Incorporate Arm Bands in the May Day Strike: A Lesson from the Past

Major unions like the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers, and citizen groups like Indivisible and Public Citizen are calling for a national May Day strike. It’s a powerful idea, building off of a Minnesota day this past January where people didn’t go to work or school, didn’t shop, and didn’t otherwise participate in ordinary activities. The Minnesota day was spearheaded by major unions, 700 local businesses closed in solidarity, and 75,000-100,000 people marched in the streets. For the national day, I’d suggest adding one more element, incorporating arm bands, like black arm bands, so people who are participating can make clear their sympathies. And those who can’t take off from work or school, or who are retired, so have no jobs to leave, can show support as well.

The armband idea comes from the October 15, 1969 Vietnam Moratorium. They didn’t call it a strike but it was a similar day of marches, walkouts, teach-ins, and other activities that gave as many ways as possible to participate. Two million participated in the day’s marches, but far more in other activities. New York City’s Council endorsed it. Milwaukee held a funeral procession. Small towns rang church bells ring to commemorate the dead. The Moratorium took place while Nixon was threatening North Vietnam with nuclear weapons and although Nixon said at the time the protests made no difference to him, he later revealed that the breadth of support led him to back off from the threat.

I was in high school in Los Angeles. I wore my black armband to school and my after-school job at a drugstore. My manager told me to take it off. I resisted as politely as I could. As I recall, he finally backed down. Another friend wore his armband at his high school in a mill town north of Seattle. In both cases, the armbands got people talking and thinking. They gave an additional way to participate for those who couldn’t join the walkouts. They reinforced anti-war solidarity. U.S. soldiers in Vietnam even wore armbands as a way of joining the protests, following a full-page NY Times ad signed by 1,366 active service members.

So why not include a call for armbands as part of the May Day strike? It’s true that some people might use them as a substitute for visibly leaving jobs or schools. But if the goal of the movement is to engage people as broadly as possible, as well as to demonstrate power, then the armbands can offer additional options and bringing the day of protests into more places. They’re an alternative for retired people who don’t have jobs to walk out of. They’re one more antidote to powerlessness, allowing people to participate step by step. It seems important to add them as part of the day’s organizing.

One last thought on color. Black works, because we’re mourning the potential loss of democracy, as well as the deaths in the war Trump started. But the other colors have their strengths as well. One option could be letting people choose—green for the environment, blue for climate change, rainbow for LGBT. I might exclude red just because although it makes sense for the socialist roots of May Day, I think it’s important for anti-Trump resistance to be as broad as possible and national events to speak to more conservative people. Maybe even use small American flags as armbands, to really emphasize that those challenging Trump are the true patriots.

Paul Rogat Loeb is the author of Soul of a Citizen and The Impossible Will Take a Little While, with 300,000 copies in print between them. See Paulloeb.org.