A Labor Day this year to the test of containment

This had never happened, except during wartime. This Friday, May 1, unions will not be able to celebrate in the street, confinement requires, the new edition of the International Labor Day, whose origin dates back to ... 1886. That a health crisis is behind this sprain will undoubtedly make Opus 2020 a historic event. All the more remarkable since, for several years, the date no longer attracts crowds. In 2019, only 164,000 people across the country beat the pavement, according to the police (310,000 according to the CGT).

Read also: Coronavirus: the ideological and political ulterior motives of the CGT

As for the messages conveyed, they are more and more often diluted in the violent clashes between “black blocks” and the police. " Apart from the years when this date was part of a long-term social movement, as in 2009 after the crisis or in 2016 during the mobilization against the El Khomri law, May 1 does not mobilize much, " confirms the historian Stéphane Sirot. And it's not the explosive pension reform

This article is for subscribers only. You still have 73% to discover.

Subscribe: € 1 the first month

cancellable at any time

Already subscribed? Log in