In this colorized photo, a truck flying red banners rolls through the streets of Tel Aviv, Palestine (modern-day Israel), celebrating May Day, 1947. Atop the vehicle sit images of Stalin and Lenin. What's going on here?
May Day celebration in the streets of Tel Aviv, Palestine, in 1947, Image colorized by Olga Shirnina, aka Klimbim
The first of May marks “May Day” but what does that day actually represent? The answer might surprise you as it has nothing to do with spring or the arrival of summer. In truth, May Day comes from a joint decision in 1886 between the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States of America and Canada to limit the legal workday to eight hours. When that decree wasn’t met, it sparked riots all across America.
Chicago saw the worst turmoil, suffering protests and police casualties in the mayhem. In North America, the history of May Day has long receded into the background. However, in Israel and Palestine, the history of May Day follows the complicated and varied annals of the region.
Socialism Amongst The Israel People
For decades the entire country would shut down for May Day. (+972magazine)
Following the lead of North Americans, many Jews all over Europe subscribed to socialism and participated in May Day events. Around the start of the 20th century, many of the socialist Jews emigrated to Palestine. As the numbers of socialist Jews in Palestine grew, the May Day parades and protests grew.
Jewish Exodus
The “holiday of the proletariat.â€
As that community in Palestine grew, more and more Jews emigrated to Palestine. This period is called the Second Aliyah. From 1904 to the start of World War I, thousands of Jewish immigrants flocked from Eastern Europe to Palestine. The demographics of Jews in Palestine rapidly grew younger and more socialist. The May Day strikes from work continued to grow and grow.
The May Day protestors wielded red flags in conjunction with the communist party, which was seen as pro-labor. However, the Ottoman empire cracked down on such protest throughout World War I. Not until the region came under British rule did May Day really take hold.
Communism And Socialism Crossover
First May Day parade in Tel Aviv, Israel; May 1, 1949; National Guardian Photographs; PHOTOS 213; Box 4; Folder 47; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
When Jewish Socialist parties in Palestine organized into a unified labor movement called the Histadrut, the Jewish labor movement really kicked into high gear. After their formation, they organized a May Day assembly that marked the biggest demonstration the country had ever seen.
Bloody May Day
This 1949 photo documents the first celebration of May Day in the state of Israel, as it was officially established in mid-May of the previous year.
The year after the Histadrut came together marked the bloodiest May Day protest in Palestine to that point. The angry mob spilled into Tel Aviv, killing 37 people and injuring over 200. Famed writer Yosef Haim Brenner was killed in the chaos. He became a martyr of the Jewish Socialist movement in Palestine.
Growing May Day Protests
Thousands upon thousands flocked to the streets for May Day. (wikimediacommons)
Throughout the '20s and into the '30s, May Day continued to grow. Hundreds of buildings were adorned with red flags, green branches and socialist slogans. Chants of "Workers of the world, unite!" filled the streets as just about every business closed to mark the rights of the worker. The largest gathering saw 30,000 people celebrating in the country’s first stadium.
When Israel became a state in 1948, things changed radically. Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion elected not to make May Day an official holiday. That decision went a long way in spelling the eventual demise of the holiday. Nevertheless, red flags continued to fly alongside Israel's national flags of blue and white to mark their new State. When the Cold War broke out, Israel broke with the Soviet Union and began to ally with the West. This decision also created a schism within the various factions within the newly formed country.
Overwhelming Concerns
In America, Labor Day replaced May Day as the worker's holiday, with a less violent history.
Between the ruling Mapai, Mapam, and Communist Party Maki, the people of Israel were pulled in too many directions. In 1956 the Histadrut used the May Day celebrations to mobilize members to build fortifications in Israel’s surrounding towns. They feared aggression from their Arab neighbors as tensions rose. Fifty thousand volunteered for the task, taking away manpower from assemblies and parades for May Day.
Too Many Holidays
Power to the worker. (pinterest)
The Hebrew calendar holds many holy days in spring such as Holocaust Remembrance Day and Yom Hazikaron. When May Day fell on those holidays, it simply was canceled. As tensions with the Soviet Union continued to rise, May Day lost its luster. The Jewish people no longer wanted to associate with the Soviet Union and Israel’s Arab enemies. The leaders of Israel’s worker movement were forced to admit that May Day did not jive with the younger generation. The youth felt antagonized by the old socialist guard.
Collapse Of Communism And May Day In Israel
Friedrich Engels described the first rally-turned-riot “epoch-making… in its universal character, which made it the first International action of the militant working class."
The far left of Israel continued to lose power as anti-May Day and right-wing labor groups took power. The 1980s saw one last hurrah of support for May Day with hundreds of thousands of people showing support in Tel Aviv. However, it was one last glorious parade that saw more than 350,000 people flock to the streets. But it was a last gasp and not a revival. Soon business would start to stay open on May Day and quickly the “holiday” disappeared from the landscape altogether.
Source: Olga Shirnina, aka Klimbim
The photo at the top of this story was colorized by Olga Shirnina, aka Klimbim; you can see more of her work at her Flickr page.
