The Global Imagination of 1968 by Cleaver Kathleen; Katsiaficas George;

Author:Cleaver, Kathleen; Katsiaficas, George;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PM Press
Published: 2018-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 3

REVOLUTION IN FRANCE? MAY 1968

It is truly with confidence that I envisage, for the next twelve months, the existence of our country … in the midst of so many lands shaken by so many jolts, ours will continue to give the example of efficiency in the conduct of its affairs.

—President Charles de Gaulle, New Year’s Broadcast, January 1, 1968

THE MAY EXPLOSION CAME AS A SURPRISE NOT JUST TO DE GAULLE. No one planned it. Few expected it. In the apparent tranquility of a modern industrialized society, a student revolt precipitated a general strike in France, momentarily posing the possibility of revolution. Although the May events were but one of the many uprisings which shook the world in 1968, they were a significant one, shattering the myth of “the end of ideology” and inspiring revolutionary struggles in countries on six continents.

The events of May demonstrated a unity between generations of people who came to consciousness along different roads. The main forces of the explosion were workers and students who had not known material scarcity at any time in their lives. There were also those who had lived through the Great Depression and Nazi occupation, and, despite the appearance of affluence in post–World War II France, fought for a new type of social order.

Throughout France in May and June of 1968, millions of people refused to continue their normal day-to-day activities. Students closed their universities and high schools, many demanding a new mode of education. Workers occupied their factories and offices, frequently calling for a new mode of production. Some cities established new forms of government, as in Nantes, where a Central Strike Committee representing autonomous unions of workers, peasants, and students took over the town hall for six days and even issued their own currency.1

The dimensions of the 1968 explosion are difficult to comprehend. In less than thirty days, business as usual in France was brought to a halt. As many as ten million workers were on strike, and tens of thousands of people were rioting in Paris, battling with police for control of the city. The uprising threatened to transform not only previous modes of production, education, and government but the entire epoch of civilization. What began as springtime student protests against U.S. involvement in Vietnam and sexual segregation in university dormitories was rapidly transformed into a potentially revolutionary situation.

Tactics of the government contributed to escalation of conflict. In the first eleven days of May, various ministers closed universities and called on police to suppress the student revolt. When police invaded campuses, it was the first time in the twentieth century (with the lone exception of the Nazi occupation) that university autonomy had been violated. As hundreds were arrested and many more injured, thousands of people took to the streets, building barricades against the police onslaught and refusing to submit. People all over Paris witnessed police savagery and were sickened by the system’s dependence on brutality to enforce its order. On May 8, after nearly a week of riots,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.