that we pick the time and place of our own.

Thus far, the one solid example of this is the Tesla protests, which have opened up a new front of conflict, distracting the attention of Elon Musk and Donald Trump and laying bare their vulnerabilities. But there are many other ways to take the fight to our oppressors—recall the ICE occupations of 2018.

Identify a target and call for a protest or some other form of action there. If there is no obvious target available, you could still organize a public demonstration for the purposes of getting people used to moving together and engaging in collective expression, however symbolic. A smaller group of people preserving the element of surprise could also take action, sending up a signal flare to let others know that they are not alone in their rage.

Remember, at any demonstration that could be subject to repression, leave your phone at home and dress to preserve your anonymity.

You can find more resources about taking action here.

Events

Massive liberal organizations are promoting protests around the country here. The following events have a more grassroots character; the majority of them are organized by anarchists or involve anarchist contingents.

North America

Aberdeen, Washington: A full day of activities on April 26.
Asheville and Henderson, North Carolina: On May Day, there will be rallies in Hendersonville and Asheville, followed by a potluck and movie night at Firestorm Books.
Atlanta, Georgia: There will be a union demonstration at the state capitol on May Day; on May 4, abolitionists will organize a rally.
Bloomington, Indiana: A picnic on May 3.
Boise, Idaho: A gathering on May 3.
Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina: Anarchists in central North Carolina have announced a week of festivities for May Day involving at least ten events across eight days.
Chicago, Illinois: A mass march on May Day.
Cincinnati, Ohio: A rally on May Day.
Cleveland, Ohio: Four days of events at the Rhizome House.
Colorado Springs, Colorado: A mass demonstration on May Day.
Concord, New Hampshire: A big coalition rally at the State House on May Day.
Denver, Colorado: A “day without immigrants” demonstration at the state capitol on May 1.
Detroit, Michigan: A mass demonstration on May Day.
Eugene, Oregon: Eight events are planned across the course of a week, including a march on the night of May 2.
Flagstaff, Arizona: A union-organized event on May Day.
Fort Worth, Texas: A car caravan on May Day.
Fresno, California: A mass rally on May Day.
Hamilton, Canada: There is a May Day barbeque at the Black Oak anarchist social space from 3 to 6 pm.
Homestead, Florida: A full day of events for May Day.
Johnson City, Tennessee: A community event on May 3.
Kansas City: An event on May 3.
Knoxville, Tennessee: A May Day gathering on the afternoon of May 4.
Los Angeles, California: A mass mobilization on May Day.
Macon, Georgia: A union-organized event on May Day.
Minneapolis, Minnesota: A parade and ceremony on May 4.
Moscow, Idaho: A protest on May Day.
Nevada City, California: A festival for May Day.
New Orleans: An all-day festival on May Day including workshops, a film screening, and other activities.
New York City, New York: A mass rally on May Day.
Oakland, California: A mass rally and march.
Olympia, Washington: A roving economic blockade for May Day.
Ottawa, Canada: A march on May Day.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: a demonstration on May Day organized by SURJ, the AFL-CIO, and other massive non-governmental organizations. On May 3, there will be a community barbecue.
Portland, Maine: An event on May Day.
Portland, Oregon: A picnic in Peninsula Park on May Day.
Providence, Rhode Island: A demonstration at city hall on May Day.
Richmond, Virginia: A parade for May Day and a community barbecue on Saturday, May 3.
Riverside, California: A march on May 3.
Salt Lake City, Utah: A festival on May 3. There are also two mass demonstrations on May Day itself.
San Antonio, Texas: A book fair on May 3.
San Diego, California: A coalition rally on May Day.
San Francisco, California: A march on May Day.
San Jose, California: A mass rally on May Day, including Food Not Bombs.
Seattle, Washington: A broad call for a May Day demonstration in favor of labor rights and opposing ICE and Zionism, with a call for an anarchist contingent, and another event—billed as a “memorial bonfire in the food forest”—scheduled for that evening.
Tacoma, Washington: A march on May Day will go to the the Northwest Detention Center, where Willem van Spronsen was murdered in the course of taking action against the vehicles via which ICE kidnaps and disappears people.
Tucson, Arizona: An open mic and mingling event at the newly opened Homeward Books.
Vancouver, British Columbia: A movie night on May 3.
Washington, DC: There is a call for a continuous occupation at the National Mall starting May Day. The Industrial Workers of the World are also announcing four days of events.
Williston, Vermont: A rally on May Day.
Ypsilanti, Michigan: The local Industrial Workers of the World group will host an organizer training on May 2.

Outside North America

You can consult a list of fully forty-four events around Germany here.

Amsterdam, Netherlands
Bangkok, Thailand
Belo Horizonte, Brazil: There will be a film festival at the squatted anarchist social center Kasa Invisivel.
Berlin, Germany: There is a call for an anti-fascist bloc within the long-running Berlin May Day events. During the day, there is also a queer rave.
Bradford, United Kingdom
Brussels, Belgium
Copenhagen, Denmark
Derry, Northern Ireland: An anarchist-organized march on May 3.
Gothenburg, Sweden: The Syndicalist May Day gathering begins at the Masthuggstorget town square at 12:30 with the local affiliate of the anarcho-syndicalist trade union SAC, followed by the Club Classless afterparty with Syndicalist Forum at a venue named Skeppet GBG.
Hamburg, Germany
Krakow, Poland
London, United Kingdom: There will be a gathering at the social center Pelican House
Malmö, Sweden: A May Day gathering with autonomous leftists Allt åt Alla (“Everything For Everyone”) at Falsterboplan park at 11:30; a celebration of the 16th anniversary of the anarchist book café Amalthea at noon; and both will end up in the main Left Party demonstration at Möllevång’s Square, followed by the Revolutionary May Day at the same location.
Manchester, United Kingdom: Private-hire drivers will be holding a demonstration at 4 pm; that evening, there will be a gathering at the Onion, a squatted social center; all followed by a festival over the weekend.
Melbourne, Australia
Nijmegen, Netherlands
São Paulo, Brazil
Stockholm, Sweden: The anarcho-syndicalist trade union SAC will gather at Sergel’s Square in the center of the city at 11 am to march to Old Town, where the anarchist May Day action will begin at Stortorget (Main Square). Afterwards, most people will probably visit the anarchist space Kafé 44, then proceed to the May Day party at the anarchist social center Cyklopen hosted by the anarchist magazine Brand. (You can read about the founding of Cyklopen in Rolling Thunder #6.)
Tilburg, Netherlands
Umeå, Stockholm: The anti-fascist/left libertarian May Day will begin with SAC’s local gathering at Vänortsparken town square, then move to the libertarian left book café Angbett.
Uppsala, Sweden: The SAC trade union will gather at Carolina Rediviva; the Revolutionary feminist May Day will occur at the same place.
Vienna, Austria
Wrocław, Poland
Yogyakarta, Indonesia