Kharkov May Day Demonstration of 1900

the first mass political action of workers in Russia. At meetings held on April 22 and 29, workers resolved to stay away from their jobs on May 1 and stage a street demonstration. The city’s Social Democratic organization printed leaflets. On May 1, between 10,000 and 11,000 people went on strike in Kharkov. In Vashenkovskaia Levada (fenced pasture) the demonstrators, some 5,000 persons, raised a red flag. In response to the first arrests, about 3,000 workers gathered near the city prison to demand the release of those arrested. On May 2 the workers presented their economic demands to factory managements and the authorities. At some enterprises strikes and rallies continued for several more days. V. I. Lenin hailed the Kharkov May Day Demonstration as marking the political awakening of the proletariat (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 4, p. 364).