May Day was first celebrated in the U.S. when, in 1886, 300,000 workers walked off their jobs to demand an eight hour workday.You may not know that because while many countries officially recognize the holiday, and almost all countries celebrate it, the U.S. spends May first celebrating Loyalty Day, and National Day of Prayer. Church State non-separation and blind patriotism are a lot more palatable than workers’ rights, humane working conditions, an eight hour work day and other radical notions.
So I say, viewers of the world, UNITE! Celebrate May Day by watching great movies about the workers’ movement. Here are the top 10 May Day movies.

1. Bread and Roses (2000) directed by Ken Loach and starring Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody, Elpidia Carrillo, Jack McGee, is the story about an undocumented woman from Mexico who becomes involved in a campaign to unionize the janitors in a sleek Los Angeles high-rise.

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2. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) directed by John Ford, based on John Steinbeck’s classic novel, and staring an unforgettable Henry Fonda, is about an Oklahoma family who loses their family farm to the dust bowl and debt and travel to California in search of opportunity, only to become exploited migrant workers.

3, Compagni, I (The Organizer) (1963) directed by Mario Monicelli and starring Marcello Mastroianni is the story of exploited textile factory workers in Turin, Italy at the turn of the century, who fight for better working conditions.

4. Sacco and Vanzetti is a feature length documentary by Peter Miller about Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists who were accused of a murder in 1920, and executed in Boston in 1927 after a notoriously prejudiced trial. The moving prison writings of Sacco and Vanzetti are read by actors John Turturro and Tony Shalhoub and the film features Howard Zinn, Studs Terkel and Arlo Guthrie.

5. Harlan County USA (1976) is directed by Barbara Kopple and won the Oscar for best documentary. It tells the story of the coal miners’ strike in Harlan County, Kentucky in June, 1973. When the mine workers joined the United Mine Workers of America, UMWA, the Eastover Mining Co. refused to sign the union contract. The miners started a strike which would last over a year and included confrontation between gun-toting strike-breakers and the picketing miners and their wives.

6. Salt of the Earth is based on a 1951 zinc miner’s strike that in Silver City, New Mexico. The docudrama was written, directed and produced by Michael Wilson, Herbert J. Biberman and Paul Jarrico, who were blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Biberman was one of the “Hollywood ten” and made the movie after serving his six month sentence for refusing to cooperate in the witch hunt. Only five cast members were professional actors, including Rosaura Revueltas, David Wolfe, and Will Geer, and the rest were locals from or members of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers. The film was denounced by the United States House of Representatives , and the FBI investigated the film’s financing. The American Legion called for a nation-wide boycott of the film. Film-processing labs were told not to work on Salt of the Earth and unionized projectionists were instructed not to show it.

7. Modern Times (1936) was written directed and scored by its Charlie Chaplin who also stars in the film as a frustrated an assembly line factory worker. Set in the 1930s during the Great Depression, the film portrays the way the industrialization and capitalism dehumanize workers. The film also stars Paulette Goddard.

8. Norma Rae stars Sally Field and Beau Bridges and is directed by Martin Ritt. Sally Field stars in the Oscar-winning title role as a textile worker, widow, and mother in the South who becomes a union organizer.

9. Matewan (1987) is directed by John Sayles and is based on the true story of a 1920 miners’ strike and unionization attempt in Matewan, West Virginia. The company brings in black and Italian strike breakers but union activists try to bring the local, Black, and Italian groups together. The stellar cast includes Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, and David Strathairn.

10. Nine to Five (1980) stars Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dabney Coleman and is directed by Colin Higgins. The classic feminist comedy, which features Dolly’s hit single 9 to 5, is about three secretaries who are fed up with sexual harassment, sexism, and pay inequity and decide to do something about it by kidnapping their chauvinist boss.

Today thousands of people came out on May Day for immigrants’ rights. and visit the Immigrants Rights Network.