More than 3,000 May Day demonstrations were reported to have taken place across the US on May 1. The events were officially dominated by the Democratic Party and trade union apparatuses, which postured as opponents of the Trump administration and the policies they have helped the fascist president impose.

Standing in sharp contrast to the official electoral and “boycott” messages from the stages of the various May Day Strong events, very powerful anti-war and anti-capitalist sentiments were expressed by participants. Thousands demanded the removal of Trump from office, the disbanding of the ICE Gestapo, the freeing of all those who have been detained in the concentration camps, and a challenge to the rule of the oligarchy.

In New York, multiple demonstrations took place supported by many thousands, including in Washington Square, Union Square, at the Wall Street stock exchange, at The New School and in all boroughs.

A second-year student at the New School, studying Fine Arts for photography explained to the WSWS, “I’m out here to support my teachers as well as teachers’ assistants to make sure that they’re properly compensated for their work. I’ve been grateful to get an education at The New School.

“I see my teachers and teaching assistants working very hard to provide an education, so to see these cuts is not only affecting me and my education. I want to be out here to support them as well because they put in a lot of hard work and they deserve to be properly compensated for it.

“I think it is important that there are teachers here for combined struggle of The New School with Columbia and NYU because all these institutions are connected and its important for teachers to have the necessary resources to live so they can provide good education to their students.”

The art student continued:

All the money that’s going to the war in Iran, the other wars, while education becomes something that people can’t afford anymore, speaks to the stupidity of people saying that there isn’t enough money. Well, of course there is money, it’s just being misused and misdirected and it’s going on right in front of our eyes. It’s not even like they’re trying to hide it. All this money for bombs but no money for education.

Workers are what makes this city run. I pass by so many different people on my way to school here and they’re all contributing in some way to make this city special so I feel like it’s important for their needs to get met and not these billionaires. I don’t pass these billionaires on the subway, I don’t even know who they are, where they are around me.

In Chicago, tens of thousands demonstrated at Union Park, where the Democrats, including Mayor Brandon Johnson, used fake left rhetoric to cover up the role of the pro-war, pro-austerity capitalist party. None of the Democrats or union officials who spoke even mentioned Trump’s illegal war against Iran.

Students and teachers made up a large proportion of the May Day demonstration in Chicago. High school students and their teachers and middle school students accompanied by their parents, signed out of school early to attend, and stressed how important it was to them to be present.

The WSWS spoke with several students from Uplift Community High School. One young woman said, “I’m here for the first time. We are learning more about May Day with our school. We want to know more about what happened and how it connects with today. It’s important to be out and involved. We have a president who doesn’t think anyone should have any rights at all.”

On those speaking from the main stage, she said, “The Democrats might seem like a better choice against Trump, but they’re really not doing anything.”

On the question of the building of a party that represents the needs and interests of the working class, two of the students considered it for a moment and gave an enthusiastic “yes.”

One offered, “This would allow us to actually get what we need right now. You can’t get paid properly and when you do get some assistance, if you get a job, you easily get cut off because all the sudden, you make too much money.”

Seth, a teacher who came in from the suburbs to demonstrate, spoke with the WSWS passionately on the need for a general strike and the lack of political leadership.

“I’m just wondering what is it going to take?” he said. “I’ve always thought what would be the thing that would happen where people would stop showing up to work? It just keeps getting pushed, you know, like the genocide of Gaza didn’t do it, the war didn’t do it.

“The rising costs, the cost of gas, the cost of food. It’s unbearable. So what’s going to be the thing that happens when we stop showing up, and we say no more? Whenever people are ready to break free, I’m ready to go.”

In Los Angeles, the WSWS spoke with a Raytheon worker who explained why she was attending the Los Angeles May Day Strong. “I’m here, first of all, because my family is undocumented. We’re immigrants. This whole country is really made up of immigrants. We all work. My sister works for nonprofits, and I think that’s like really always been instilled in us.”

On Trump’s illegal war on Iran, she said, “It’s completely unnecessary, of course. I don’t understand why he said he was going to put America first, and now he’s all about wars everywhere else, instead of focusing on our needs. Trump dislikes California probably because there’s more immigrants here. Something has to really change. A general strike is necessary.”