May Day has turned from a holiday of workers into an ordinary day of rest

But Europeans are still fighting for their rights.

For older Muscovites, their whole lives were marked by demonstrations on May 1 and November 7. These days, the feet just went to Red Square on their own: the holidays were considered a political matter and it was necessary to confirm one’s loyalty to the party and government.

The current May Day (or as it is now called the holiday of Spring and Labor) will take place without traditional processions along the main square of the country. And it seems to many that we have lost some of our rights. How so? May 1 – without banners, chants and festive decorations?

Meanwhile, this has already happened in the history of our country – and more than once. Even in the most recent history – in covid times, in 2020. In order not to get infected with the coronavirus, we, like little ones, sat at home or planted potatoes in our beds.

The chronicles of events inform us that before the Great Patriotic War, the last May Day demonstration in Moscow took place in 1941. In 1945, when there was no longer any doubt about victory, a military parade took place on Red Square on May 1, and peaceful processions resumed in 1946.

In truth, not all Soviet citizens willingly went to the demonstration that day. But it was an obligation for everyone: schoolchildren with their class, students with a group, workers with a workshop. In fact, the whole day was wasted, which could have been spent more productively: for example, in nature.

But today, even those who met the Day of International Solidarity of Workers without much enthusiasm (in the early years of Soviet power it was called the Day of the Second International) are experiencing some kind of nostalgia.

We asked Pavel Kudyukin, a trade unionist and former Deputy Minister of Labor and Employment of the Russian Federation, about the current state of the international labor movement.

– When did the first large-scale May Day demonstration take place in Russia?

– In 1917, after the February revolution, or rather, during the revolution. Until that moment, we had illegal May Day meetings. They began in 1891 in St. Petersburg. And since 1902, they have become widespread in large cities of Russia. Of course, at that time there was no agreement with the authorities. The participants in the demonstrations deliberately took risks, the police and the Cossacks did not stand on ceremony with the workers.

The holiday itself was proclaimed in 1889 by the founding congress of the Second International in memory of the workers’ demonstration in Chicago in 1886. When people died as a result of a police provocation. They demanded the introduction of an 8-hour working day – it then lasted 12-15 hours.

In memory of those events, the congress called on all countries to annually celebrate this date as the day of international solidarity of workers, the struggle for an 8-hour working day, and in general for the rights of workers.

– Many of my friends are glad that now on May 1 “you don’t have to go anywhere”. Does the meaning of this date lose its relevance? Is there any solidarity?

– Hard to say. In recent years, many different parties have celebrated May 1 in the capital under different slogans. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the left movements, the Liberal Democratic Party… Where it was a government event, this May 1 will be a day of rest for Muscovites. You do not need to report to the functionaries about the appearance, but you can go to the country or spend time with your family. For example, the FNPR is holding an event jointly with United Russia, it is clear that it is purely pro-government in nature.

But the ideological supporters of the defense of the working class will certainly be upset that they will not be able to meet with their like-minded people.

– On a global scale, the labor movement is weakening?

– There are many problems, in most countries trade union membership is falling. Nevertheless, May Day traditionally remains a day of mass demonstrations of trade unions and leftist parties. In China or North Korea, this is an official event, as it was in the USSR. And in the countries of Western Europe, May Day processions are very active, as they say, in a combative way.