Established in 1975, Mayday Books is a volunteer-run, non-profit collective

Collective

A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project to achieve a common objective...

 bookstore in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

. Its organizational mission is to provide leftist political books and magazines and a space for political organizing for the Minneapolis/Saint Paul metropolitan area. Mayday Books carries a selection of new and used political books, magazines, zines, t-shirts, postcards, and select CDs and DVDs.

Numerous political organizations use the collective's space for their public meetings. The collective regularly hosts author readings, film screenings, political discussions, organizational meetings, and occasional celebrations. Among the many prominent activist groups that meet at Mayday Books, the Iraq Peace Action Coalition

Iraq Peace Action Coalition

The Iraq Peace Action Coalition is an antiwar organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The coalition was created in order to coordinate activities by local activists in opposition to the U.S. war against Iraq. IPAC also sponsors protests against escalations of the war in Afghanistan...

 (IPAC

IPAC

IPAC may refer to:* Institute for the Preservation of Arts and Culture , is a social enterprise devoted to the aim of promoting and preserving the traditional genre of arts in Pakistan...

) meets in the store space, where in 2008 it planned the permitted anti-war march against the Republican National Convention

2008 Republican National Convention

The United States 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008...

 on September 1, 2008.

History

Mayday Books was founded in 1975 on the corner of Selby and Western in St. Paul, Minnesota. By 1980 Mayday had moved to Franklin and Chicago in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Eventually, in the early 1990s, internal differences over store organization and political program resulted in a split with the breakaway group forming Arise Bookstore. Subsequently, in 1991, Mayday moved to its present location on Cedar Avenue in the West Bank neighborhood of Minneapolis.