May Day 2025 message from IRLE Director Tobias Higbie

May 1, 2025

Each fall, I lead the students in my U.S. labor history course in a cacophonous and out-of-tune rendition of the labor movement anthem, Solidarity Forever. Written one hundred years ago and sung by generations of organizers, the words are mostly forgotten today but for its repeating chorus:

Solidarity forever,

Solidarity forever, 

Solidarity forever, 

For the union makes us strong.

The students humor me by singing along, and after we finish with a big crescendo, we talk about how it felt to sing together. Those who were self-conscious about their voices say they could hide in the crowd, those who love to sing say they enjoyed belting it out. Many say they could feel the voices of their fellow students. The lesson is clear: you can’t really understand Solidarity Forever as just words on a page. You have to sing it. Together. Out loud.

And that is why the Labor Studies program has a tradition of joining the annual May Day march in Los Angeles–to learn by experience. Marching through Downtown L.A. on May Day, you will see the diversity of the contemporary workers movement. Banners will proclaim membership in unions, community organizations, and political groups. They will proclaim things you agree with, and possibly things you don’t like. A crowd that size cannot always harmonize. But it can move in the same direction.

Last week, I sat down for a conversation with Victor Narro, who has been involved in organizing May Day events for 25 years. His first May Day march in 2000 was a relatively small gathering of immigrant worker advocates who came together to support striking restaurant workers in Koreatown. Since then, May Day in L.A. has grown to include many unions, worker centers, and community organizations. This year, the challenges facing immigrant communities are particularly harsh. May Day’s message of solidarity remains the same. 

Join us!

Toby Higbie

Director, IRLE

Professor of History and Labor Studies

Tobias Higbie is a labor historian, professor of history and labor studies and directs UCLA’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, a multi unit research center that advances labor research and education for workplace justice through the work of its subunits — the UCLA Labor Center, Labor Studies, the Labor Occupational Safety (LOSH) and Health Program and the Human Resources Round Table (HARRT).