Durham Miners Gala 2008 Old Elvet Bridge

A labour festival (in the US, 'labor festival') is a festival related to the

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

usually occurring annually. Labour festivals are some of the biggest political gatherings in Europe. Often they are outdoors in the summer and (more akin to a

Fête In Britain and some of its former colonies, fêtes are traditional public festivals, held outdoors and organised to raise funds for a charity. They typically include entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments. Village fêtes Village f� ...

) they incorporate music, (particularly brass band), parades, film, historical commemoration and food and drink. One of the well-known ones is

Durham Miners' Gala The Durham Miners' Gala, founded by Pete Doherty, is a large annual gathering and labour festival held on the second Saturday in July in the city of Durham, England. It is associated with the coal mining heritage (and particularly that of miners ...

attended by some 100,000 attendees. Some are run by communist or socialist parties such as

Fête de l'Humanité The fête de l'Humanité (; ''English: Festival of Humanity'') is an event organised annually by French daily newspaper ''L'Humanité'' in order to fund itself. It is the largest popular gathering in France. L'Humanité was created in 1904 by Fre ...

, Fête de Lutte Ouvrière,

Avante! Festival The ''Avante!'' Festival ( pt, Festa do Avante!) is an annual cultural festival held during the first weekend of September. It was started in 1976 by the Portuguese Communist Party and is named after the party's official newspaper, '' Avante!'' ...

Odigitis festival ''Odigitis'' festival (named after the central publication of KNE and the poem of Kostas Varnalis "Odigitis"), is a series of annual festivals organized in most of the major towns and cities of Greece by the Communist Youth of Greece The Commun ...

and Festa Democratica. Some were formerly so, such as Edinburgh Labour People's Festival. Some commemorate

trade unionism A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

or history such as Burston Strike School and

Tolpuddle Martyrs festival The Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival and Rally is an annual festival held in the village of Tolpuddle, in Dorset, England, which celebrates the memory of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. The event is a celebration of trade unionism and labour politics organised ...

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

has a

The Left Field The Left Field is a travelling Stage (theatre), stage and bar (establishment), bar which forms part of several List of festivals in the United Kingdom, British festivals. The event is organised by Geoff Martin, organiser of the Battersea and Wand ...

and has been addressed by Labour leaders.

Events

References

Cultural festivals

Festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

a {{labor-stub