The Renaissance MPs’ tweet had the left howling in unison. In a post published on the occasion of May 1, the Macronist parliamentarians accompanied their short text promoting the value of work with a photo of lily of the valley captioned “May 1, 2023 – Labor Day”. And it is this term “Labour Day” that has brought the left-wing elected officials out of the woods. Everyone went there with their tweet-response, a sort of obligatory passage for any anti-Macron activist. Here is for example Olivier Faure, the first secretary of the PS.
He thus criticizes, like many other left-wing personalities, to LREM deputies to confuse the “Labor Day” instituted by the Vichy regime with the Workers’ Day. Gilles Richard, a historian specializing in the French right, reminds us of the importance of this difference in denomination.
For Pétain, not a party for the unemployed
“May 1st has been a day of strikes and demonstrations since the end of the 19th century, in particular to demand the 8-hour day,” he explains. Having come to power, Philippe Pétain makes this day a public holiday. “It’s part of the concessions that the Marshal makes to the working class, but it’s Labor Day and not workers’ Day, to criticize those who don’t work. »
Upon liberation, the left-wing parties, in the majority, maintained the public holiday to prevent employees from having to strike and renamed May 1st as Workers’ Day (#MeToo has not yet been there). “It is also a recognition of the struggles for social conquests”, comments Gilles Richard.
For the historian, not sure that this reference to Macronist deputies is intentional. “They may not know anything about the story. Besides, on the calendars, it is always written “Labor Day”, one of the last vestiges of Pétainism. Beyond the reference to Vichy, this choice also means a lot. “Workers’ Day has a more conflicting connotation while Labor Day is more consensual, judges the historian. And then it’s the choice not to say like the trade unionists. »