Workers in Asia, Europe, America, and other parts of the world held mass rallies on this day during the last century to fight for their rights, and in some countries parades merged with traditional Spring festivals, becoming part of a new holiday, joining the ancient with the modern. Sputnik has collected photos from those parades to show you, how the First of May was and share the joy of people during those glorious events!
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Soviet people gathering for a rally in Moscow's Red Square.
© Sputnik / Yuriy Somov
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Bangladeshi dancers perform at a workers rally in downtown Dhaka to mark May Day, the first of May. Bangladesh joins the world in observing the day as different political and labour organisations staged rallies and colourful marches in Dhaka and other parts of the country.
© AFP 2023 / Mufty Munir
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An archive photo taken on 1 May 1957 shows a parade to celebrate International Workers' Day on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, marking the start of one of the country's three "Golden Weeks".
© AFP 2023
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A demonstrator ducks to avoid a police water cannon during violent clashes in Berlin, Wednesday, 1 May 1996. Police turned water hoses and tear gas on 9,000 leftists protesting in eastern Berlin after demonstrators threw stones and bottles at officers and vehicles.
© AP Photo / Jockel Finck
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Russian Military PErforms in a Parade at the Red Square
© Sputnik / Israel Ozerskiy
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The delegation of Vietnam on 1 May 1968 during the Labour Day demonstration organised by CGT and the Communist Party in Paris.
© AFP 2023 / Jacques Marie
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A small boy follows a group of soldiers taking souvenir photos in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on May Day. Tens of thousands of people flocked to the square to fly kites, take snapshots, and enjoy the two-day national holiday.
© AFP 2023 / Robyn Beck
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Members of the Polish trade union Solidarity flash the victory sign as they demonstrate during a Labor Day parade, on 1 May 1982 in Warsaw.
© AFP 2023 / Gabriel Duval
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Women and children display placards with slogans for peace during the 1 May 1948 parade in London.
© AFP 2023
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A dog, dressed in a t-shirt and a helmet reading "Long Live May 1st", is seated on a bicycle during a demonstration with thousands of Guatemalan workers celebrating May Day, 1 May 2000, in Guatemala City.
© AFP 2023 / Jorge Uzon
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Greek Communist Party supporters are seen behind a red carnation as they take part in a May Day protest on Tuesday 1 May 2012, in the Aspropyrgos industrial area, outside Athens, to show support for workers at a local steelworks who were on strike.
© AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
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Cuban Army troops riding bicycles pull anti-aircraft guns 1 May 1994 in Havana during the traditional Workers' Day military parade in the Cuban capital.
© AFP 2023 / Doug Collier
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International Workers' Day in Madrid in 1979.
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Demonstrators stone Japanese policemen during clashes at the pro-Red May Day riots in downtown Tokyo on 1 May 1952.
© AP Photo / Max Desfor
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Marxist -Leninist Communist Party supporters hold red flags and balloons as they chant slogans during the May Day celebrations in Istanbul, Friday, 1 May 1998.
© AP Photo / Murad Sezer
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Parade in Vilnius, the capital of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
© Sputnik / Marius Baranauskas
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People gathering for a parade on 1 May 1950 in Finland, where Walpurgis night (Vappu, or Vappen) is one of the biggest holidays, celebrated as widely as Christmas or Easter.
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Clenched fists upraised as these women march in columns of Communists to celebrate May Day, 1 May 1935 in New York City.
© AP Photo / Murray Becker
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Iranians celebrate International Workers' Day in Tehran.
