“Peace, work, May!” This tired Soviet slogan lost its meaning even in the Soviet Union. For the majority of people, these were just words that appeared on banners at 1 May demonstrations or postcards. And in the latter years of the Soviet Union, 1 May consisted of passive participation in an official demonstration, and then going to a forest or lake to cook kebabs with friends.
For young people today, 1 May is nothing more than a hangover from the past - and a nice break in routine in the form of a picnic. For older people, it’s the traditional start of “dacha season”, when weekends become dominated by trips to the countryside, and, yes, more opportunities to eat kebabs. Even marketing experts use the May holidays as a chance to sell people every possible product connected with “relaxing in nature”. The Soviet version of 1 May, and with it International Workers’ Day, have long died in our country.
Meanwhile, all across Europe, people hold mass demonstrations in support of workers’ rights on the same day. How do you explain to Ukrainian citizens, living in a world of propaganda, why tens and hundreds of thousands of people - even millions - come out on to their city streets with red flags and trade union banners?
