Soviet Calendar - National Holidays

National Holidays

On 10 December 1918 six Bolshevik holidays were decreed during which work was prohibited.

• 1 January – New Year's Day
• 22 January – Day of 9 January 1905

  Commemorates Bloody Sunday on 9 January 1905 (Julian) or 22 January 1905 (Gregorian)

• 12 March – Day of the Overthrow of the Autocracy

  Commemorates the mutiny of the Imperial Guards (about 60,000 soldiers) in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) on 27 February 1917 (Julian) or 12 March 1917 (Gregorian) during the February Revolution

• 18 March – Day of the Paris Commune

  Commemorates the uprising of the National Guard of Paris on 18 March 1871 (Gregorian) which established the Paris Commune

• 1 May – Day of the International

  Celebration within Russia and later the Soviet Union of International Workers' Day

• 7 November – Day of the Proletarian Revolution

  Commemorates the Bolshevik uprising on 25 October 1917 (Julian) or 7 November 1917 (Gregorian)

In January 1925, the anniversary of Lenin's Death in 1924 was added on 21 January. Although other events were commemorated on other dates, they were not days of rest. Originally, the "May holidays" and "November holidays" were one day each (1 May and 7 November), but both were extended from one to two days in 1928, making 2 May and 8 November public holidays as well.

Until 1929, regional labor union councils or local governments were authorized to set up additional public holidays, totaling to up to 10 days a year. Although people would not work on those days, they would not be paid holidays. Typically, at least some of these days were used for religious feast, typically those of the Russian Orthodox Church, but in some localities possibly those of other religions as well.

On 24 September 1929, three holidays were eliminated, 1 January, 12 March, and 18 March. Lenin's Day on 21 January was merged with 22 January. The resulting five holidays continued to be celebrated until 1951, when 22 January ceased to be a holiday. See История праздников России (History of the festivals of Russia).

• 22 January – Day of Remembrance of 9 January 1905 and of the Memory of V.I. Lenin

  Commemorates Bloody Sunday on 9 January 1905 (Julian) or 22 January 1905 (Gregorian) and the death of Vladimir Lenin on 21 January 1925 (Gregorian)

• 1–2 May – Days of the International
• 7–8 November – Days of the Anniversary of the October Revolution

Two Journal of Calendar Reform articles (1938 and 1943) have two misunderstandings, specifying 9 January and 26 October, not realizing that both are Julian calendar dates equivalent to the unspecified Gregorian dates 22 January and 8 November, so they specify 9 January, 21 January, 1 May, 26 October, and 7 November, plus a quadrennial leap day.