May Day demonstrations through the lens of Soviet photographers (PICS)
For Soviet citizens, spring was not only a time of nature renewal, but also of ‘subbotniks’ (official Saturday public cleanups) and demonstrations. We reveal how Soviet photographers saw them.
May Day demonstrations were held before the revolution, but May Day became an official holiday only after 1917. The scenario of the demonstrations was the same from year to year: their participants marched in columns along the main streets of the cities to music and local leaders greeted them from the stands.
The largest was, of course, the parade on the Red Square.
Not only adults, but also children took part in the parades.
The so-called “living pyramids” were a tradition of demonstrations – groups of people would make complex geometric figures.
Thematic decorations would appear in cities especially for May 1.
May 1 was not forgotten during the war years, either. The sign below appeared in Berlin in 1945.
After the collapse of the USSR, the tradition of May Day demonstrations did not disappear – now this holiday is called ‘Spring and Labor Day’.
