CHAPTER 5

The First of May Demonstration in Praga, 1920

In the Poland of 1920, the First of May was not just a workers holiday, but also an occasion for a political demonstration.

We had less than a year of organizational work behind us in Praga, but we had already achieved so much, that for the first time, we undertook the organization of an independent First of May demonstration of Jewish workers marching, in close ranks, from Praga to Warsaw.

We discussed it with the Polish labor parties, and it was decided to organize a united Polish-Jewish First of May column. After much negotiating back and forth—mainly about whether the parties should march separately or commingled—it was finally agreed that from Praga to Warsaw we would march together in one column, in the following order: PPS (Polish Socialist Party), Communists, and the Bund, each party with its own banners and slogans. After crossing the bridge at Krakowskie Przedmieście Street, each group would separate and march off to the central gathering point of its own party.

On the First of May we all gathered in the great square near the Greek Orthodox Church. We formed the agreed-upon column. Altogether there were about 5,000 people, with about 2,000 from the Bund, more than a third of the whole column. A huge crowd of Praga residents stood alongside the streets and watched the demonstration. For them it was a great spectacle: such demonstrations had never before taken place in Praga. Pragers normally joined such demonstrations in Warsaw on their own, individually—and now, suddenly, Praga was elevated to having its own demonstration!

The demonstrators marched proudly forward with flags and banners, and with the resounding melodies of Polish and Yiddish labor songs. The mood was extraordinarily festive. At that moment, in 1920, the Polish labor movement was still full of hope, and we Jewish workers were also full of belief in a better tomorrow. True, attacks upon Jews were a frequent occurrence. The “Hallertchikes,” soldiers in General Haller’s¹ army, were beating up Jews in the streets and cutting off the beards of pious Jews. In the provincial towns it was even worse. But we were deeply convinced that this was a passing phenomenon, and that tomorrow belonged to us.

Figure 16. Warsaw, Bund May Day Demonstration. From the Archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York.

At the Kraków suburb, just on the Warsaw side of the bridge, our Bundist column separated itself, marching toward the central Bundist assembly point in front of The Iron Gate. From there our Bundist group was to march to the Theatre Square, where the Polish workers were also assembling. Our march was not without risk, because we were passing through residential streets that were strictly Polish, and in 1920, when attacks on Jews in the streets were a daily occurrence, marching with red banners displaying Yiddish slogans and singing Yiddish songs was no small thing. But we marched courageously and resolutely, arriving at the assembly point without incident.

When we had gotten quite close to the square in front of the Iron Gate, a magnificent panorama came into view, a sea of countless heads over which waved a forest of flags and banners. Twenty thousand people filled the square! Medem spoke at the demonstration. A speech of Medem’s was in itself a great, festive occasion for us. Soon the columns were being formed in preparation for the march. Suddenly the police, who had the whole time been standing close to the demonstration in the side streets, along with a large band of hooligans, attacked the demonstrators. They began to rain murderous blows upon us. The square was closed off on three sides. There was no place to run. A large number of us were beaten and bloodied.

That was the beginning of a chain of persecutions and harassments against the Jewish labor movement, stretching throughout the whole period of Polish independence. It met with consistent and determined resistance by the Bund.

Note

1.Józef Haller (1873–1960), a Polish general and military hero; member of Polish parliament, 1922–1927. Because of his nationalist views, considered one of those responsible for the antisemitic riots in Czestochowa, 1919.—MZ