Description:
<jats:p> This article explores the ways in which French and German Socialists incorporated May Day in their communication strategies in the 1920s and 1930s. Focusing on two of the most important socialist parties of the interwar period, the SFIO (French Section of the Workers’ International) and the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) in two particularly conservative regions, Brittany and Bavaria, this article demonstrates the importance of syncretism—defined as the blending of the traditional with the new—as a propaganda tool in hostile political environments. It argues that May Day press campaigns contributed to portraying the SFIO and the SPD as comprehensive republican parties, and that the similarities between their uses of syncretism show that the two parties have had more in common than has previously been assumed. </jats:p>