1st Edition

The Ritual of May Day in Western Europe Past, Present and Future

308 Pages

by Routledge

306 Pages

by Routledge

306 Pages

by Routledge

Also available as eBook on:

Taylor & Francis eBooks
(Institutional Purchase)Opens in new tab or window

Description

Eric Hobsbawm claimed that the international May Day, which dates back to a proclamation in 1889 by the Second International, 'is perhaps the most ambitious of labour rituals'. The first international May Day demonstrations in 1890 were widely celebrated across Europe and became the one day each year when organized labour could present its goals to the public, an eight-hour workday being the... Read more

Foreword: the myth of May Day, (Rick Fantasia)

Introduction: Western European May Day rituals: past, present and future, (Abby Peterson and Herbert Reiter;

1. The origins of May Day: history and memory, (Herbert Reiter)

2. The First of May in Germany and Italy, (Herbert Reiter)

3. The May Day tradition in Finland and Sweden, (Christer Thörnqvist, Tapio Bergholm and Margaretha Mellberg)

4. May Day in Spain - socialist and anarchist traditions, (Eduardo Romanos and José Luis Ledesma)

5. May Day in Britain, (Chris Wrigley)

6. The context of contemporary May Day demonstrations in six European countries, (Abby Peterson)

7. Who takes part in May Day marches?, (Magnus Wennerhag)

8. Why do people demonstrate on May Day?, (Mattias Wahlström)

9. The future of May Day, (Abby Peterson and Herbert Reiter)

Appendix: methods for studying May Day demonstrators: sampling, estimating non-response bias and pooling data with general population surveys, (Mattias Wahlström and Magnus Wennerhag)

Index