The French Insurrection: May Movement of 1968
We enter France during the May Movement of 1968. Student, teacher, and worker revolts dominate the split nation. While each were fighting for different causes, they united under the front to establish a revolutionary change in the capitalistic society President Charles de Gaulle runs. Here is the narrative of a government that did not feel threatened enough by their constituents, and how these constituents later made the nation tremble.
Before May, Mouvement du 22 Mars, or the March 22nd movement, initiated the rise of Student’s dissent toward their authoritarian government became most apparent in France. On the Friday evening of March 22, 1968, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a student of the university that was later banned from France by the government, lead 142 students in the occupation of the Administrative building at the University of Nanterre. To take a “liberal” stance, as Cohn-Bendit says, the government and authorities allocated a 400 seat lecture hall to the students, but the move was to constrict the movement occurring. Soon the 142 student’s became an assembly of thousands, with around 50% of the students without a political affiliation but support the boycott. By April 22, the administration could not prevent the occupation of 1,500 people in the B1 lecture theater, nor contain the movement that is building. Overall, Cohn-Bendit and other leaders gained 10,000- 12,000 students, faculty, and teachers to strike against Nanterre. As time went on, the students pressed to change the narrative of the French university system by the university listening to what the people want. The students did not want dialogue with the government that tried to divide student groups, as they made one appear more important than the other to weaken their unification. Instead, they fought to be heard by the press and for them to share the raw footage of their movement. However, the Press censored themselves to stunt the boycotts growth as they shared only the picturesque elements of what occurred. Consequently, the movement could not and would not be stopped as word traveled of what happened March 22 and sparked a fire at the University of Sorbonne.
In May of 1968, the student and teacher movement destroyed the misconception that nothing could be done about the capitalistic country they live in. On May 3, the police were involved clearing out the Latin Quarter where a massive demonstration was held, one of four that would occur in the month of May. Soon, the students acted as an example for young workers who joined the movement in droves. By May 17, over 200 thousand workers entered the strike across France which became 10 million by May 23. The working class had to pay the cost of operation for the capitalistic Society created under de Gaulle, as 500,000 people were unemployed and the cost of living raise. As a result, the working class revolted for an increase of industrial wages from 45 to 60 cents, cost of living to be met by general wages, lowering of work hours, strike pay, and social security benefits raised from 70% to 75%. The students joined the worker revolts as a means to represent the masses rather than fight divided. Beforehand, the Government did not feel threatened enough by just the students revolting. If France was a Social Democratic government much like America, the government would have acted quicker against the movement. They would want to represent the masses (students/workers) and keep a capitalistic policy. With a heavily conservative French President like Charles de Gaulle, the voice of the people was not heard, that is until they were forced to be.
Works Cited
Bourges, Herve. The French Student Revolt. Translated by B. R Brewster, Hill and Wang, Inc., 1968.
“Issues in the French Strike.” The New York Times, 28 May 1968, p. 16,
Klimke, Martin, and Joachim Scharloth. 1968 In Europe: a History of Protest and Activism, 1956–77. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Kugelberg, Johan, and Philippe VermeÌs. Beauty Is in the Street: a Visual Record of the May ’68 Paris Uprising. Four Corners Books, 2011.
Poggioli, Sylvia. “Marking the French Social Revolution of ‘68.” NPR, NPR, 13 May 2008
