Roanoke hasn’t seen many May Day events in recent history (there was one in 2011, and the last one before that was in 1940); most of us likely haven’t even heard of it, and that is no doubt for a reason. May Day (aka International Workers’ Day) was founded in the U.S. as a day for workers to fight for workers’ rights. Though it was federally replaced with “Labor Day” to vacation-ize and discourage collective struggle, it is acknowledged by most other countries worldwide. And, as a reminder, the working class is international; our enemies are not workers in foreign countries or immigrants who come here to work, but the bosses who control the means of production and who exploit all of our labor. This is why we say, “No Borders In The Workers’ Struggle”!
This was our first year of hosting a May Day event/celebration, which also happened to be our first big event as Roanoke Peoples’ Power Network, and it was powerful😍 There was a real energy in the air, a glimpse of liberation and community despite many of us not knowing each other. We organized it with Raise Up for $15 (the southern branch of Fight for $15), and had a focus on solidarity with immigrants. Folk of all types stormed the rain and came out (a few from other cities like Lynchburg, Christiansburg and RVA) for a lively afternoon of class-consciousness raising, fellowship, speakers of local orgs putting in work in Roanoke, education about the history of direct action in labor struggles and victories both here and abroad, trainings on workers’ rights and police encounters, and workers spoke out about current exploitation they face on the job, all over some international food!
May Day is one of THE only holidays that exists to celebrate rebellions against injustice, remind workers across the globe that WE produce all wealth, that WE are the ones who actually have power, and inspire us to organize actions to realize a world that WE collectively control. Help us bring May Day back to Roanoke in the coming years!
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