Mahon for Congress.

A button issued for the Congressional campaign of W.

D. Mahon, president of the Amalgamated Association
of Street and Electric Railway Workers.

While union officials running for public office was long

a rarity in the U.S. labor movement, the AFL-CIO has
made a push to elect members in recent years. In
December 2001 they announced that across the
nation 2547 union members had been elected to
public office that year.

"Workingmen and Working Women--Negro and

White--Veterans, Youth" are urged to join the May
Day Peace Parade marching from 54th Street and
Eighth Avenue to Union Square on this back page of
a Committe for May Day - 1948 pamphlet

Cover of a pamphlet by Abner Woodruff which was

called an analysis of “the movement of the working
class from wage slavery to freedom.” The figure of
the “advancing worker” was featured regularly in IWW
publications.

Bella Abzug, flamboyant feminist, peace activist, and

advocate for progressive causes, almost beat Daniel
P. Moynihan in the 1976 contest for the Democratic
nomination for senator from New York.
Issued by the United Farm Workers, this button urges
support for the workers in the strawberry fields. The
"5c for Fairness" slogan refers to a formula for
improving wages: a study from the California Institute
for Rural Studies calculated that a mere 5 cent raise
in the cost of a pint of berries could pay for an 50%
increase in the average workers' piece pay rate.

Union Square on May Day 1952. Henry Foner,

currently co-historian for Labor Arts," was education
director of the Furriers Joing Board in 1952 when he
spoke at this May Day celebration in Union Square.
He condemned the Taft-Hartley "slave labor " law
before a crowd of several thousand May Day
marchers at one of the last May Day parades.

Protest rally sticker. Sticker (with glue still intact) from

the March-on-Washington Movement: "Winning
Democracy for the Negro Is Winning the War for
Democracy," 1942.
The black community fought on two fronts during
World War II, for the "double V"--victory over fascism
abroad and over racism at home. Organizing for the
March on Washington was successful, and the mere
threat of the march compelled President Franklin D.
Roosevelt to establish a Fair Employment Practices
Commission (FEPC) in an effort to break down
discrimination in the defense and other industries.
"No Child Toilers" and "Production for Use not for
Profit" are a few of the slogans woven into the giant
May Day wreath held by a young woman in this
unidentified May Day image on a greeting card from
Bolerium Books in San Francisco.

Poster for a protest against the Vietnam war in

Washington D.C. on May 1, 1971, using a stoplight
with the words "Washington, May, Go," on the cover
of an insert published by the Red Engine collective
in the Quicksilver Times.

"May Day is the workers day; El Primero de Mayo, el

dia del obrero" proclaims this flyer in English and
Spanish advertising 1973 May Day rallies in
Manhattan and the Bronx. A photo shows marchers
in an earlier parade carrying a banner with
"Oppressed people of the world unite" in English and
Chinese.

"In step with working people everywhere we march, "

proclaims this 1950 pamphlet from the United Labor
and Peoples Committee for May Day. The cover
photo shows three uniformed service men, two of
them African American, marching with an American
flag
"In step with working people everywhere we march, "
proclaims this 1950 pamphlet from the United Labor
and Peoples Committee for May Day. The cover
photo shows three uniformed service men, two of
them African American, marching with an American
flag.

Ticket for a May Day Celebration in Chicago in the

late 1940s, with drama and music and speakers on
the program, including Andrew Llafin and George
Kirkpatrick. Sponsored by the Socialist Party and
Young People's Socialist League, admission is 50c.
Note the union bug on the ticket and its envelope,
which shows a newsboy carrying a copy of a paper
with the headline "La Parola (The Word)."

March for Peace" on May 1, 1948 proclaims this

pamphlet from the Committee for May Day--1948.
The back page urges men and women, black and
white, vets and youth to unite.

"Workingmen and Working Women--Negro and

White--Veterans, Youth" are urged to join the May
Day Peace Parade marching from 54th Street and
Eighth Avenue to Union Square on this back page of
a Committe for May Day - 1948 pamphlet.
Red flyer from the New York Committee for May Day
1970 announcing a May Day Parade and Rally,
International Workers holiday. The Fred Wright
drawing of a parade is explicit about the inclusiveness
of the call, with a white man wearing a shirt that says
"white" and a black man wearing a shirt that says
"black" together carrying a red banner calling for
"Labor Power" with nearby picket signs demanding
"Jobs," "Peace," "Justice," "Civil rights" and
"Democracy.