May 1: what holiday is today, what happened on this day

Labor Day

On May 1, many countries celebrate a holiday that was previously called International Workers’ Day. It was on this day in 1886 that Chicago workers went on strike demanding that the workday be reduced to 8 hours. The demonstration ended in a bloody clash with the police.

Three years later, the Paris Congress of the Second International decided to hold worker demonstrations annually on May 1. The initiative was supported by many countries: Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Norway and others.

This holiday had a revolutionary character for a long time, but gradually in some countries, instead of demonstrations under the banners of trade unions, people began to hold festivities and peaceful marches.

Global Love Day

It is a manifestation of love for the planet, for each other, for freedom, so that people in all countries can live with joy in their souls. This day was established by the Love Foundation in 2004.

The holiday is a call for peaceful existence between people of all nations, religions, worldviews, for harmony and a safe existence.

The medal “For the Defense of Moscow” was established

On May 1, 1944, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the medal “For the Defense of Moscow” was established; it was created according to the sketches of the artist N. Moskalev.

The Battle of Moscow became one of the largest and most important battles in the Great Patriotic War, which largely determined its outcome. In the shortest possible time, residents of the capital and Moscow region, together with the military, created anti-tank ditches, metal hedgehogs, forest debris on the approaches to the city, and did everything to prevent the enemy from entering the capital.

The medal “For the Defense of Moscow” was awarded to all its participants: military and civilian, workers and doctors, partisans of the Moscow region. If the defender himself died, the medal and certificate were given to his family to preserve the memory of his feat.

Birthday postage stamp

On this day in 1840, the London Post Office was busy: the world’s first postage stamps with a portrait of Queen Victoria went on sale. The black one cost 1p, the blue one 2p. And from May 6, stamps were allowed to be stuck on envelopes and used when sending letters.

The author of the idea was Rowland Hill, who became the postmaster general of Britain in 1854. He is also responsible for the work of postal reform.

In Russia, the first postal payment marks were introduced in 1845. They were called “stamp coverts”. They were intended for the city post office of St. Petersburg. The success of this payment method led to the release of stamped envelopes for national mail in 1848.

The first postage stamps in Russia went into circulation at the beginning of 1858.

Birthday of the writer Viktor Astafiev

He was born in 1924 in the village of Ovsyanka (today Krasnoyarsk Territory). As a child, the future writer experienced several tragedies: his father was sent to prison on false charges of sabotage, and his mother drowned on one of her trips to prison. After leaving prison, my father married for the second time.

Astafiev himself ended up on the street, then ended up in an orphanage. In 1942, after studying at the Novosibirsk infantry school, he volunteered to go to the front. In Poland in 1944, he was shell-shocked and met the end of the war in the Urals in Chusovoy, where he married Maria Koryakina. They had three children.

In 1951, his story “A Civil Man” was published in the Chusovskoy Rabochiy newspaper. And then he worked as a journalist in this newspaper and wrote reports, articles and stories. In 1953, the book “Until Next Spring” was published. His stories “Starodub”, “The Last Bow”, “The Fish King”, “The Sad Detective”, etc. are popular among readers.

Name day

On this day, Vasily, Victor, Vissarion, Efim, Ivan, Kuzma, Mikhail, Tamara and Felix celebrate their name day.