US activists plan May Day economic blackout: 'No school, no work, no shopping'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Tue 28 Apr 2026 07.00 EDT
Last modified on Tue 28 Apr 2026 07.02 EDT


Labor unions, democratic organizations and community groups are organizing an economic blackout this year to commemorate May Day, International Workers Day, inspired by the economic blackout in Minnesota during the massive ICE operation in the state.

May Day Strong events are being planned across the US, with organizers calling for “no school, no work, no shopping”, in protest of government policies they say put billionaires’ needs above those of workers. Neidi Dominguez, founding executive director of Organized Power in Numbers and an organizer, said that the number of May Day events this year had more than doubled compared with last year.

“Last year, there were about 1,300 May Day actions across the country. This year, we think there’s going to be more than 3,000,” said Dominguez. “Minneapolis really gave us the biggest push in real time to do it. We have a long way to go to take massive disruption actions like in other countries, where people will go on general strikes and they can shut down their country, but I think we’re getting more and more close to people having consciousness about their own power as workers.”

Dominguez said the protests were a reaction to actions and threats from the Trump administration, including the proposal to send ICE agents to polling places during the midterms, and unilateral military actions on Venezuela and Iran. She said the actions this year were a step towards building a bigger movement.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/28/may-day-economic-blackout

[usonian]

1. Please see my Indivisible post and kick it.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221203832

[henbuck]

2. May 1 should be Labor Day in America.

The Haymarket massacre was in Chicago in May.

[travelingthrulife]

3. I wish I had a job to not go to but I'm retired. No shopping is easy though.

[multigraincracker]

4. Same here, but I might make an exception for yard sales.

[somsai]

5. Strike for wages and job protections and I'll be there.

[maxsolomon]

6. We're being told to use vacation days.

If I take Friday off, I have to work on the weekend because I'm buried.

That'll show those Republicans.

[FakeNoose]

7. Do they really think this is going to happen in THREE DAYS?

They should have been organizing this weeks ago ... there's isn't enough time to pull this off.

Here's the fundamental problem with anything associated with May 1st or "May Day": the communists claimed that day over 100 years ago. Any activities on May 1st are usually considered to be in accordance with the communist agenda.

It's kind of like how the US has controlled the "4th of July" events for 250 years, and the French are known for July 14th Bastille Day - even for people in other parts of the world. In the same way, May 1st is the communist celebration.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. They do this every year. It's been a (global) "thing" for 140 years.

It's just that about a decade after the first celebrations associated with labor, the U.S. eventually picked a day during the first week of September to commemorate a U.S. "Labor Day" in honor of workers. But the rest of the world does it on "May Day" (May 1) and will use that day for general strikes, etc. If you do a search, there were strikes last year and the year before, etc.

It's not just associated with the "communists" because it started WAY BEFORE there was any "Communist Party" (it was celebrated pre-Russian Revolution where that happened around WWI in 1917).

That date was also a European thing for other spring celebrations. I remember as a kid growing up where the eastern Europeans in our school would work with the teachers to do a "May Pole" and each gym class would participate in "weaving" one.

I.e., we would do this in gym on May Day" -

[LeftInTX]

15. It's because they associated the Haymarket affair with anarchists. Labor Day was first held the Sept after Haymarket.

Conservative Democratic President Grover Cleveland was one of those concerned that a labor holiday on May 1 would tend to become a commemoration of the Haymarket affair and would strengthen socialist and anarchist movements that backed the May 1 commemoration around the globe.[18] In 1887, he publicly supported the September Labor Day holiday as a less inflammatory alternative

It became an official holiday in 1894.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day

[BumRushDaShow]

16. Yes but globally

some also stuck with May and since the world is more "global" and immediate, thanks to the internet, you still have groups here continuing to support that tradition.

It's sort of like how despite the fact that "Memorial Day" (previously dubbed "Decoration Day" to honor Civil War vets) and "Veteran's Day" (previously dubbed "Armistice Day" for WWI) were not really related, they are both "used" to "honor veterans" (regardless of what war they were in).

It's "opportunistic" to highlight a cause.

[Magoo48]

8. Extend it for a month-- the wheels of commerce and industry would truly begin to grind.

[EX500rider]

12. So don't go to work for a month and get fired and lose your house/car? Not a great plan to me, ymmv

[Magoo48]

13. How will your hypothetical employee's family manage in an authoritarian future?

Has our national response to date indicated we are willing to be inconvenienced enough to recapture our Democracy and its attendant liberties? No, not in sufficient numbers, or with required impacts, or at a level of consistency necessary.

[EX500rider]

14. Me being jobless & homeless won't do much to change the countries future but certainly would mine

[Magoo48]

17. Point taken

I suppose I’m realistically looking to those who can but won’t. There are sacrifices ahead for all of us, none pleasant.

[kimbutgar]

9. Unfortunately I have to attend a work event meeting and can't stay home

But I will not spend a dime the day before !

[wiggs]

11. DU is aware of the strike, but I don't see much from US outlets generally. Article is from The Guardian, of course. nt