Russian workers will parade on Red Square on May 1 for the first time since 1991, organisers said today, the latest Soviet tradition to be revived as a wave of patriotism sweeps the country.
"Crimea has returned to Russia and the trade unions are returning to the Red Square!" said Sergei Chernov, president of Moscow's trade union federation told a news conference.
International Workers Day, or May Day, was a key date in the Soviet calendar, instituted after the Bolshevik Revolution.
The celebrations became increasingly elaborate in the later years of the USSR, with party bosses presiding over ranks of marching athletes, soldiers, farm labourers and factory workers from the Lenin Mausoleum on Red Square, awash with red flags.
In recent years, May 1 demonstrations have been relegated to a Moscow highway.
The decision to revive the demonstration on the iconic Red Square next to the Kremlin is the latest attempt to reinvigorate Soviet-style patriotism.
"This year the demonstration will also be anti-fascist, given the situation near our borders," said organiser Alexander Shershukov, president of the Union of Labour political party, repeating a common trope in the Russian media that neighbouring Ukraine has been taken over by "fascists".
Last year President Vladimir Putin used the holiday to revive a Soviet "Hero of Labour" medal that was handed out to especially productive workers by Stalin.
Organisers said they have invited Putin to attend the Red Square demonstration but have not yet received a response.
