All Out May 1st to Demand an End to War and “Hands Off” Our Jobs and Social Services

Statement by the Labor Fightback Network

More than a million people took to the streets in 1,200 cities and towns across the country on April 5 to protest the Trump-Musk regime’s wholesale assault on the rights and gains wrested by workers and their community allies over decades. (According to CNN and other mainstream media outlets, the participation on April 5 was as high as 2 million.)

The massive “Hands Off!” turnout revealed the deep anger spreading throughout the working class and oppressed communities provoked by the administration’s attack on Medicaid; Medicare (on the chopping block); the U.S. Postal Service, and public education, as well as the layoff of hundreds of thousands of federal and other public-sector workers; the massive deportation of immigrants fleeing the U.S.-financed destruction of entire countries south of the border; and attacks on women’s and LGBTQ rights.

The working-class majority is saying enough! 

The Democratic Party and the labor officialdom linked to it have been obstacles to the resistance to Trump from day one. The Democrats’ caving to Trump was best illustrated by Trump himself in his post on social media congratulating Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, “for doing the right thing– took guts and courage, really good and smart move.”

This vote to “prevent a government shutdown” — with nine Democrats voting in favor – was, in fact, a vote to increase the “defense” budget, and decrease non-defense” spending. It was a vote – supported by the union officialdom – to codify into law much of what Elon Musk has “been doing all along, slashing federal programs that working people rely on.

Labor Movement Is Not Monolithic

The labor movement, however, is not monolithic. Take the case of Kilmar Abrego García, a young man who was mistakenly – and  illegally – detained by ICE and shipped to a torture prison in El Salvador. A federal court ruled that the Trump administration had the obligation to return García to the United States, an order that Trump has refused to carry out.

Lashing out against this blatant violation of García’s basic rights, the president of North America’s Building Trades Unions, Sean McGarvey, received a standing ovation when he said to a room full of his fellow union workers:

“We need to make our voices heard. We’re not red, we’re not blue. We’re the building trades, the backbone of America. … That means all of us, including our brother [International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers] apprentice Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who we demand to be returned to us and his family now! Bring him home!”

Jobs and Funds for Social Services, NOT for Genocide and Mass Destruction!

Rank-and-file workers and students are leading the movement from the bottom up. The April 5 mobilizations involving huge numbers of people marks the beginning of a growing resistance to dictatorial rule in this country. 

But April 5 is only the beginning. As momentum grows, despite the Democratic Party, workers and students are preparing mass protests, strikes, and direct actions on May 1, 2025 – international workers’ day.

The April 5 protests can and must be a venue to express, as well, the deep anger over the bipartisan support for the pro-war budget, now increased by Trump to its highest level ever – $1 trillion – all of it at the expense of jobs and human needs at home.

“A Day Without Immigrants!”

Immigrant workers across the country are calling for “A Day Without Immigrants!”in reference to the historic semi-general strike organized by immigrant workers on May 1, 2006. A day without immigrants means organizing wild-cat strikes, walk-outs, and boycotts to protest deportations. Already, in January and February of this year, immigrant workers organized spontaneous work stoppages and boycotts planned to culminate on May Day. 

The protests showed the massive readiness to mobilize against the bipartisan attacks on working people — and against the Trump-Musk regime itself. At the same time, the allegiance of the organizers of the “Hands Off” protests to the Democratic Party resulted in a muting of the antiwar views of most of the participants. One of the main slogans adopted by the rally organizers, in fact, was “Hands Off NATO!‚” when NATO is one of the major organizers of the  bloodbath in the Ukraine.

Nevertheless, many people brought signs calling for no arms to Israel and solidarity with the Palestinians. This is a good time for supporters of independent political action — and opponents of the genocide in Gaza — to participate in future “Hands Off” demonstrations and to call for more such protests, while also calling for democratic discussion of the demands raised, so that antiwar demands can be featured.