When the first 1st of May demonstration was celebrated in 1890 the Swedish labour movement only used local bands or badges. In 1894 the first centrally produced badge was printed by the Social-democratic Party in Stockholm. It shows a goddess of freedom or justice taken from the German socialist iconography. The following years the badges show almost the same motif and the demand for 8 hours workingday. They were all red and made of paper. The text and pictures were golden or white.
1899 a new type of badges was produced. They were printed in different colours and the motives have changed. They now show factories, sunrises, red flags or banners, persons, demonstrations, international socialist iconography and devices.
1899
Institute
