On International Workers Day, May 1, we have the whole sweep of history around this date on the calendar. Current efforts of working-class uprising are recounted in “No Jobs? No Rent!”, which covers an active rent-strike ongoing in Alexandria, VA. National currents in charting the response of the far-right to economic and public health crisis are charted in “COVID-19 and the Assault on Democracy”, as MDC endorsed, insurgent candidate Mckayla Wilkes comments on the state of her race in an “Interview with Mckayla Wilkes”.

Understanding how workers, organizers, and socialists mobilized to confront economic hardship and exploitation are essential for any proper celebration of May Day. From the past: offerings ranging from Kurt Stand’s recounting of socialist roots in Maryland, to an archival article from the Fall 1987 issue of this newsletter exploring the common factors of all economic-crash recessions (keying on Reagan’s second-term slump).

As reflections continue to grow on Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, a recounting of MDC’s efforts to assist in political change are provided in “How did DSA Build Out of Bernie?” In thinking about how the political left will rebuild itself, “Navigating the Left-wing Rift” examines how the once friendly interactions between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren dissolved into hostility. And MDC members solicit ways they stay informed in “Podcasts on the Left”.

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