We at Saguaros and Sabotage are proud to bring you this submission of a May Day reportback, published on Anarchist time midway through June. A great thanks to all those who attended, and to those who contributed to the creation of this piece.
INTRODUCTION:
May 1st, 1886. There was to be a strike, Chicago. And the strike came. The centerpoint: the McCormick Reaper Works.
May 3rd. The workers on strike face down the scabs. The police show up and shoot at the workers. Dozens shot, two dead. The reaction grins and snarls.
May 4th. Clashes go on throughout the day. A rally in Haymarket square. A small one, in fact. The rain and bullets have scared most away. “I have some resistance in me; I know that you have it too; you have been robbed and you will be starved into a worse condition!” the speaker Fielder exclaimed. Here come two bloodhounds (as we say now, the pigs). “DISPERSE” the authoritarians ordered. A bomb flys through the air. What a throw! It lands at the feet of the officers.
Boom.
April 2026. A comrade was added to a group chat with other comrades from Phoenix. They were planning a Mayday event. The original idea was to have dual synchronized events at the same time in Tucson and Phoenix. This conception ran into difficulties. One of our authors was still in Minneapolis and had limited communication with those in Tucson. Those who were informed of the event and in Tucson did not heed to our comrade’s suggestions. The Phoenix comrades were right to start organizing a month ahead. Such initiative lead to us setting up a Tucson group chat to set something in motion. No one listened. The few who did, agreed instead to go to the Phoenix event in a rather nearby show of internationalist solidarity. Around this time a returning anarch writes the following words on the Haymarket Memorial in Chicago,
“Solidarity from Arizona Anarchists! May bombs fly again!”
A STORM IS BREWING IN CENTRAL PHOENIX
For the rest of the article, we will refer to ourselves as the four of those who were executed as a result of the repression following the clash at Haymarket: August Spies. George Engel. Adolph Fischer. Albert Parsons.
ROUND 1
Typical of days before a potentially contentious day, it was difficult to get sleep. This Mayday, four of us comrades decided to go north to Phoenix to link up with the Anarchists there, who our comrade Spies knew a little. We met up with a comrade named Parsons who said she knew one of the older Anarchists in the scene up there, and agreed to drive us all. Comrade Engel, Spies, and our comrade Fischer all left for Phoenix together in a cramped car. We were told we were meeting the Anarchists at a park, where they planned to make food and then join the mainstream march, and then potentially march to the Phoenix ICE office if they got enough numbers.
Engel’s plan for Mayday was to join a march with a red flag and a banner and distribute pamphlets promoting the “State Union” theory, the idea that radicals should form red unions or radical unions separate from state unions. Engel still needed to print out the pamphlets in Phoenix as Engel’s printing access was limited.
We arrive in Downtown Phoenix. Although we were about an hour late to the planning meetup, we find the Phoenix comrades in the location. When we arrived on the scene of the park, around 4 of the Anarchists were gathered around a pile of water, ramen, and other supplies. They told us they had planned to make burgers but had forgotten to get supplies for this. Engel spoke a bit with some of them and learned a few were with FAFO (Fuck Around and Find Out), a local affinity group. This was also one of their first events as a group, or at least this was Engel’s impression. Familiar faces, some not. They were painting a banner, some ideas flew around. It seemed many of the folks there wanted to show solidarity with radicals facing repression in Ampelokipoi, Greece.
We talked with them briefly and then we left for the library so that Engel could print their pamphlets. On the way, we met an eccentric man who identified himself as Ompa and who frequently slipped into Irish. Spies was convinced that it was not Irish but some Creole language, but they have no credentials to make such a claim. Ompa joined us on our journey briefly to tell us that he wanted a soda and when asked how his day was, he replied that he “took over the world today”. Quite an impressive feat we thought, especially considering that the day wasn’t even half way over. He was definitely giving vibes of a certain mystical or divine intelligence.
On the way to printing our materials we accidentally stumbled upon a more mainstream Mayday meetup and saw several different groups setting up, including the PSL, some NGOS, and street medics. We tried to distribute zines to those working setting up the stage, but ran into an Orwellian moment. The workers setting the stage up all gave us a uniform answer that “they can’t accept anything because they are working”, as if they were directly told to say a script. It was very profound for the student-class professional activists were all amping themselves up while the real workers were moving shit on a hot Phoenix day and no one interacting with them. So much for Mayday huh?
At this point the time of action grew near, we bloc’d up and we had a meeting amongst ourselves to discuss rules of engagement. The moment and terrain were heavily weighed against us in the sphere of the strategic configuration of power, as described by Sun Tzu. We limited ourselves to leaving at first sight of any troubles. There was not much we could do, heavy police presence, lack of plans. It was a shitshow honestly.
So we walked back to the park. And on the way back saw Ompa again, funnily enough. When we got to the park, we saw that the group wasn’t in the spot where we left them which was worrisome because none of us had phones (for OPSEC reasons). Although Fischer did have Parsons’ number written down. After circling the perimeter of the park we found the group set up on the opposite side. Apparently, ASU campus organizers for the student’s Mayday event told us that since we were hosting an un-permitted “event” we had to relocate to the official “free speech zone” of the public park. Clearly, cops were in charge of giving permits and enforcing this “free speech zone” and we were simply given a printout of a google maps street view of the park by the campus organizers. The “free speech zone” was circled on the map in red, so our group relocated there.
By this time, folks were beginning to set up a ramen bar with a camp stove. Fischer talked to a few people. We learned that the park is the location of Food Not Bombs. One comrade was talking about how he does stuff on the internet to track down pedophiles and intercept their real-life harm to children. As the comrade was talking, two men with big silver badges approached us. They were wearing colored polo shirts and jeans. They asked us if there was an “organizer” for our event. We said no. They asked us what our plan was. We said we were just handing out free food. They asked if we were going to be marching, we said no, just handing out free food. The men left. We noticed that the badges read “community action officer.” Pedophile-tracker comrade started breathing really heavily and another comrade helped to calm him down. Fischer was definitely spooked.
There was significant police surveillance, the point to which we were genuinely surprised. These folks weren’t doing anything gonzo, just cooking ramen and chatting. The entire time the Anarchists were present at the park, some kind of Parks officer or Parks ranger was sitting in his car and watching across the street. Later he would drive onto the grass 10-30 yards from us and would be seen speaking with a plain-clothed person we didn’t recognize.
At this point we kind of just fucked around waiting. After those police officers approached us and asked what we were doing, someone who was very likely a police informant showed up, talking like they had memorized a dossier on Anarchism. When asked basic questions about their beliefs, they got uncomfortable and sensed we were suspicious of them. After that, they sat around quietly and watched the group on the edges. Soon after this, we began to hear the May Day procession approaching us. We decided to join in.
This leads to the major event of the day; our participation in the march. We had a banner, a megaphone and a red flag with us. Engel was really most interested in promoting some type of theoretical position which he perceived as an advancement. Upon joining the procession, he realized we had been caught in a minor conflict between the Anarchists and the local leftist counter-insurgents (DSA, PSL, etc). Apparently at the last major counter-insurgent march, these same Anarchists wiggled themselves to the front of the march and got a solid photo op out of it. When we talked to the Phoenix comrades, we got the understanding that the idea of planning a month ahead didn’t provide adequate time and the plans seemed to not be as solid as originally thought. The plan was that we were to join the mainstream procession and march on the ICE office down the street, but that seemed unlikely at this point.
So once against we jumble it up. The march comes by and we barely miss it. Parsons decided to stay behind. We try to join it with our banners and revolutionary flags, ending up in the middle to end. We decide maybe to go up to the front but some peace police liberal in a yellow vest confronted us and begun to yell at us. Spies saw it said DSA on their shirt. Spies told them that we’re socialists too and they stopped screaming at them, going towards Fischer screaming at them instead. Fischer seemed kind of irked, but after a bit they left us alone. At that moment, looking up there appeared to be drones in the air. Police, media, friendly? No idea. For some reason the march stopped at a corner. Spies started thinking of exits, telling their comrades in the squad to think of it too. There were attempts to do revolutionary chants but they were drowned out by the counter-revolutionary Social-Democrats. At this point we noticed some of what we took to be street medics surrounding us. We weren’t sure if they were there to protect us from others or others from us, but it made us uncomfortable seeing one of them keep giving us eye contact through the sunglasses they were wearing, right next to Fischer. Following this, there was a moment of silence where the “yellow-vests in charge” stopped saying their tired lines, and we took the moment to shout revolutionary chants but had little reation except by a few standing around us.
We tried to lead some chants but no one was biting. There was intermittent chanting going on already, but during the off-moments a comrade gave a quick “fuck ice!” Over the megaphone and that got a few enthusiastic responses. “Fuck 12” got a couple responses, but less enthusiastic from the crowd. “Chinga la migra” got some responses but by this point, the angry DSA woman was yelling so loudly into her megaphone from the back that she completely drowned us out. By the sound of her voice, she was very angry and kept trying to drown us out. With the most impotent chant too— “money for jobs and education, not for war or deportation.” We stopped the march, and it sounded like someone was preparing to give a speech. But since no one was speaking, we started to chant again “One solution! Revolution!” With almost no responses besides us. There was now a noticeable undercurrent of fear in the crowd. A woman in a leadership role approached us (not the angry DSA woman) and told us to be quiet because “there is a speaker who is going to speak about the same things that you’re chanting about.”
A Phoenix comrade came up to us and informed us that “the police are forming a kettle down the street”. Upon hearing this, and the failure so far of our objectives, us three seemed to quickly come to the democratic consensus to depart. We took the first exit, deblocing successfully.
Ultimately, Engel did hand out most of their pamphlets, around 30. We left the march and headed back to the Anarchist assembly. At this point the three of us were tired, discouraged and ready to go home. We head to our exit, depart.
ROUND 2
Parsons informed us that the Phoenix comrades made plans to go to a bar downtown and we agreed to go. We watched as we observed unmarked police cars with people in plate carriers drive around. Ending up at the bar we have some drinks. There was some somber reflection on the disappointing outcome.
Eventually there was a really interesting conversation with a Phoenix comrade who was very insightful and acute in analysis of ongoing things. Everybody kind of was listening to them until someone yells out in the corner to look! What do we see? about a dozen red flags marching down the street followed by a police car flashing their lights. The RCA. As they came nearer one comrade started throwing food at them while mockingly singing the international. Unlike the bland editions of the international of such Marxist-Leninist groups, it was sung with energetic aliveness. Some of us joined in. Back and forth screaming. Funnily enough they set up their table right outside the bar we were at. Don’t think anyone planned that, it just kind of happened to be that they set up right where we were at. The comrade who took the initiative laid out a call to flip their table to Engel and Spies but that did’t happen.
We were told beforehand the Phoenix comrades were rowdy. Engel thought it was a sad display of frustration that left them thoroughly “embarrassed”, further saying, “the object of aggression was a handful of goofy ass Trots selling books and shitty papers”. Spies, although understanding of the sentiment, thought that their initiative for going on the offense was admirable. Spies does acknowledge however that there are better targets to direct momentum towards. And finally, Engel added that “it was really funny seeing the RCA and Anarcho-Nihilists have a food fight.”
Anyways we leave without further incident. All accounted for, we get in Parsons’s car and we get on the road back to Tucson.
Exactly 140 years later in another era of rising totalitarianism, in another guilded age, the ghosts of lost futures that could have been raised the flag of hope once more with a half-baked show of internationalist solidarity by us from Tucson to those in Phoenix. We wonder what those at Haymarket back then would have thought of us. We wonder what the world would have looked like if they had been successful back then, but now the past is what the past is and we can only do what we can do now: and all that it is what we can do now, is doing all that we can do.
A lovely sight followed us home throughout I-10: a full Mayday moon.
ANALYSIS:
A few points to be made upon reflection.
- As a comrade in the Phoenix gc said, we dropped the ball. As another Phoenix comrade pointed out, there should have been meetings laying out a proper plan. This was in the works for a month and it was a clusterfuck. We tried doing a syncronized solidarity event with Phoenix in Tucson, and no one listened making it where we just joined them in Phoenix instead. Let us ensure this never happens again.
- Visibility. In Spies opinion people don’t read banners, no one read ours. Flags are the way; red flags, black flags. It has been observed that overtime the liberal tactic of having the upsidedown American flag start to become less and less visible in visible moments. Let’s make sure that the almost completely used up candle wick is doused with a bucket of water. The revolutionary flags need to be seen and understood.
- We need to be prepared with agit to distro. No one was really receptive of what we were handing out. The PSL and NGOS because they are liberals and do not have an interest, the workers because apparently they were seemingly scared beforehand into not accepting anything and having a script of what to say. The way out of this, is having stacks and stacks of agit that you “flyerbomb” everywhere. More people will get the message this way.
- There needs to be more concrete solidarity with other locales. We don’t know what the fuck it is but none of the Phoenix comrades know any of the Tucson comrades and vice versa. We need more cross collaboration, we know most of us are working class people and it’s kind of hard, but come on. We tried to plan an event syncronized with Phoenix here in Tucson and no one listened, like what the fuck it’s Mayday come on.
- We need to further involve the revolutionary hyperlocal councils that exist into more offensive moments, not just ad-hoc defense ones. It seems the authortarian forces are starting to stumble, and now we have seed organs of dual power that should rise up to properly be worthy of the name. For instance, instead of just doing ad-hoc interventions to say an ICE kidnapping, there should be a push to do stuff on our own terms like begin to have the idea of us in turn disarming and arresting the ICE cubes themselves.
- We need the equipping of drones and other bleeding-edge technologies to our advantage. Examples could include mesh networks and blockchain structures. One of the authors is fully of the belief that just like the tachanka of the makhnovshchina that we live in a moment of transition between two industrial ages, the current one now being the fourth industrial revolution of AI, automation, and autonomous technologies; and that we must fully use the technologies that have become widely and cheaply available to our use to outmatch the outmodded ground-level centric tactics used by the authoritarians who are also just starting to implement these technologies. We have a window where we are on even ground, and Spies believes that we can outmatch them if there is a push in this direction. Look at the Ukrainian-Russian conflict today, it’s basically all drones since 2023. And back to Ukraine a hundred years ago, today the tachanka is our drone.
- We need to link up big moments with follow up events. One day is cool but theres 365 days in a year, and we know there are structures that people can tap into (this can be achieved with flyerbombing for example in momentous moments). We need to do this to ensure outward expansion. For instance, in January there were two general strikes. One in Minneapolis, and one in Tucson (and perhaps in other locales the authors are unaware of) . In Minneapolis there was a push to shift the momentum of the strike into logistically choking out the ICE concentration center. Crimethinc has a good report on what happened there entitled, “Protesters Blockade ICE Headquarters in Fort Snelling, Minnesota”. This is an example of following up on a big moment. Unfortunately, as a comrade who was there reported back to some of us later on, no one listened to them to shift the momentum in this direction, and thus there was a collapse of the moment. In Tucson, there was also a general strike that suffered a similar fate, but instead of a push that wasn’t listened to, instead there was no push at all. The realization of the importance of the moment only becoming evident after the fact – stemming from a lack of preparation going in – and thus a failure to valorize on the moment in real time.
- Altogether it was interesting to witness these radicals in-formation and checking out what’s going on in Phoenix. There should be an emphasis on encouraging and furthering the development of other locales, as well as joining in and comradely paricipating in such developments and currents. This as well includes showing solidarity with currents both nearby, such as Phoenix, or further afield to further out places like the AANES in Rojava and Exarchia in Greece in a more internationalist sense.
CALL TO ACTION:
Mayday is a show of our force. Next Mayday we need to have events at the same time syncronized and directly calling the other areas out saying “Solidarity with Phoenix” or “Solidarity with Flagstaff”, or “Solidarity with Tucson”. We need to make Mayday MAYDAY again. And thus we call on Tucson, Phoenix, and other cities in Arizona and further afield to have a direct call to action that is thought out at the same time next Mayday. Let’s outdo 1886 and have Maydays that are even more legendary.
AN ENDING AND CONTINUATION:
And thus we close out with some last words:
First, August Spies: “There will come a time when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today!”
Second, George Engel: “Hurrah for anarchy!”
Third, Adolph Ficher: “Hurrah for anarchy, this is the happiest day of my life!”
Fourth, Albert Parsons: “Let the voice of the people be heard!”
And finally, one last final addition recently shouted aloud in Texas on July 4th of 2025: