Labor Day has long been a major U.S. holiday since 1894 and historically featured massive worker marches. In 2025, mobilization did not match the scale of 1900 but still represented a significant revival, with an estimated 1,000 events and over 500,000 participants nationwide. Boston held its first major march in decades, drawing thousands of workers and community allies. The marches pursued two primary goals: opposing President Donald Trump's administration and revitalizing labor's sense of itself to build a stronger movement. Organizers seek to transform Labor Day marches into sites of political education, resistance, and community building.
Labor Day, which became a US national holiday in 1894, was once a very big deal. Photos such as this one taken in Buffalo, NY, in 1900 speak to the tens of thousands of workers who would march on Labor Day to be counted and to stand up for their rights.
In Boston, this year's Labor Day march was the first the city had seen in many decades. Indeed, the Greater Boston Labor Council-perhaps being just a little overly enthusiastic-went overboard and, ignoring the marches of a century ago, mislabeled this year's event the first Labor Day march in the city ever.
Imagine when dozens or hundreds of city Central Labor Councils engage in similar actions to reshape traditional Labor Day marches into cauldrons of political education, resistance, and community building...?
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