Thousands take part in Los Angeles marches and rallies to mark May Day

Thousands of people gathered in Hollywood for the first of three planned rallies and marches to celebrate International Workers Day, also known as May Day, continuing a tradition dating back to the 19th century.

Early Wednesday afternoon, May 1, workers, union members and leaders and their supporters gathered for a rally at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and North Gower Street, then marched through Hollywood in a procession ending at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue.

“Are we ready to march for our freedom?” Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, asked the crowd prior to the march. “Are we ready to march for our rights as workers? Are we ready to march for housing for all? Are we ready to march for citizenship for all?”

The crowd roared its approval after each query.

Salas said Hollywood was the appropriate setting for this year’s march, given the success of last summer’s writers and actors strikes that brought production to a halt but resulted in major labor gains for union members.

“We are here in Hollywood, California, because right here — because of our labor brothers and sisters — we saw the power of unions as they rose up and created ‘hot labor summer’ and fought for their rights as workers,” she said.

She later added, “Every year that we march … we plant a seed of justice with our feet, with our voices, with our fists. We plant the seeds of justice. So together we’re going to see the seeds of justice bloom.”

The theme of the march was “Solidarity is Power: The People United.” The Los Angeles May Day Coalition said the demonstration brought together support for better wages, housing for all, a path to citizenship, the right to strike, and calls for a ceasefire in war-torn areas and an end to all wars.

The coalition behind the event included the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, United Teachers Los Angeles, the Service Employees International Union, IATSE Local 839, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Communist Party USA and Democratic Socialists of America – Los Angeles.

Another demonstration at MacArthur Park was planned for 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, calling for “Worker Power Worldwide!” and “Don’t Comply with Genocide!”

Organizers say that after gathering at the park, there would be a march to the USC campus “to support the pro-Palestinian encampment.”

The ninth annual May Day Boyle Heights was at 4:30 p.m. with a rally for immigrant and worker rights at Mariachi Plaza, 1831 First St.

May Day Boyle Heights was organized by Centro CSO, whose May Day demands include legalized status for everyone who has entered the United States without authorization, protecting public education and community control over the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Labor groups have conducted rallies and protests on May 1 since 1890, originally commemorating the anniversary of the Haymarket affair on May 4, 1886, when what began as a peaceful rally in Chicago’s Haymarket Square in support of workers striking for an eight-hour workday ended with an unknown person throwing a dynamite bomb at police as they acted to disperse the meeting.

The blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians. Eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy in a trial their supporters called unfair and a serious miscarriage of justice. Seven were sentenced to death and one to a term of 15 years in prison.

Illinois Gov. Richard Oglesby commuted two of the sentences to terms of life in prison while another committed suicide in jail before his scheduled execution. The other four were hanged on Nov. 11, 1887. Illinois Gov. John Peter Altgeld pardoned the remaining defendants in 1893 and criticized the trial.