Holiday, unemployed, paid and fighting

May ^1, 1945, the first since the Liberation. The CGT calls for work stoppages and powerful "republican and anti-fascist demonstrations against the trusts and their agents." It invites Resistance organizations to participate. The decision was not self-evident. Meeting for the first time from March 27 to 28, the CGT's CCN initially spoke of "a day of work and solidarity" but without "unemployment ," that is, without a strike "because of the need to increase the war effort," says the rapporteur Robert Bothereau, future leader of Force Ouvrière.

This option was modified on April 18 by the CGT Administrative Commission. It called for a work stoppage, except in public services, in order, it said, "not to slow down the war effort of the allied nations, to ensure the repatriation of prisoners and deportees and the supply of the armies."

May 1 ^, 1945, thus regained all its characteristics as a day of workers' struggle , driven by trade unions, which it had been known for before the war. It continued the spirit of the May ^1st of the Resistance and put an end to Pétain's forfeiture. Inspired by the hijackings of May ^1st carried out in 1933 by Hitler, then by Franco, Pétain had, in fact, seized on a coincidence in the calendar with Saint Philip, his first name, to make it a celebration in his glory.

It was not until 1948 that the law established May ^1st as a paid public holiday. This effectively rendered calls for strikes obsolete.

From May ^1, 1941, the law stipulated that "May ¹ would be the day of Labor and social harmony." The law also specified that the day "would be a holiday without resulting in a reduction in pay." Thus, the Vichy regime hoped to remove the day's subversive and combative content by linking it to religious customs and giving it an almost mystical character to "the glory of the Marshal."

In the Resistance, on the contrary, people organized to mark each May ^1st with actions, both public and sabotage, which carried the demands and demands for independence and peace. On May ^1st, 1942, demonstrations took place in about twenty cities.

In 1943, a few days after the Perreux agreements which reunified the CGT, May ^1st was a "day of struggle against deportation", that is to say the STO ¹ . On May ^1st, 1944, finally, the office of the reunified CGT sent a manifesto to the workers: "At 11 o'clock, in all companies, stop work completely until noon." A month later, it was the landing.

On May ¹ , 1945, despite the appalling weather, a huge crowd took to the streets. Joy, relief, emotion at meeting the first deportees returning from the camps, and demands still abound. It wasn't known yet, but in Berlin, Hitler had just committed suicide; in eight days, the Nazis would capitulate. The celebration was well and truly underway, and so was the strike. It wasn't until 1948 that the law established May ¹ as a paid public holiday. This effectively rendered calls for strikes obsolete.

It makes it possible for other components of society to invest in the day for objectives that sometimes contradict its original character. On May ^1, 1948, the CGT expressed its certainty that "the Union of Workers will make world peace." It reaffirmed: "May ¹ has always been and will remain a day of rallies and demonstrations." A commitment that has been constantly renewed ever since, right up to the present day.