International Workers' Day (May Day) is a May 1st celebration of the social and economic achievements of the international labor movement. May Day was originally the commemoration of the Haymarket Riot of 1886 in Chicago. In most of the world, May Day is marked by massive street rallies led by workers, their trade unions, anarchists and various socialist and communist parties.

The First and Second Red Scare periods ended May Day as a mass holiday in the United States until 2006 when millions of people took to the streets to support immigrant rights. The Great American Boycott rocked the Central Coast with an economic boycott and large demonstrations in Salinas, Seaside, Watsonville and Santa Cruz.

In 2007, students and workers in California, across the U.S. and around the world organized walk-outs and demonstrations proclaiming, "We Are All Humans! No One Is Illegal! Actions in the Monterey Bay Area included student walk-outs, marches, rallies with music and dancing as well as film screenings. In Salinas, four simultaneous marches joined together and went to the Soccer Complex for a rally. At Pajaro Valley High School, approximately 500 students walked out of school to demand justice for migrant people and a stop to the raids. The Movement for Immigrant Rights Alliance (M.I.R.A) at UC Santa Cruz organized a week of actions which included a May Day rally at UCSC and march downtown to join with a march from the Beach Flats. (Photos: 1 | 2 | 3). Also in Santa Cruz, the Reel Work Film Festival held a march down Pacific Avenue and over to the Vets Hall for songs, stories and films. In a march organized by the MigraWatch Network, thousands of people marched in the streets of Watsonville and Pajaro to protest against immigration raids. After the march and a rally in the Plaza with music, dancing, speeches and a performance by White Hawk Dancers, the Guerilla Drive-In screened the new documentary Crossing Arizona outside the office of the Watsonville Brown Berets. (Photos: 1 | 2)