Mayday, America
Mass 50501 at Boston’s 2025 May Day Rally. Photo by a Mass 50501 volunteer.
This movement was exhausted by a year of hard organizing when the winter snows fell. Isolated by weather and a sense of baleful wisdom borne from hard struggle that we knew was only just beginning. We saw our neighbors put into chains and paraded on television in shackles like slaves from a conquest. We saw a burned out school in Iran, destroyed by American weaponry with not even an attempt at any demonstration of remorse from our government. We saw gas prices rise, the stock market tank, and the job market shrivel while the brightest among us warned of nothing but trouble in our future.
It is hard to find hope when we can see the world we knew begin to crumble. All which was once certain for many is gone. Some are estranged from family as a consequence of this conviction. Even some of those who support our work have doubts that we are assessing the danger correctly. They struggle with the gravity of totalitarianism in America, and that realization in turn causes us to struggle more. Others still suffer under medical conditions which limits them at a time when they feel called to an unlimited effort their bodies will not allow. Some have children who deserve as normal a life as we can give them, but the lies we might have to tell take their toll. The burden of a mortgage or a job we hate still exists and must be carried through. We all worry, fearful that all the damage to the nation will accumulate and we find ourselves in a crisis that we can no longer navigate. The size and scale of the enemy is so vast, and yet we are expected to face it with nothing but courage.
Yet we pushed through all that. The snow melted, the ground softened, and the overcast gave way to a morning sun and we roared out the gates in the flash of dawn. Nearly 9 Million of us did this across cities and hamlets, halls, cities, and fields. A milestone in this movement's growth and capacity has been achieved. The broad and diverse coalition driving No Kings 3 was larger, more organized and more robust than ever before. It drove legions of volunteers to support the cause. The American People are mobilizing. The networks are being built, the money we need is being raised, and fences finally are being mended from the years of infighting and rot that led us to this point.
No Kings has demonstrated that it can raise a civilian legion on a specific date, at a specific time, and in sufficient quantity to march on every capital in America and make our demands be heard. It is strategic and disciplined. It is deeply networked, it is popular and its demands align with what this country needs at this moment. It is broad ideologically, unifying socialists with traditional liberals and with Never Trump Republicans. It is a movement of massive scale, size, and complexity and it is driven by a belief that the cause of American Democracy is worth preserving. We have proven that we have the will of the people behind us and with it very real power. The No Kings movement has many demands, but we have already proven that this 250 year experiment in human liberty will not die in this century without a fight. We intend to force this nation to live up to the promise of our ideals.
It was not so certain one year ago if we would make it this far. Many movements have risen only to fall just as quickly. It is wired together imperfectly from senators all the way down to small rural towns holding signs once a week on the common. Over 3300 Events dotted this great land. We are here, we are loud and we are committed to seeing this project of American defense and renewal. Each act of courage in service to this conviction inspires another to take the plunge and do something difficult.
Yet we are a people's movement, true to our roots. Power has not corrupted us. Our principles are unwavering. All of us had a say—some big, some small—in this movement's construction and all of us should feel proud of what we have done. History will be encoded with our achievements but we have only just started this great work. I cannot tell you the shape of the future or what further demands may be made of us. But we have passed our first test. Each of us is stronger, wiser and more committed than we were one year ago.
As we rise we can see The MAGA Movement is beginning to fracture over the inherent contradictions in the coalition. Powerful MAGA influencers like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson are calling for the 25th amendment openly. That movement is demonstrating that it is driven not by a shared ideology but a hatred against the new America that we intend to create. These cracks in its armor are forming just as we are rising to exploit it, and with it we intend to end the MAGA movement once and for all.
But let us not confuse the feeling that comes from a demonstration of a raw power with the one that comes from victory. Power is not meant to be accrued in the bank—It is meant to be spent in service to cause. The assertion of power reinforces that power. We build through exercise, not reservation. This new muscle that we have grown is demanding that it is utilized.
Our next action is intended to do this. Scheduled for May 1st 2026 we will be participating in May Day Strong. In collaboration with dozens of organizations across the country we will commit to withdraw our consent—economically. To participate is simple: No School. No Work. No Shopping.
By participating in the economic blackout, you can help demonstrate to America and to the World that the largest consumer class in the wealthiest nation on earth can coordinate on a national scale. The concept is simple: by agreeing to withhold our economic participation we can deliver a small electric shock to the entire system. It will exercise our muscles a bit more and help us develop a new capacity for action that we will require in the months ahead.
This is a required step in our development as a movement. It will demonstrate to those still on the sidelines that we have staying power and the capacity to escalate. It will show to our political adversaries that we have the ability to apply pressure on a national scale at a specific time in a coordinated way to effect. It is a warning to capitulators that we have leverage in the consumerist system that they have built and that we are smart enough to exploit that vulnerability.
Done correctly this can apply pressure to the entire commercial system that underlies the Trump Administration's power. We have not persuaded financial actors on the merits of our argument, for if they believed in what we believed, they would be with us already. Each actor within that system can be coerced into adjusting their risk calculus. I do not expect corporate America to save us, but I do know that with enough pressure they can be forced to do the right thing. The Epstein class has built a corrupt temple and it is upon us to use our power to shake its foundation.
Your call to action as members and friends of Mass 50501 is to tell your family and friends that you are not going to participate in the economy for a single day and that you would like them to join you. That might also be a good day to reach out to an organization if you have been on the fence and unsure if you wanted to take the plunge into this great struggle against American Autocracy yourself.
For those of you who have not yet found your home in this movement, you can find one among the many free and aligned spirits that are now gathering. We believe in freedom and we embrace your freedom to follow your passions, expertise and instincts. I was a software engineer. Now I’m a writer and a liaison. I know a sales manager who started a state-wide campaign to drive the tendrils of the ever encroaching tech panopticon out of our streets. I know former executives who knock doors, using their skills of persuasion to encourage people to vote in defense of the nation. I know people who tell jokes or play music in service to the values that we are trying to represent, to lift our spirits while the labor continues. All of it is in service to the nation.
There is no instruction manual for this work, but the space is open for those who wish to expand their skills, learn something new and put that to this great task. This movement doesn’t just need protestors and activists. It needs political operatives and fundraisers. It needs musicians and artists. Lawyers to fight in the courts, public relations to fight in the media, and engineers to build tools for all the rest.
I am proud of the achievements of this movement. To be a small participant in something this important has been the honor of my life. I can’t imagine a moment in the deep time of my probable future that could ever be its equal. I’ve stood next to generals and grandmothers, lawyers and workers, clerics and their flocks to seek the highest values achievable on Earth by mere ordinary men and women. I am unworthy in the company in which I walk and for that reason I march to my limits and beyond just to prove I belong among them. They are without a doubt the finest, bravest, and most patriotic men and women I have ever met and will likely ever meet.But do not imbue the energy of this moment that we have earned through blood, sweat, and tears with the valence of a victory. The work ahead of us outstrips the work behind us and we must as ever remain vigilant and forthright in the face of the darkness. We must prepare the ground to our favor and we do that by preparing ourselves.
Let us prove to the world through this simple act that we are here and that if our demands are not met, we have the capacity to withdraw our consent at scale and to effect.
I’ll see you in the streets. Mayday, America. Mayday.
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