The 1971 May Day protests brought tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators to Washington D.C., the culmination of weeks of anti-war activity in the city that spring. The announced goal of the protests was to disrupt the basic functioning of the federal government through nonviolent action; the immediate focus of the protesters was on snarling traffic to prevent government employees from getting work on Monday, May 3. Their slogan was If the government won’t stop the war, we’ll stop the government.

By the end of May 3, more than 7,000 Vietnam war protesters had been arrested across the city; 5000 more were arrested on May 2, 4 and 5. These represent the largest mass arrests in U.S. history. Ultimately, however, only 79 people were convicted of any offense related to the protests.

In a Washington Post article dated September 23, 2019, longtime political organizer and historian L.A. Kauffman called the event the most influential protest you’ve never heard of and noted that It contributed to helping end the Vietnam War and pioneered a new model of organizing that would shape movement after movement in the decades to come.