Written from the speech delivered by historian Aaron Goings
Originally presented at May Day on the Harbor, 2023
“We Demand Freedom for Slaves, Even If We Must Purchase It With Blood…”
May Day is the most widely celebrated workers’ holiday in the world—except, ironically, in the United States, where its modern roots lie. It began with the struggle for the 8-hour workday, taking shape through mass strikes in 1886, especially in Chicago. Police repression and the Haymarket bombing transformed a demand for dignity into international solidarity. Anarchists were framed. Workers were murdered. The state made clear where it stood.
“Eight hours for work. Eight hours for rest. Eight hours for what we will.” — 1886 Labor slogan
In the decades that followed, working-class militants across the globe marked May Day as a day to fight, to remember, to organize. Here on the Harbor, that fight took on a particularly sharp and bloody edge.
The Harbor: A Red Stronghold
Grays Harbor, Washington—our corner of the world—was once a bastion of radical labor. From Aberdeen to Hoquiam, socialist halls and IWW chapters flourished. Finnish immigrants played a major role. The Wobblies (Industrial Workers of the World) organized lumber workers, mill hands, waitresses, sailors, and more under the banner of “One Big Union.”
“They wanted workers to organize across any schism and form one big union that could take on what they saw—correctly—as one big enemy.” — Aaron Goings
The IWW wasn’t just another union. It was revolutionary. It rejected political parties, rejected the bosses’ legal systems, and built power in the streets and on the shop floor.
“They didn’t believe in waiting for a politician. They believed in striking.” — Aaron Goings
Their vision: a world where class solidarity smashed through all divisions—gender, race, nationality, job title—and put workers in control of their own lives.
But the bosses had other plans.
Repression Comes in Many Forms
From the early 1900s through the 1920s, Grays Harbor saw some of the most brutal anti-worker violence in the country:
- Evictions & Deportations – Wobblies were rounded up, shipped out by train.
- Hall Raids – Meeting spaces destroyed, literature burned.
- Murders – Wesley Everest, lynched in 1919. William McKay, shot in 1923.
- Labor Spies – Pinkertons and state-hired agents like “Agent #31” embedded in unions.
- Criminal Syndicalism Laws – Simply being IWW could land you 15 years in prison.
Vigilantes—often backed or led by local business leaders—used ax handles, fists, and guns to silence workers. Mayor Ferguson, who tried to protect strikers, was ousted by a Chamber-of-Commerce-led recall.
“They called it a ‘Citizens Committee,’ but it was a vigilante gang. The Elks, the Chamber of Commerce — they armed themselves and beat the workers off the streets.” — Aaron Goings
The Washington State government itself formed a Secret Service to spy on Wobblies. Meanwhile, local employers organized “citizens’ committees” to raid meeting halls, beat activists, and forcibly deport immigrant strikers.
Newspapers acted as propaganda machines — demonizing labor as “outside agitators” and “violent criminals.”
“They said the Wobblies were drug addicts, prostitutes, foreigners. It’s the same playbook, over and over.” — Aaron Goings
“The Hell We Can’t!”: Everett and Beyond
Violent repression wasn’t just in Grays Harbor. In 1916, Wobblies attempted to support a strike in Everett, Washington by arriving via boat. Deputized thugs on the shore shouted, “You can’t land here!”
The Wobblies shouted back: “The hell we can’t!”
Gunfire erupted. Protesters were killed, thrown into the bay. Survivors were arrested for defending themselves.
“The United States has the most violent anti-labor history in the western world. And the most privatized. Vigilantes did the dirty work.” — Aaron Goings
May Day 1923: William McKay
In May 1923, IWW and allied workers launched a general strike to demand the release of political prisoners. William McKay, an Irish-born logger and organizer, joined the effort. While picketing Bay City Lumber, McKay was confronted and executed by a company gunman, E.I. Green.
“They marched to the Bay City Lumber mill… McKay and the gunman, whose name was E.I. Green, got into a dispute… Green pulled out a gun. McKay never walked away.” — Aaron Goings
McKay’s murder was never punished. But the workers returned days later, marching through Aberdeen, children beside them, to bury him.
They left behind a grave marker that read:
“Fellow worker McKay — Murdered at Bay City — May 1923”
WE NEVER FORGET
“This is the first time in a century anyone has publicly spoken William McKay’s name, the first time we’ve told his story. This is the work of memory. This is May Day.” — Aaron Goings
A Final Word
Aaron Goings reminded us during his May Day 2023 address: these weren’t just moments—they were movements. The fight for the 8-hour day. For free speech. For dignity. Against war. Against the bosses’ violence. And always for each other.
“The region we live in—Grays Harbor, Aberdeen, Hoquiam—this was a center of worker struggle, and also a center of employer violence. A union against unions.” — Aaron Goings
We’ve walked these streets before.
We will walk them again.
“Welcome, children of oppression… Beginners of a new era.”
— Antti Mäki, 1924
