KrakowInformer.com

May 1^st – Public Holiday

May 1^st is officially called the “Public Holiday” (“Święto Państwowe”), and not the Labor Day – which it obviously stands for – because of the supposed communist descent of the latter. May 1^st is therefore an excellent example of the Polish anti-communist allergy, as being a truly socialist holiday, Labor Day has little to do with what the Polish have learned to suffer as “Communism”.

The Public Holiday (or Labor Day), along with May 3^rd – Constitution Day – together can form the world's longest “Long Weekend”, so if planning a surprise visit to your Polish friends at the beginning of May, be sure to see if they're around.

Labor Day in the days of Communism

May 1^st was a very important day for the Polish communist authorities – probably the most important aside from July 22^nd, the supposed date of the establishment of communist Poland. The traditional May 1^st parades were more like religious processions, with the pictures of the four saints (Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin) present at all of them. The presence at the parades was close to compulsory – and, of course, not being at one meant being against the system. Even still, the “how I avoided the Labor Day parades” is an important part of the anti-communist opposition members' tales.

Labor Day Today

Today, May 1^st is Labor Day mostly for the left wing parties, still organizing marches or celebrating it one day or another. This means that Labor Day is important also to the extreme right wing organization, who find it a nice way to hurt “the commies”.

Not Just Labor Day...

The significance of May 1^st today goes far beyond Labor Day. On May 1^st, 2004, Poland joined the European Union, which helped to make Poland - and Krakow – a popular place for tourists and business people. Additionally, May 1^st in Poland is the Day of Blood Sausage. Bon Appetit!