Police clampdown for May Day


Note: May 1st is International Workers’ Day. Please see our post from last year for a report on 1920 New York’s May Day.


One hundred years ago today … The New York Police were clamping down on the city to prevent any demonstrations during May Day, guarding “the mansions of leading capitalists and jurists” to keep the ruling class safe.

Daily News, 2 May 1921, p. 1. Newspapers.com.

Daily News, 2 May 1921, p. 1. Newspapers.com.

The clampdown comprised rounding up, detaining, and questioning Communist party leadership, and seizing its literature.

Daily News, 1 May 1921, p. 1. Newspapers.com.

Daily News, 1 May 1921, p. 1. Newspapers.com.


– Jonathan Goldman, May 1, 2021

TAGS: politics, police, law enforcement, capitalism, socialism, communism