The specter of May 1968 haunts us again
Fifty years on, the lessons of history should be remembered.
So we’ve finally arrived. It’s the 50th anniversary of the events of May 1968 in France, sometimes referred to as a series of pointless student riots, sometimes revered as the last wave of the French Revolution, albeit one that failed. And on this occasion, I think we should do a bit of reflection.
First, a confession. I wasn’t alive yet back in 1968, and my parents who lived in Asia knew nothing of the events. Instead, I first learned of May 1968 through the many accounts of the events that appeared in the media in the first half of 2008. In 78, 88 and 98, some journalists published accounts and analyses of May 68, particularly in the French press, but in 2008, the 40th anniversary, there was an unexpected flood of discussion throughout the media, not just in France, but also in the English speaking world. To be honest, I was quite fascinated by May 68 back then: as a college student in the conservative Bush era, I thought that we would do well with something similar. But then, I didn’t really understand what May 68 actually represented, yet.
It Began with Students and Workers who Wanted Liberty and Equality
The events of May 1968 began with students who wanted more liberty and respect from the administration of universities, which they saw as authoritarian. This was well reflected in their most famous slogan, often translated into English as ‘it is forbidden to forbid’. This proves that, ultimately, May 68 was a fight for liberty, and more specifically, traditionally relatively powerless people having their equal share of liberty. About two weeks into the events, striking workers joined in. Their main concern was better working conditions, and perhaps chiefly, better pay. Ultimately, their fight was also about liberty, as having more income to spend means more economic liberty.
However, the Temptations of Utopia ultimately brought a Conservative Reaction
It is unclear how this came to be, but utopian radicals of all stripes became deeply involved in the May 68 events. Revolutionary socialists, anarchists and syndicalists alike, they spread their ideas among the naive students, and Paris felt the weight of their numerous posters and pamphlets. Of course, for the students to get the liberty and equality they wanted, it would not have required utopian revolutionary action. However, the students probably did not know exactly what they wanted, and somehow an anarchist utopia sounded nice enough to some of them. Besides, for those not yet familiar with the consequences that usually come with certain actions, an excuse to shut down the university, and even the city for a few weeks sounded like fun. On the other hand, the workers, who had more life experience, wanted no part of this radicalism. Even the Communist Party of France knew and respected the workers’ wishes. However, this would not deter the radicals and their new, naive recruits, who would escalate their antics until they brought Paris and other parts of France to a standstill.
Ultimately, under fear of an authoritarian revolution actually happening, public opinion turned sharply against the protagonists of May 68. After all, the memory of what happened in nearby Czechoslovakia just 20 years ago was still fresh for many. Conservative president Charles de Gaulle realised that to end the protests and strikes, he only had to call a snap election to confirm public opinion and put the protagonists back into their place. The election was called at the end of May, and life returned to normal throughout France. The conservative government ended up with a landslide victory, and would remain in power for many years ahead.
May 1968 Inspired Radicalism Worldwide, Ultimately Heralding Three Decades of Conservatism
While May 68 clearly represented a defeat for the protagonists, it certainly provided a chance for far-left radicals of all stripes to disseminate their ideas. Thus many university students and union leaders alike in other Western countries became infected with radical ideas, eager for their own countries to experience their May 68 moment. During the 1970s, more days of work were lost to strike action in many countries than at any other time before or since. Needless to say, the economies of many countries were in ruins by the end of the decade. This led to the election of a new wave of conservative leaders, Margaret Thatcher of the UK and Ronald Reagan of the US the most famous of them all. Just as in France in 1968, when people felt that things were falling apart, turning to a conservative savior was their most often solution. And since the 1960s and 70s had already seen and discredited radicalisms of all stripes, three decades of conservative consensus ensued.
The year 2008, when journalists across the West unexpectedly revisited the events of May 68, arguably represented the end of three decades of conservative consensus in the West. Later that year, Barack Obama, the most left-leaning US president in more than a generation, would be elected, and the global financial crisis would spark a new interest in addressing economic justice in many countries. Looking back, some argued that the 2004 US elections, where the Millennials clearly favored the Democrats despite all other generations favoring Republicans, gave a hint of what was in store. By the mid-2000s, many Western countries had become very conservative, and held reactionary attitudes to even moderate reforms like marriage equality. Similarly, any talk of economic justice was dismissed as ‘socialism’. The Millennial generation, who were born and grew up during the long conservative era, wanted a renewed focus on liberty and equality. It was unsurprising that some of us found 1968 to be a more inspirational time. But if we admired the 68-ers, it was only because we didn’t understand how their road directly led to the stifling conservatism we had to endure decades later.
Could things have been different?
Back in 2008, I remember that many journalists lamented the loss of the progressive spirit of 1968. Surely, we were living in conservative times. But it was partly the fault of the uncritical, irrational radicalism that May 68 represented. To wish for a replay of 1968 would therefore be foolish. But what if the events of 1968, and of the subsequent 1970s, turned out differently? After all, it all started with students and workers wanting liberty and equality. Surely, these can’t have been demands so scary that they led to a big conservative backlash. It was rather the radical, utopian revolutionary ideas, which both scared many people psychologically and also ruined the economy and hence the livelihoods of many, that convinced the public to go conservative.
So why did the students embrace these toxic ideas? Partly because they had nowhere else to turn. They didn’t like Gaullist conservatism, and they didn’t like the Stalinism of the French Communists, because neither provided anything like true liberty or true equality. They had a yearning for liberty and equality that no existing ideology or political movement met. If only they had something principled and practical like Moral Libertarianism, maybe things could have been different.
Fifty years on, Liberty and Equality are in Demand Again. But let’s Do It Right This Time.
In the decade since the election of Obama, much has changed. The conservative consensus ended, and it became fashionable to talk about social justice again. Marriage equality went from being a feared idea to legal reality. Even socialism ceased to be a dirty word.
In this progressive era, radicals of all stripes are again pushing their various utopias. While we don’t have a single May 68 moment, radical ideas are being disseminated to new generations every day, sort of like a slow-motion version of May 68, but probably on a much larger scale too. New modes of communication have made this possible. However, as the saying goes, you can fool me once, but you can’t fool me twice. We should be smarter than falling for their vague promises of utopia again. Or else, we shouldn’t be surprised by the conservative backlash once it inevitably comes.
TaraElla is a singer-songwriter, independent journalist and author, who is passionate about liberty and equality. She is the author of the Moral Libertarian Horizon books, which focus on developing a moral case for liberal politics in the 21st century.
