May Day: System In Crisis—A Working-Class Vision for the Future

Event Date: 
May 01, 2020

Event at a Glance

Date

May 01, 2020, 5:00 pm

Celebrate May Day with a discussion from leading labor voices about how we can build a radical working class response to the current crisis.

This event is a fundraiser for Haymarket Books and Labor Notes. Haymarket Books is an independent, radical, non-profit publisher. Labor Notes is a media and organizing project that is the voice of union activists who want to put the movement back in the labor movement.

Every dollar we take in from this event will go directly to support our joint project of sharing ideas for changing the world—a project that has never been more necessary or more urgent. We need your help to continue to do the work.

While the event is free, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our continuing to do this important publishing and organizing work. All donations will be shared between the two sponsoring organizations, Haymarket Books and Labor Notes.

Register through Eventbrite to receive a link to the stream on the day of the event.

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What is our vision as the working class for a different future, one free from exploitation and corporate greed, and how do we organize to win it?

May Day, international workers' day, is a time to honor and celebrate the radical traditions of the labor movement. In the midst of the current crisis it is more important than ever to build on the militant legacy of May Day and organize a fighting, working-class resistance that demands a better world for us all.

Sara Nelson is the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO and she represents 50,000 of aviation’s first responders at 20 airlines. In 2019, The New York Times called her "America's most powerful flight attendant" for her role in helping to end the 35-day government shutdown by calling for a general strike.

Stacy Davis Gates is the Vice President of the Chicago Teachers Union. This past fall, she helped to lead a 15-day strike and to negotiate an historic contract that provides for smaller class sizes, ensures a nurse and social worker in every Chicago public school, secures sanctuary protections for immigrant families, and supports students and families experiencing homelessness.

Sarah Jaffe is a reporting fellow at Type Media Center and the author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt and the forthcoming Work Won't Love You Back, both from Bold Type Books.

For more on radical labor history and working class resistance today check out Haymarket's Class War Reading List where you can get books for 30% off plus a free ebook.