Dmitry Kandinsky / vtomske.ru
In Russia, the Spring and Labor Festival is celebrated annually on May 1. How May Day originated, the essence and history of this holiday is in the material vtomske.ru.
History of the holiday May 1
The history of May Day as a holiday is associated with tragic events. On May 1, 1886, anarchist organizations in the United States and Canada staged a series of rallies and demonstrations. In the American city of Chicago, according to various estimates, from 30 to 40 thousand people took part in the mass procession.
The protesters demanded that the 15-hour working day be reduced to eight hours and two official days off per week.
The protests escalated into clashes with police that lasted for several days. On May 4, protests reached their climax in Chicago when more than 100 people were injured and several people died. This event was called the Haymarket Massacre (after the name of Haymarket Square). The next day, mass protests began against police brutality. An unknown person threw a bomb into the crowd, killing police officers and injuring many.
Eight anarchist workers were then accused of organizing the explosion. Five of them were executed by hanging, three were sent to hard labor. However, after the main witness for the prosecution admitted that he had slandered all those convicted: it was proven that the accusation of the crime was false. In memory of those who died in the struggle for their rights, at the Congress of the Second International in Paris in 1889, a decree was signed designating May 1 as International Workers’ Solidarity Day. The first workers’ marches in honor of this event took place in 1890 in America, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and France.
May Day in Russia
The May Day picket took place for the first time in the Russian Empire in 1891. This happened in the then capital – St. Petersburg. Almost 200 people, under the leadership of revolutionary and social democrat Mikhail Brusnev, held the first so-called May Day rally. The strikers demanded a change of government in the country.
Gradually the movement gained strength. In 1914, up to 500 thousand workers, soldiers, sailors and peasants took part in strikes and demonstrations.
In 1917, after the February Revolution, May Day was celebrated openly for the first time: millions of workers took to the streets with various slogans for freedom and in support of the war (the First World War was going on – editor’s note) until the victorious end.
At first, May 1 was called the Day of the International, later, in the 1970s, it received the name International Workers’ Day, which was shortened to Labor Day, and since 1992, May Day has been officially called the Spring and Labor Festival.
How was it celebrated in the USSR and how is it celebrated now?
In the USSR, May 1 was celebrated with loud military parades, in which senior government and party officials participated. May parades (with the exception of the period of the Great Patriotic War) were held until 1968.
In the 1970s, military parades were replaced by mass processions of workers carrying banners and flags. The most famous May Day slogan “Peace! Work! May!” – modified line from Mayakovsky’s poem “Solar Flag”.
Currently, the holiday is used to carry out political actions under their own slogans by trade unions, parties and movements of various directions. However, as experts note, the holiday has already lost its historical significance – the solidarity of workers – for ordinary citizens. For many, it’s just an extra day off. Many people prefer to go out of town on a holiday weekend to spend time with family and friends.
How will they celebrate in Tomsk?
As previously reported by a representative of the Federation of Trade Union Organizations of the region, processions in honor of Spring and Labor Day will not be held in Tomsk on May 1, 2024. The organizers explained that they had received a corresponding recommendation from law enforcement agencies.
The Tomsk administration reported that on May 1, a rally-concert dedicated to Spring and Labor Day (0+) will be held on the stage of the City Garden. It will start at 12:00.
The theme of the holiday, according to the mayor’s office, was the slogan “Decent work for everyone is a guarantee of the well-being of the family and the development of the country.” Representatives of regional and city authorities, as well as representatives of trade union organizations, will offer welcoming remarks.
Creative performances will be presented by national autonomies, student groups and dance and vocal ensembles. There will be interactive platforms near the stage.
