Why Did They Try to Destroy the 7-Day Week?

In 1929, the Soviet Union took away the weekend. Not the days off. The idea that everyone gets the same one. Revolutionary France had already tried a 10-day week. Both failed. So where does the 7-day week actually come from, and why is it so hard to get rid of? In this video: the Soviet "continuous week", the French Revolutionary calendar, the surprising origin of the planetary week (hint: probably not Babylon), Constantine's Sunday law of 321, and the 1931 world calendar reform that stalled over a single "blank day". CHAPTERS 0:00 The day the weekend disappeared 0:39 The Soviet experiment 2:42 France tries a 10-day week 4:09 Nothing in the sky takes 7 days 4:37 Not Babylon? 6:35 Constantine makes Sunday official 7:57 Why the Soviet plan really failed 8:27 Geneva, 1931: one blank day too many 9:37 So why seven? SOURCES Sacha Stern & Ilaria Bultrighini, "The Seven-Day Week in the Roman Empire: Origins, Standardization, and Diffusion", in: Calendars in the Making (Brill, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004459694... Eviatar Zerubavel, The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week (Free Press, 1985) Eviatar Zerubavel, "The French Republican Calendar: A Case Study in the Sociology of Time", American Sociological Review (1977) "The Continuous Working Week in Soviet Russia", International Labour Review (February 1931), source of the Pravda letter quote Tony Wood, "Labor Days", Cabinet Magazine, Issue 61 (2016). https://cabinetmagazine.org/issues/61... J. H. Hertz, "The Battle for the Sabbath at Geneva" (Jewish Historical Society of England, 1931). https://www.jhse.org/pre-2015articles... Constantine's law on the "venerable day of the Sun" (March 321), Codex Justinianus 3.12.2 What's a "why" question you've always wondered about? Leave it in the comments. 👇 Subscribe to WhyTologie to discover the WHY behind everything!    / @whytologie   🌍 Fascinating stories. Unexpected answers. Questions you never thought to ask. #history #calendar #whyexplained