May Day 2026: Socialist Horizon Report
Socialist Horizon groups helped organize and participate in May Day actions around the country. Below are some reports and photos by Socialist Horizon members in Indiana, California, Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and New York.
Indianapolis, Indiana
May Day march in Indianapolis.
Socialist Horizon of Indiana showed out strong at May Day 2026 in Indianapolis. About 250 people gathered at the State House including members of PSL and Answer. Two of our leading comrades, Jordan and Juan, gave speeches that attacked ICE, the U.S. wars against Iran and Venezuela, and called for mass workers’ organization to defeat the Trump regime. The mood of the day was militant if small. Our comrades set up a table and talked with dozens of people. It was obvious that the word “Socialism” carried a positive charge for many people who had come out to protest. We marched with the crowd to Monument Square in downtown Indianapolis.
Socialist Horizon Indiana is holding a follow-up meeting for new members and contacts to discuss the politics of our organization. Members will also be participating in political education by taking part in a reading group on State and Revolution.
San Diego, California
May Day march in San Diego
About 800 people gathered at Chicano Park to commemorate May Day, with a call for No Work, No School, No Shopping, and demands including “Abolish ICE” and “No War on Iran”. The march was organized through the Community Self-Defense Committee, an anti-ICE defense network led by Unión del Barrio and representing more than 40 left and community-based organizations.
Socialist Horizon/San Diego Socialists in May Day march
The march went to San Diego City College, where student organizations organized a campus-based May Day rally of about 100 students and supporting faculty. The rally was organized and led by the City College chapter of the Students for Justice in Palestine and the Center for Policy Initiatives (CPI), a union-aligned non-profit organization. The rally was supported and attended by members of City College MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán), the Artivism y Cultura Klub, the City Socialist Club, Students for Housing Justice, and other student-led clubs and organizations.
After the rally, the student contingents merged with the larger march and proceeded through the downtown of San Diego culminating in a rally in front of the San Diego Federal Building. Socialist Horizon-San Diego Socialists endorsed the day’s actions, and our members were part of the coalition that organized the event and formed a contingent in the 500+ strong march through downtown San Diego.
San Marcos, Texas
Socialist Horizon members part of organizing San Marcos May Day actions
May Day in San Marcos focused on protesting Texas State University’s targeted suppression of students and professors. Socialist Horizon and the Texas State Employees Union (TSEU) were the primary organizers for the event. Socialist Horizon members spent the preceding two weeks passing out hundreds of flyers and pamphlets that advertised May Day and traced the timeline of free speech violations from the university.
Our comrades Jordan (left) and Graci (right) speak about the TSEU Graduate Student Organizing Committee.
Socialist Horizon San Marcos began with a march from Texas State University to the TSEU-sponsored May Day event. About twenty people marched in the pouring rain from Texas State University to the May Day event; marchers included members of Socialist Horizon San Marcos, YDSA, TSEU, MOVE, and Step Up San Marcos. About 150 people were present at the event.
The rally began with remarks from the three professors fired from Texas State: our comrade Tom Alter, Idris Robinson, and Saeed Moshfegh. Dr. Robinson and Dr. Moshfegh were explicitly targeted for their support of Palestinian freedom.
Our comrade Matthew speaks about Socialist Horizon
Next, local elected officials remarked on the importance of the organizing work being done and the energy and enthusiasm to fight for local and national change. The last speakers were organization representatives.
About 150 people showed up for May Day. Documentary filmmaker Anne Lewis was also present to get footage for a new film about TSEU
Our comrades Graci and Jordan spoke on behalf of the TSEU Graduate Organizing Committee, and Matthew spoke on behalf of Socialist Horizon. We made contacts with several local and statewide groups, including Firewheel, an advocacy group for the Prairieland Defendants.
Madison, Wisconsin
May Day march in Madison, WI
More than 2000 marched from UW Madison Campus to the Wisconsin State Capitol for the largest “Day Without an Immigrant” and “No Shopping, No School, No Work” May Day protest in recent history.
Socialist Horizon Madison members at May Day.
Madison Teachers, Inc., Madison’s teachers union, said they would support closing schools so that teachers, staff, students and families could march if 70% of teachers voted in favor. They did!
Schools also closed in Sun Prarie, Milwaukee and elsewhere. Educators are angry that their students and families are being threatened by ICE and afraid while at school. They’re also pissed off that teachers are underpaid, staffing levels are subpar and their students are hungry.
Student rally at Madison May Day
The Democratic Socialists of America, Socialist Alternative, Young Democratic Socialists of America, and Socialist Horizon along with multiple union locals including SEIU, IFCW, UFAS and Voces de La Frontera (an immigrant rights non-profit), organized the event.
Activities included a free pancake breakfast for more than 200 people, a union-led protest, three separate student protests and a broader community march and demonstration. Rally speeches included calls for the abolition of ICE, an end to the US war against Iran, an end to the genocide in Palestine; money for schools, wages and healthcare; and calls to build the movement for socialism.
The protests on campus had radical demands while the majority of speakers at the capitol included liberal organizations and Democratic Party politicians.
Socialist Horizon members were able to distribute hundreds of flyers for the next Madison Workers Assembly, (June 6) and our next Socialist Horizon public meeting to discuss why joining the socialists matter and to learn how to build a hands-on mutual aid project.
While the organizers were hoping for a significantly bigger protest, this was a valuable opportunity for people moving to the left to make their demands known and to see they’re not alone in their aspirations for a different and better world.
Detroit/Southeast Michigan
May Day in Detroit
Detroit’s main May Day rally was sponsored by Metro AFL-CIO—a first—and had about 1000 people, more than twice the normal turnout for May Day demos in Detroit.
This year’s march was much more racially diverse than prior May Days, which is in large part due to the involvement in the planning and building the demonstration by various AFL-CIO constituency organizations such as the A Philip Randolph Institute, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance. There was no “official” march but about half the crowd marched about a mile to the ICE offices for more speeches and chanting.
May Day at the University of Michigan
There were numerous other May Day and labor centered events in southeast Michigan yesterday. In the morning, more than 100 turned out for a May Day march and rally outside an ICE detention center run by GEO Group near the campus of the University of Michigan. The anti-ICE rally was organized by the university Graduate Student Workers’ union and featured a Socialist Horizon member who spoke about the need to close the detention center and abolish ICE.
This was followed by a march that went through several campus buildings. Some of the participants other participants then marched to join a practice picket by Teamster nurses at Corewell, another hospital chain in southeast Michigan where nurses recently took a strike authorization vote and fighting for their first contract.
Waukegan, Illinois
New York City, New York
Socialist Horizon in NYC joins May Day March
