May Day
In 2015, 125 is celebrated since the first May Day celebration in the Russian Empire. Remarkable is the fact that for the first time May 1 was celebrated on the territory of the empire, which today has nothing to do with Russia. It was the case in Warsaw in 1890 year. True, the workers' tradition of claiming their rights in the Russian Empire took root very quickly, spreading to the capital (St. Petersburg) already in 1891 year.
In Soviet historiography, which, as you know, paid a lot of attention to the 1 holiday of May, it was most often reported that May Day was a movement born by workers who were suffocated under the yoke of tsarism. In Soviet times, “the beating of tsarism” was perceived by the majority of citizens as the living of the workers of the Russian empire below the poverty line, half-starved, without a roof over their heads and any other material benefits against the background of total lack of rights. “It bends tsarism” was left far behind, but with the rights and provision of housing for modern workers even today everything is not as smooth as we would like ...
When studying archival documents, current historians come to the conclusion that the work of a factory laborer of the end of the nineteenth century, of course, was not easy, but it’s impossible to say that only pennies were paid for it. So in the book EM Dementieva “Factory, what it gives to the population and what it takes from him” from 1893, it is said that the salary of a factory worker man is indicated on average 14 rubles 15 kopecks. This is in the Moscow province and with a duration of work of about 11,6 hours per day. For a woman - 10 rubles 35 kopecks with a duration of work about 9,5 hours per day. Using the so-called “golden scale of conformity”, modern economists receive the value of the salary of a working 90-ies of the XIX century at the level of modern 28-32 thousand rubles. For women, respectively, in the area 22 thousand rubles. There are other estimates - for example, in relation to the rate of the American currency or the British pound, which give comparable results. Of course, this is not oligarchic earnings, but it is also impossible to call the values obtained by economists outright beggarly wages. Considering the fact that the owners of factories and plants tried to allocate housing for their workers (albeit in the so-called working barracks) and his payment was made from the treasury of the enterprise, part of the earnings for renting housing did not go most often. There were, of course, exceptions to the rules, as there are these exceptions in our time ...
On the basis of the demands that the workers put forward on the so-called Mayovka, one can say that it was not the amount of wages that was more concerned with the working population. The main requirements are the reduction of the working day, the creation of tolerable conditions for labor activity - what now would be called labor protection requirements. Over time, when the workers' claims against the authorities saddled all sorts of political trends, new slogans began to be added to the usual requirements at the end of the 19 century. This is the “classics of the genre” in the style of “Down with the Tsar!” And “All power to the working people!” - in general, everything with which the coming to power of the Bolsheviks is associated.
The USSR became the present legislator of May Day fashion. It was in the Soviet Union that the tradition of celebrating May Day as the day of International Solidarity of Workers, passing in columns along the streets and squares from Kaliningrad to Ashgabat, from Vladivostok to Brest, became comprehensive and beloved by tens of millions of citizens. And the love for this kind of celebration was not at all in the fact that in the morning it was necessary to go out with a banner on behalf of the working (creative, etc.) team, but that after the parade you can gather at the festive table or go to the country site - In general, to spend time outside the working walls, with family, friends. Thus, May Day from an illegal or semi-legal assembly of labor collectives in our country turned into a truly respected country in the country.
There are sarcastic remarks about this: “Only in our work day can be a day off,” but as they say, it is better to rest on work day than to work on rest day.
Interesting is noteworthy. historical fact: if for the first time in the Russian Empire the May Day took place on May 1, 1890, the last parade on the Red Square of labor collectives in the USSR took place on May 1, 1990. That is, exactly 100 years have passed from the first to the seemingly last May Day in those (let's say, classical traditions), but the tradition of celebrating May Day in Russia has not died. And today, May 1, in various cities of the country, hundreds of various events are held dedicated to the Spring and Labor Day - sports, social, cultural and political, in which millions of Russians take part.
And, by and large, May 1 for many years was and remains not only a self-sufficient holiday, but also a kind of prologue to the Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War.
In 2015, this is a kind of start not for the whole Jubilee Decade of Victory - a victory won by the courage and work of the heroic Russian (in the widest sense of the word) people.
In Soviet historiography, which, as you know, paid a lot of attention to the 1 holiday of May, it was most often reported that May Day was a movement born by workers who were suffocated under the yoke of tsarism. In Soviet times, “the beating of tsarism” was perceived by the majority of citizens as the living of the workers of the Russian empire below the poverty line, half-starved, without a roof over their heads and any other material benefits against the background of total lack of rights. “It bends tsarism” was left far behind, but with the rights and provision of housing for modern workers even today everything is not as smooth as we would like ...
When studying archival documents, current historians come to the conclusion that the work of a factory laborer of the end of the nineteenth century, of course, was not easy, but it’s impossible to say that only pennies were paid for it. So in the book EM Dementieva “Factory, what it gives to the population and what it takes from him” from 1893, it is said that the salary of a factory worker man is indicated on average 14 rubles 15 kopecks. This is in the Moscow province and with a duration of work of about 11,6 hours per day. For a woman - 10 rubles 35 kopecks with a duration of work about 9,5 hours per day. Using the so-called “golden scale of conformity”, modern economists receive the value of the salary of a working 90-ies of the XIX century at the level of modern 28-32 thousand rubles. For women, respectively, in the area 22 thousand rubles. There are other estimates - for example, in relation to the rate of the American currency or the British pound, which give comparable results. Of course, this is not oligarchic earnings, but it is also impossible to call the values obtained by economists outright beggarly wages. Considering the fact that the owners of factories and plants tried to allocate housing for their workers (albeit in the so-called working barracks) and his payment was made from the treasury of the enterprise, part of the earnings for renting housing did not go most often. There were, of course, exceptions to the rules, as there are these exceptions in our time ...
On the basis of the demands that the workers put forward on the so-called Mayovka, one can say that it was not the amount of wages that was more concerned with the working population. The main requirements are the reduction of the working day, the creation of tolerable conditions for labor activity - what now would be called labor protection requirements. Over time, when the workers' claims against the authorities saddled all sorts of political trends, new slogans began to be added to the usual requirements at the end of the 19 century. This is the “classics of the genre” in the style of “Down with the Tsar!” And “All power to the working people!” - in general, everything with which the coming to power of the Bolsheviks is associated.
The USSR became the present legislator of May Day fashion. It was in the Soviet Union that the tradition of celebrating May Day as the day of International Solidarity of Workers, passing in columns along the streets and squares from Kaliningrad to Ashgabat, from Vladivostok to Brest, became comprehensive and beloved by tens of millions of citizens. And the love for this kind of celebration was not at all in the fact that in the morning it was necessary to go out with a banner on behalf of the working (creative, etc.) team, but that after the parade you can gather at the festive table or go to the country site - In general, to spend time outside the working walls, with family, friends. Thus, May Day from an illegal or semi-legal assembly of labor collectives in our country turned into a truly respected country in the country.
There are sarcastic remarks about this: “Only in our work day can be a day off,” but as they say, it is better to rest on work day than to work on rest day.
Interesting is noteworthy. historical fact: if for the first time in the Russian Empire the May Day took place on May 1, 1890, the last parade on the Red Square of labor collectives in the USSR took place on May 1, 1990. That is, exactly 100 years have passed from the first to the seemingly last May Day in those (let's say, classical traditions), but the tradition of celebrating May Day in Russia has not died. And today, May 1, in various cities of the country, hundreds of various events are held dedicated to the Spring and Labor Day - sports, social, cultural and political, in which millions of Russians take part.
And, by and large, May 1 for many years was and remains not only a self-sufficient holiday, but also a kind of prologue to the Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War.
In 2015, this is a kind of start not for the whole Jubilee Decade of Victory - a victory won by the courage and work of the heroic Russian (in the widest sense of the word) people.
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