100 years Labor Day - Germany / German Democratic Republic 1990 - 20 Pfennig

100 years 1 May On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the 1st of May, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the German Democratic Republic issues two multicolored special postage stamps. Special cancellation from April 3 to June 2, 1990 100 years May 1 - international working class struggle and holiday 1990 marks the 100th anniversary of the anniversary of May 1 as a working-class international day of struggle and public holiday. This anniversary is honored by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the GDR with the publication of two postage stamps. When, in 1889, the founding congress of the Second International in Paris decided on a one-time manifestation of the world's workers for the eight-hour day and designated May 1, 1890, no one could foreshadow this day in the working class. It corresponded to the most basic needs of the workers, that the 1st of May was fixed as a permanent holiday at the Brussels Congress of the Second International a year later. Thus, the working class had a fight and a holiday on which it could express its goals in a spirit of unity and solidarity. Eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep, eight hours of life - this requirement was the starting point for the story of May 1. For the first time in May 1886, the 1st of May in Chicago under this demand developed into a powerful confession of the local workers. The challenge to entrepreneurs was taken by them as an opportunity to destroy the American workers' organizations that were still in the process of being set up. This culminated in the bloody tragedy of November 10 and 11, 1886, when workers' leaders were sentenced to death and executed. Almost all Maifforderungen had to be enforced with great sacrifices. It has always been the struggle, the aspiration and the longing for better working and living conditions, for social progress and peace, which shaped the content of the 1st of May. The creators of the two stamps were also guided on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of 1 May. The 20-pfennig value symbolizes the international character of May 1 and its never-ending worldwide relevance. In the German Democratic Republic, May 1 is celebrated in the awareness of its solidarity with the revolutionary traditions of the struggle of German workers and their unions, who advocate true democracy of a fundamentally renewed society and a life of social security.