May Day 2026

The year of 2026 has been a tremendous time for the peoples of voice!

The people have spoken since the No Kings rallies, Abolish ICE rallies and May Day rallies in 2026. The people have shown their promise to the world at large. Under the rally of Workers over Billionaires Unions such as AFT NM, CWA local 7076, Teamsters local 492 Central New Mexico Labor Council, AFL-CIO and AFSCME 2962 have joined socialist organizations in New Mexico at large. Why is that? Why would unions come together with socialist organizations? Why under the rally of workers over billionaires?

Unions did not begin until the 1700’s - 1800’s in the United States however, socialism has existed since the moment humans began to share and collectivize for the public good, meaning in clans and tribe societies. As societies grew and the feudal system was born, so did the rich class. This rich class culminated in the industrial revolution and the exploitation of the feudal system to its maximum which would spark world wide strikes and worker solidarity. That same spark began the formation of unions in The United States at the first recorded strike of 1768 in Philadelphia, when journeymen tailors protested a wage reduction which would result in the creation of a union by the shoemakers of Philadelphia called the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers in 1794.

The beginning of the labor strikes and unionization of workers in the United States would not be fulfilled without the struggles of the US Civil War and its aftermath. The struggles of the Civil War, if looked through from a unions’ perspective, culminated in the 13th amendment of the constitution, which ended slavery and involuntary servitude in 1865 (prisons excluded). The reason for looking through a union perspective comes about because it was difficult to unionize and fight for fair wages and labor when slavery and involuntary servitude was in place. Why would a company allow unions to exist or negotiate with unions if the 13th amendment was not in place? This is not to say that everything was better for all, people many times in the unions were excluded and some of these people were former black slaves, women and black women particularly, and the recent immigrants coming over for a better life in the United States.

As the industrial power and manufacturing capabilities of the United States grew in the aftermath of the Civil War, inequalities between people grew. The most affected would culminate in the emergence of the socialist Eugene V. Debs, the leader of the American Railway Union and the 1894 strike against Pullman Company. Debs was unable to convince the union workers to accept black workers into the union, allowing the company to use black laborers to break strikes. A common theme that would repeat itself with groups of immigrants, as unions would in time bring black workers in, then for example Chinese immigrants would become the strikebreakers. The cycle would continue but socialism would again and again make itself known in the United States as socialist labor unions began to communicate and organize in mass to help everyone understand how their labor was used to compete against their own fellow workers.

As time progressed and society shifted to more union power which culminated in congress creating the Department of Labor 1913 thanks in part to the The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) unions. Soon after the Clayton Antitrust of 1914 which officially allowed employees to strike their employers. It was followed by the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act of 1936 and the Fair Labor Standards Acts of 1938, which mandated a minimum wage, extra pay for overtime work, and basic child labor laws.

In the rise of the USSR and the connections of international workers unions, the US administration brought about the Thaft-Harley Act in 1947 to attack socialist and communist alike, many of which belong to unions. This did not dissuade the workers as it was seen as a deliberate act to attack the worker itself regardless of political affiliation. The result of such an attack was the union of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the American Federation of Labor joined together into the AFL-CIO in 1955. This would bring about union growth in the labor market including for the first time in the United States of hospitals and farmers.

The dissolution of the USSR and the end of an era from the 1950’s until 1990’s, the United States administration had a big problem, to compete with a foreign power over workers rights. So long as there was a place offering competition to the United States on the world stage, the workers had a massive sprout of unionization and labor rights unprecedented in the country. We would not see such impetus on the working class until today, May 2026. No longer is there a wall stopping the billionaires of our times from taking power and control over the economy, except unions. It all began with Citizens United formed in 1988 and the spiral downturn of the rich class and corporations influencing political campaigns. As corporations and billionaires were allowed to pour unprecedented financial resources into candidates for any political and non-political part of the State government and Federal government.

So why is it that the unions and socialists are the only ones to be able to stop the attack on labor rights? Here the answer lies in the fundamental belief of the worker rights struggle for fair labor and fair pay. If the worker alone is unable to fight for their right to such ideals, then more people are required to do so. Socialism brings people together not for the love of an ideal but for the love of one self. That love makes people find others like oneself and the pendulum moves. To which side and how far will depend on how hard people fight for their rights, because to love once self is to love to fight for the same labor rights that people have fought for generations. As the pendulum moves left or right, so does the worker. The unions rise and fall depending on the struggles to survive in a good economy or a bad economy. Here lies the double edge sword of the problem. It is up to the people and unions to grow and expand their power in politics and influence once more and May Day showed that power. People need to support unions, become part of them and be more than expectators. The people must rise and defend their rights to fair labor and fair pay, it is not necessary to just talk but to act. In this unprecedented attack on labor rights, we the people must meet that pendulum and move it left.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Red Rose, any individual editor, Albuquerque DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America, or any individual therein.

Do you have thoughts on socialism in New Mexico? Submit your idea here.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Red Rose, any individual editor, Albuquerque DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America, or any individual therein.

Do you have thoughts on socialism in New Mexico? Submit your idea here.