The CGIL deserts on May 1st in Cerignola. The union founded by Giuseppe Di Vittorio delegates the confederal secretary of Uil, Ivana Veronese, for the conclusions of the traditional rally on the occasion of Workers’ Day.
The appointment is at 11.30 in front of the municipal villa where Gino Giurato, of the Uil pensioners, the mayor Francesco Bonito, Gianni Palma, provincial secretary of the CGIL, and Carla Costantino, counterpart of the CISL of Capitanata, will also speak. The appointment will be preceded by a Holy Mass, presided over by the bishop of the diocese, Monsignor Fabio Ciollaro, and by a procession. The times when the day dedicated to work was one of the characterizing moments of collective life in Cerignola seem far away.
Since the immediate post-war period with the PCI’s arrival at the helm of the municipal administration, Labor Day has represented one of the crucial days for political and trade union representatives. May Day began early in the morning with musical bands traveling through the city singing typical left-wing songs.
Immediately after, the men in their party attire: black double-breasted trousers and jacket, white shirt without tie, cap and shiny shoes poured onto the main street waiting for the long and colorful procession to leave from Piazza Castello. Parading through the streets of the city center were not only the farmers, but also their tools. In fact, agricultural vehicles: tractors, motor hoes, threshers, plows were decorated as if they were allegorical floats with banners and signs telling the wonders of real socialism.
Furthermore, one of the peculiarities of the Cerignola May Day was the habit of young people removing the mufflers from motorbikes and scooters so as to cause deafening noises, until the end of the 1980s when a fatal accident involving one of the motorcyclists forced the prohibition. After the procession and the rally with local and national leaders all at lunch and in the afternoon, again for young people, a challenge at the maypole in Piazza Duomo.
