Day of Inter­na­tional Sol­i­dar­ity of the Work­ing Class, or Labour Day — was cel­e­brated in Rus­sia on May, 1^st  from 1919 to 1990. A pub­lic hol­i­day for each every city, every town­ship or vil­lage had a parade organ­ised: flags were car­ried, posters and ban­ners were up, kids had red bal­lons and por­traits of the gov­ern­ing men were on dis­play. The atten­dance usu­ally was com­pul­sory, but judg­ing by the pho­tographs now, I don’t think any­body minded: it looks like peo­ple had fum there. By May the weather was usu­ally sunny and crisp, and this hol­i­day was a lit­tle more that a pro­pa­gan­dist activ­ity: it was a uni­fy­ing event. Please read on to see some faces behind the crowd.

Related posts:

1. Best of Win­ter 2009  –  2010
2. Pic­tur­ing the Soviet Republics: Moldavia
3. Sum­mer in Gorky Park, Moscow of late 1960s
4. A Glance at the Soviet Lifestyle, Cap­tured by Marc Riboud.
5. Labour Riots in Novocherkassk: Soviet ‘Tiananmen’