Fraternal Punch and the Carmagnole

In France, May Day has been festive since it was first celebrated in 1890. As opposed to other histories of May Day in France which concentrate on militant resistance, this article examines two departments (the Loire and Maine-et-Loire) with a wide variety of socialist movements to argue that most socialist organizers mobilized joy to create a positive image of socialism that resisted capitalist oppression. This article demonstrates this through the use of police reports and the local press between 1890–1914, showing that the average May Day in France was a festive and joyful affair that promoted the spread of socialist identities and the day’s principal demand for the eight-hour day. This reality is contrasted with the mythmaking of contemporary and later anti-festive socialists who saw joyful May Days as a symptom of decline rather than a thriving socialist culture. By demonstrating that May Day was a joyful affair this article opposes the false dichotomy that May Days were either joyful or militant because it was May Day’s festivities that made it a fundamental part of a growing socialist culture seeking the transform the world for the better.