May Day demonstration

This dramatic black‑and‑white image captures a May Day rally marching through the streets of the City of London in 1936. Leading the procession is a towering portrait of Joseph Stalin emblazoned with the slogan “STALIN FOR WORLD PEACE,” while behind him banners proclaim solidarity from the “Shoreditch Street Masons” and the “North London Unemployed.” Men and women in overcoats and bowler hats stride forward with purpose, observed by a lone policeman standing at the roadside in front of a grand stone civic building.

Historical Context May Day, or International Workers’ Day, had become a focal point for labour and left‑wing organisations across Europe. In 1936 London, the Communist Party of Great Britain orchestrated mass demonstrations to demand full employment, improved relief for the jobless and an end to war‑talk in the face of rising fascism on the Continent. Portraits of Stalin reflected the CPGB’s alignment with the Soviet Union as a purported bastion of peace and workers’ rights, even as unemployment in Britain remained stubbornly high during the Depression.

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