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This article is about the 1968 civil unrest in France. For other events, see May 1968. For the Joan Miró painting, see May 1968 (Miró).

May 1968 events in France
Part of the Protests of 1968 and the Cold War
Top: Protest in Toulouse, 12 June 1968; bottom left: posters in Paris; barricades in Bordeaux, May 1968
Date2 May – 23 June 1968
(1 month and 3 weeks)
Location
France
MethodsOccupations, wildcat strikes, general strikes
Resulted inSnap legislative election
Parties
Lead figures

Non-centralized leadership
Some notable people participating:
François Mitterrand
Pierre Mendès France
Daniel Cohn-Bendit

Casualties
Death2 (only 25 May)[1]
Injuries887+ (only 25 May)[1]
Arrested1,000+ (only 25 May)[1]
Part of the Politics series on
Students' rights
History
Concepts and theory
Issues
Organizations
Related

May 68 (French: Mai 68) was a period of widespread protests, strikes, and civil unrest in France that began in May 1968 and became one of the most significant social uprisings in modern European history. Sparked by student demonstrations against university conditions and government repression, the movement quickly escalated into a nationwide general strike involving millions of workers, bringing the country to the brink of revolution. The events have profoundly shaped French politics, labor relations, and cultural life, leaving a lasting legacy of radical thought and activism.

After World War II, France underwent rapid modernization, economic growth, and urbanization, leading to increased social tensions. (The period from 1945 to 1975 is known as the Trente Glorieuses, the "Thirty Glorious Years", but it was also a time of exacerbated inequalities and alienation, particularly among students and young workers.) By the late 1960s, France's university system was struggling to accommodate a growing student population, and the rigid structure of academia frustrated students amid a broader discontent with conservative social norms. Inspired by countercultural, anti-imperialist, Marxist, and anarchist ideologies, students increasingly viewed themselves as part of a revolutionary struggle against capitalism and authoritarianism. At the same time, the French working class was dissatisfied with stagnant wages and poor working conditions, despite growth. The political order, dominated by President Charles de Gaulle's Fifth Republic, was seen by many as outdated and repressive.

The movement began with student demonstrations in late March at Paris Nanterre University. After the police intervened to suppress ongoing activism, Nanterre was shut down on 2 May, and protests moved to the Sorbonne in central Paris. On 6 May, police violently dispersed a student gathering at the Sorbonne, leading to clashes with protesters and mass arrests. As the confrontations escalated, students erected barricades, and the night of 10 May saw intense street battles between protesters and police. Public outrage fueled further mobilization, and by 13 May, the protests had evolved into a general strike. About 10 million workers, or two-thirds of the labor force,[2] walked off the job in the largest general strike in French history, shutting down factories, transportation, and public services. Radical leftist groups gained influence, and calls for revolution grew louder. De Gaulle's government struggled to regain control, and on 29 May he briefly left to a French military base in West Germany. He returned on the next day, dissolved the National Assembly, and called for new elections. By this point, the movement had started to lose momentum. The government, business leaders, and union representatives had negotiated the Grenelle agreements on 27 May, securing wage increases and concessions. As de Gaulle reasserted authority, the revolutionary moment faded. In the elections on 23 June, his party won a resounding victory, signaling the collapse of the immediate movement.

Though it failed to bring about a revolution, May 68 had profound long-term consequences. The events weakened de Gaulle's authority, and he resigned the following year. The movement led to increased state investment in education and social policies, though radical leftist politics declined in electoral influence. The strikes forced major concessions in labor rights, including wage increases, better working conditions, and expanded social protections. The May 68 movement also contributed to the growth of feminist, environmentalist, and LGBTQ activism, and inspired radical thought in philosophy, media, and academia, influencing figures like Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard. In France, the movement's slogans and imagery remain touchstones of political and social discourse.

Background

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Political climate

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In February 1968, the French Communist Party and the French Section of the Workers' International formed an electoral alliance. Communists had long supported Socialist candidates in elections, but in the "February Declaration" the two parties agreed to attempt to form a joint government to replace President Charles de Gaulle and his Gaullist Party.[3]

University demonstration

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On 22 March, far-left groups, a small number of prominent poets and musicians, and 150 students occupied an administration building at Paris University at Nanterre and held a meeting in the university council room about class discrimination in French society and the political bureaucracy that controlled the university's funding. The university's administration called the police, who surrounded the university. After the publication of their wishes, the students left the building without any trouble. After this, some leaders of what was named the "Movement of 22 March" were called together by the disciplinary committee of the university.

Events of May

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Student protests

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Public square of the Sorbonne, in the Latin Quarter of Paris

After months of conflicts between students and authorities at the Nanterre campus of the University of Paris (now Paris Nanterre University), the administration shut the university down on 2 May 1968.[4] Students at the University of Paris's Sorbonne campus (today Sorbonne University) met on 3 May to protest the closure and the threatened expulsion of several Nanterre students.[5] On 6 May, the national student union, the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (UNEF, the National Union of Students of France)—still France's largest student union today—and the union of university teachers called a march to protest the police invasion of the Sorbonne. More than 20,000 students, teachers and supporters marched toward the Sorbonne, still sealed off by the police, who charged, wielding their batons, as soon as the marchers approached. While the crowd dispersed, some began to create barricades out of whatever was at hand, while others threw paving stones, forcing the police to retreat for a time. The police then responded with tear gas and charged the crowd again. Hundreds more students were arrested.

Graffiti in a classroom
Graffiti on the school of law, "Vive de Gaulle" (Long live De Gaulle) with, at left, the word "A bas" (down with) written across "Vive"
University of Lyon during student occupation, May–June 1968

High school student unions spoke in support of the riots on 6 May. The next day, they joined the students, teachers and increasing numbers of young workers who gathered at the Arc de Triomphe to demand that (1) all criminal charges against arrested students be dropped, (2) the police leave the university, and (3) the authorities reopen Nanterre and Sorbonne.

Escalating conflict

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Negotiations broke down, and students returned to their campuses after a false report that the government had agreed to reopen them, only to discover the police still occupying the schools. This led to near revolutionary fervor among the students.

On 10 May, another huge crowd congregated on the Rive Gauche. When the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité again blocked them from crossing the river, the crowd again threw up barricades, which the police then attacked at 2:15 a.m. after negotiations once again floundered. The confrontation, which produced hundreds of arrests and injuries, lasted until dawn. The events were broadcast on radio as they occurred and the aftermath shown on television the next day. It was alleged that the police had participated in the riots, through agents provocateurs, by burning cars and throwing Molotov cocktails.[6]

The government's heavy-handed reaction brought on a wave of sympathy for the strikers. Many of the nation's more mainstream singers and poets joined after the police brutality came to light. American artists also began voicing support of the strikers. The major left union federations, the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) and the Force Ouvrière (CGT-FO), called a one-day general strike and demonstration for Monday, 13 May.

Well over a million people marched through Paris that day; the police stayed largely out of sight. Prime Minister Georges Pompidou personally announced the release of the prisoners and the reopening of the Sorbonne. However, the surge of strikes did not recede. Instead, the protesters became even more active.

When the Sorbonne reopened, students occupied it and declared it an autonomous "people's university". Public opinion at first supported the students, but turned against them after their leaders, invited to appear on national television, "behaved like irresponsible utopianists who wanted to destroy the 'consumer society'".[7] Nonetheless, in the weeks that followed, approximately 401 popular action committees were set up in Paris and elsewhere to take up grievances against the government and French society, including the Sorbonne Occupation Committee.

Worker strikes

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Strikers in Southern France with a sign reading "Factory Occupied by the Workers." Behind them is a list of demands, June 1968.

By the middle of May, demonstrations extended to factories, though workers' demands significantly varied from students'. A union-led general strike on 13 May included 200,000 in a march. The strikes spread to all sectors of the French economy, including state-owned jobs, manufacturing and service industries, management, and administration. Across France, students occupied university structures and up to one-third of the country's workforce was on strike.[8]

On 24 May, two people died at the hands of rioters. In Lyon, Police Inspector Rene Lacroix died when he was crushed by a driverless truck rioters sent careering into police lines. In Paris, Phillipe Metherion, 26, was stabbed to death during an argument among demonstrators.[1]

As the upheaval reached its apogee in late May, major trade unions met with employers' organizations and the French government to produce the Grenelle agreements, which would increase the minimum wage 35% and all salaries 10%, and granted employee protections and a shortened working day. The unions were forced to reject the agreement, based on opposition from their members, underscoring a disconnect in organizations that claimed to reflect working class interests.[9]

The UNEF student union and CFDT trade union held a rally in the Charléty stadium with about 22,000 attendees. Its range of speakers reflected the divide between student and Communist factions. While the rally was held in the stadium partly for security, the speakers' insurrectionist messages were dissonant with the relative amenities of the sports venue.[10]

Calls for new government

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The Socialists saw an opportunity to act as a compromise between de Gaulle and the Communists. On 28 May, François Mitterrand of the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left declared that "there is no more state" and said he was ready to form a new government. He had received a surprisingly high 45% of the vote in the 1965 presidential election. On 29 May, Pierre Mendès France also said he was ready to form a new government; unlike Mitterrand, he was willing to include the Communists. Although the Socialists lacked the Communists' ability to form large street demonstrations, they had more than 20% of the country's support.[7][3]

De Gaulle flees

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On the morning of 29 May, de Gaulle postponed the meeting of the Council of Ministers scheduled for that day and secretly removed his personal papers from Élysée Palace. He told his son-in-law Alain de Boissieu: "I do not want to give them a chance to attack the Élysée. It would be regrettable if blood were shed in my personal defense. I have decided to leave: nobody attacks an empty palace." De Gaulle refused Pompidou's request that he dissolve the National Assembly, as he believed that their party, the Gaullists, would lose the resulting election. At 11:00 am, he told Pompidou, "I am the past; you are the future; I embrace you."[7]

The government announced that de Gaulle was going to his country home in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises before returning the next day, and rumors spread that he would prepare his resignation speech there. However, the presidential helicopter did not arrive in Colombey, and de Gaulle had told no one in the government where he was going. For more than six hours the world did not know where he was.[11] The canceling of the ministerial meeting and de Gaulle's mysterious disappearance stunned the French,[7] including Pompidou, who shouted, "He has fled the country!"[12]

Government collapse

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With de Gaulle's closest advisors saying they did not know what he intended, Pompidou scheduled a tentative appearance on television at 8 p.m.[11] The national government had effectively ceased to function. Édouard Balladur later wrote that as prime minister, Pompidou "by himself was the whole government", as most officials were "an incoherent group of confabulators" who believed that revolution would soon occur. A friend of Pompidou offered him a weapon, saying, "You will need it"; Pompidou advised him to go home. One official reportedly began burning documents, while another asked an aide how far they could flee by automobile should revolutionaries seize fuel supplies. Withdrawing money from banks became difficult, gasoline for private automobiles was unavailable, and some people tried to obtain private planes or fake national identity cards.[7]

Pompidou unsuccessfully requested that military radar be used to follow de Gaulle's two helicopters, but soon learned that he had gone to the headquarters of the French Forces in Germany, in Baden-Baden, to meet General Jacques Massu. Massu persuaded the discouraged de Gaulle to return to France; now knowing that he had the military's support, de Gaulle rescheduled the meeting of the Council of Ministers for the next day, 30 May,[7] and returned to Colombey by 6:00 pm.[11] However, his wife Yvonne gave the family jewels to their son and daughter-in-law—who stayed in Baden for a few more days—for safekeeping, indicating that the de Gaulles still considered Germany a possible refuge. Massu kept as a state secret de Gaulle's loss of confidence until others disclosed it in 1982; until then most observers believed that his disappearance was intended to remind the French people of what they might lose. Although the disappearance was real and not intended as motivation, it indeed had such an effect on France.[7]

Revolution prevented

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Pierre Messmer

On 30 May, 400,000 to 500,000 protesters (many more than the 50,000 the police were expecting) led by the CGT marched through Paris, chanting: "Adieu, de Gaulle!" ("Farewell, de Gaulle!"). Maurice Grimaud, head of the Paris police, played a key role in avoiding revolution by both speaking to and spying on the revolutionaries, and by avoiding the use of force. While Communist leaders later denied that they had planned an armed uprising, and extreme militants only comprised 2% of the populace, they had overestimated de Gaulle's strength, as shown by his escape to Germany.[7] Historian Arthur P. Mendel, otherwise skeptical of French Communists' willingness to maintain democracy after forming a government, claims that the "moderate, nonviolent and essentially antirevolutionary" Communists opposed revolution because they sincerely believed that the party must come to power through legal elections, not armed conflict that might provoke harsh repression from political opponents.[3]

Not knowing that the Communists did not intend to seize power, officials prepared to position police forces at the Élysée with orders to shoot if necessary. That it did not also guard Paris City Hall despite reports that it was the Communists' target was evidence of governmental chaos.[11] The Communist movement largely centered around the Paris metropolitan area, and not elsewhere. Had the rebellion occupied key public buildings in Paris, the government would have had to use force to retake them. The resulting casualties could have incited a revolution, with the military moving from the provinces to retake Paris as in 1871. Minister of Defence Pierre Messmer and Chief of the Defence Staff Michel Fourquet prepared for such an action, and Pompidou had ordered tanks to Issy-les-Moulineaux.[7] While the military was free of revolutionary sentiment, using an army mostly of conscripts the same age as the revolutionaries would have been very dangerous for the government.[3][11] A survey conducted immediately after the crisis found that 20% of Frenchmen said they would have supported a revolution, 23% would have opposed it, and 57% would have avoided physical participation in the conflict. If there had been a military intervention, 33% said they would have fought against it, while only 5% would have supported it, and a majority of the country would have avoided any action.[7]

Election called

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At 2:30 p.m. on 30 May, Pompidou persuaded de Gaulle to dissolve the National Assembly and call a new election by threatening to resign. At 4:30 pm, de Gaulle broadcast his refusal to resign. He announced an election, scheduled for 23 June, and ordered workers to return to work, threatening to institute a state of emergency if they did not. The government had leaked to the media that the army was outside Paris. Immediately after the speech, about 800,000 supporters marched through the Champs-Élysées waving the national flag; the Gaullists had planned the rally for several days, which attracted a crowd of diverse ages, occupations, and politics. The Communists agreed to the election, and the threat of revolution was over.[7][11][13]

Aftermath

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Protest suppression and elections

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From that point, the revolutionary feeling of the students and workers faded away. Workers gradually returned to work or were ousted from their plants by police. The national student union called off street demonstrations. The government banned several leftist organizations. The police retook the Sorbonne on 16 June. Contrary to de Gaulle's fears, his party won the greatest victory in French parliamentary history in the legislative election held in June, taking 353 of 486 seats to the Communists' 34 and the Socialists' 57.[7] The February Declaration and its promise to include Communists in government likely hurt the Socialists in the election. Their opponents cited the example of the Czechoslovak National Front government of 1945, which led to a Communist takeover of the country in 1948. Socialist voters were divided; in a February 1968 survey a majority had favored allying with the Communists, but 44% believed that Communists would attempt to seize power once in government (30% of Communist voters agreed).[3]

On Bastille Day, there were resurgent street demonstrations in the Latin Quarter, led by socialist students, leftists and communists wearing red armbands and anarchists wearing black armbands. The Paris police and the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS) harshly responded starting around 10 pm and continuing through the night, on the streets, in police vans, at police stations, and in hospitals where many wounded were taken. There was, as a result, much bloodshed among students and tourists there for the evening's festivities. No charges were filed against police or demonstrators, but the governments of Britain and West Germany filed formal protests, including for the indecent assault of two English schoolgirls by police in a police station.

National feelings

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Despite the size of de Gaulle's triumph, it was not a personal one. A post-crisis survey conducted by Mattei Dogan showed that a majority of the country saw de Gaulle as "'too sure of himself' (70%), 'too old to govern' (59%), 'too authoritarian' (64%), 'too concerned with his personal prestige' (69%), 'too conservative' (63%), and 'too anti-American' (69%)"; as the April 1969 referendum would show, the country was ready for "Gaullism without de Gaulle".[7]

Legacy

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May 68 - Start of a prolonged struggle (Mai 68 - début d'une lutte prolongée) - poster by Atelier Populaire at the École des Beaux-Arts[14]

May 1968 is an important reference point in French politics, representing for some the possibility of liberation and for others the dangers of anarchy.[15] For some, May 1968 meant the end of traditional collective action and the beginning of a new era to be dominated mainly by the so-called new social movements.[16]

Someone who took part in or supported this period of unrest is known as a soixante-huitard (a "68-er").

Slogans and graffiti

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A slogan reading "It is forbidden to forbid,"

Sous les pavés, la plage! ("Under the paving stones, the beach!") is a slogan coined by student activist Bernard Cousin[17] in collaboration with public relations expert Bernard Fritsch.[18] The phrase became an emblem of the events and movement of the spring of 1968, when the revolutionary students began to build barricades in the streets of major cities by tearing up street pavement stone. As the first barricades were raised, the students recognized that the stone setts were placed atop sand. The slogan encapsulated the movement's views on urbanization and modern society both literally and metaphorically.

Other examples:

  • Il est interdit d'interdire ("It is forbidden to forbid")[19]
  • L'imagination au pouvoir ("Power to the imagination")[20]
  • Jouissez sans entraves ("Enjoy without hindrance")[19]
  • Élections, piège à con ("Elections, a trap for idiots")[21]
  • CRS = SS[22]
  • Je suis Marxiste—tendance Groucho ("I'm a Marxist—of the Groucho persuasion")[23]
  • Marx, Mao, Marcuse![24][25][26] Also known as "3M".[27]
  • Cela nous concerne tous. ("This concerns all of us")
  • Soyez réalistes, demandez l'impossible ("Be realistic, demand the impossible")[28]
  • "When the National Assembly becomes a bourgeois theater, all the bourgeois theaters should be turned into national assemblies." (Written above the entrance of the occupied Odéon Theater)[29]
  • "I love you!!! Oh, say it with paving stones!!!"[30]
  • "Read Reich and act accordingly!" (University of Frankfurt; similar Reichian slogans were scrawled on the walls of the Sorbonne, and in Berlin students threw copies of Reich's The Mass Psychology of Fascism at the police)[31]
  • Travailleurs la lutte continue[;] constituez-vous en comité de base. ("Workers[,] the fight continues; form a basic committee.")[32][33] or simply La lutte continue ("The struggle continues")[33]
[edit]

Cinema

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  • François Truffaut's film Baisers volés (1968) ("Stolen Kisses") takes place in Paris during the time of the riots and while not overtly political, makes passing reference to and depicts the demonstrations.[34]
  • André Cayatte's film Mourir d'aimer (1971) ("To Die of Love") is based on the story of Gabrielle Russier, a classics teacher (played by Annie Girardot) who committed suicide after being sentenced for having had an affair with one of her students during the events of May 68.
  • Jean-Luc Godard's film Tout Va Bien (1972) examines the continuing class struggle within French society in the aftermath of May 68.[35]
  • Jean Eustache's film The Mother and the Whore (1973), winner of the Cannes Grand Prix, references the events of May 1968 and explores the aftermath of the social movement.[36]
  • Claude Chabrol's film Nada (1974) is based symbolically on the events of May 1968.
  • Diane Kurys's film Cocktail Molotov (1980) tells the story of a group of French friends heading toward Israel when they hear of the May events and decide to return to Paris.
  • Louis Malle's film May Fools (1990) satirically depicts the effect of the revolutionary fervor of May 1968 on small-town bourgeoisie.
  • Bernardo Bertolucci's film The Dreamers (2003), based on Gilbert Adair's novel The Holy Innocents, tells the story of an American university student in Paris during the protests.
  • Philippe Garrel's film Regular Lovers (2005) is about a group of young people participating in the Latin Quarter of Paris barricades and how they continue their life one year after.
  • In the spy-spoof OSS 117: Lost in Rio, the lead character Hubert ironically chides hippie students, "It's 1968. There will be no revolution. Get a haircut."
  • Olivier Assayas's film Something in the Air (2012) tells the story of a young painter and his friends who bring the revolution to their local school and have to deal with the legal and existential consequences.
  • Le Redoutable (2017), a biopic of Godard, covers the 1968 riots/Cannes festival, etc.
  • Roman Coppola's film CQ (2001), set in Paris in 1969, is about the making of a science-fiction film, Dragonfly, and shows the director discovering his starring actress during the 1968 demonstrations. During Dragonfly, set in the "future" Paris of 2001, the "1968 troubles" are explicitly mentioned.
  • Wes Anderson's film The French Dispatch (2021) includes a segment, Revisions to a Manifesto, inspired by the protests.

Music

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  • Many of French anarchist singer-songwriter Léo Ferré's writings were inspired by those events. Songs directly related to May 1968 include "L'Été 68", "Comme une fille" (1969), "Paris je ne t'aime plus" (1970), "La Violence et l'Ennui" (1971), "Il n'y a plus rien" (1973), and "La Nostalgie" (1979).
  • Claude Nougaro's song "Paris Mai" (1969).[37]
  • The imaginary Italian clerk described by Fabrizio De André in his album Storia di un impiegato is inspired to build a bomb set to explode in front of the Italian parliament by listening to reports of the May events in France, drawn by the perceived dullness and repetitiveness of his life compared to the revolutionary developments unfolding in France.[38]
  • The Refused song "Protest Song '68" is about the May 1968 protests.[39]
  • The Stone Roses's song "Bye Bye Badman", from their eponymous album, is about the riots. The album's cover includes the tricolore and lemons, which were used to nullify the effects of tear gas.[40]
  • The music video for David Holmes's song "I Heard Wonders" is based entirely on the May 1968 protests and alludes to the influence of the Situationist International on the movement.[41]
  • The Rolling Stones wrote the lyrics to the song "Street Fighting Man" (set to music of an unreleased song they had already written with different lyrics) in reference to the May 1968 protests from their perspective, living in a "sleepy London town". The melody was inspired by French police car sirens.[42]
  • Vangelis released an album, Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit ("May you make your dreams longer than the night"), about the Paris student riots in 1968. It contains sounds from the demonstrations, songs, and a news report.[43]
  • Ismael Serrano's song "Papá cuéntame otra vez" ("Papa, tell me again") references the May 1968 events: "Papa, tell me once again that beautiful story, of gendarmes and fascists and long-haired students; and sweet urban war in flared trousers, and songs of the Rolling Stones and girls in miniskirts."[44]
  • The title of Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso's "É Proibido Proibir" is a Portuguese translation of the slogan "It is forbidden to forbid". It is a protest song against the military regime that assumed power in Brazil in April 1964.[45]
  • Many of the slogans from the May 1968 riots were included in Luciano Berio's seminal work Sinfonia.
  • The band Orchid references the events of May 68 as well as Debord in their song "Victory Is Ours".
  • The 1975's song "Love It If We Made It" makes reference to the Atelier Populaire's book supporting the events, Beauty Is in the Street.

Literature

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Art

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See also

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May 68

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May 1968, commonly referred to as Mai 68, was a period of intense civil unrest in France marked by student demonstrations against educational and societal constraints that rapidly expanded into the largest general strike in the nation's history, encompassing roughly 10 million workers and halting economic activity across key sectors. The events originated in early May with protests at the Sorbonne University in Paris following the closure of Nanterre University amid demands for greater academic freedom, coeducational dormitories, and opposition to the Vietnam War, quickly devolving into clashes with police that injured hundreds and prompted factory occupations starting May 14 at sites like Renault plants. By May 24, strikes had engulfed ten million participants out of a fifteen-million-strong workforce, with unions such as the CGT and CFDT organizing occupations but ultimately negotiating settlements that contained the momentum. The crisis peaked with street battles, barricades in , and fears of revolution, compelling President to briefly flee to on May 29 before returning to dissolve the and call snap legislative elections. The Grenelle Accords of May 27 offered substantial wage hikes—up to 35% for minimum pay—and reduced work hours, yet many workers rejected them in favor of continued self-management experiments in occupied factories. Politically, the unrest backfired for its radical instigators, as Gaullist forces secured a resounding victory in the June elections, gaining an absolute majority in the Assembly and reinforcing conservative dominance despite the movement's disruption of daily life and isolated fatalities from violence. While immediate revolutionary aims faltered due to union interventions and public backlash against chaos, May 1968 catalyzed long-term shifts including higher labor standards and cultural liberalization, though analyses highlight its role in exposing underlying tensions in French without achieving systemic overthrow. The events underscored causal dynamics of spontaneous unrest clashing with institutional resilience, with student idealism melding uneasily with proletarian grievances over pay and hierarchy, yet ultimately yielding electoral repudiation rather than transformation.

Historical Context

Political Landscape Under de Gaulle

assumed the presidency of the on January 8, 1959, following the constitution's adoption in 1958, which endowed the executive with enhanced powers to address the instability of the preceding Fourth Republic. Gaullist parties, primarily the (UNR), secured a commanding majority in the through the 1958 and 1962 legislative elections, enabling consistent governance focused on national sovereignty and economic . In the November 1962 elections, held after parliamentary dissolution amid the constitutional referendum controversy, Gaullist candidates won a decisive first-round success, diminishing opposition cohesion and affirming legislative dominance. A pivotal consolidation of presidential authority occurred via the October 28, 1962, , which proposed direct popular election of the president, bypassing selection; it passed with 62.43% approval despite vehement parliamentary resistance, including a no-confidence vote against Georges Pompidou. This reform, justified by de Gaulle as aligning executive legitimacy with popular will post-Algerian independence, entrenched a semi-presidential system but drew accusations of from critics, who viewed it as circumventing constitutional norms. Opposition forces, fragmented between the (PCF)—polling around 20-25% in legislative contests but marginalized by anti-communist sentiment—and center-left groupings like the Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière (SFIO), struggled to mount unified challenges, their influence curtailed by Gaullist electoral successes and the regime's stability. De Gaulle's administration, under Pompidou's premiership until 1968, prioritized policies of grandeur nationale, including nuclear deterrence independence and withdrawal from NATO's integrated command in 1966, while domestically advancing indicative that sustained high growth rates averaging 5.8% annually from 1960 to 1968. Socially conservative and paternalistic, the regime resisted rapid , maintaining strict hierarchies and labor regulations that, despite postwar prosperity, bred grievances over bureaucratic rigidity and generational disconnects. By the mid-1960s, de Gaulle's personal stature remained formidable—rooted in wartime resistance legacy—but electoral margins narrowed, as evidenced by his 1965 reelection requiring a runoff against , where he secured 55.2% amid rising left-wing mobilization. Latent political tensions simmered, with radical fringes decrying the system's centralization, though mainstream opposition lacked the cohesion to threaten Gaullist until the unrest of 1968.

Economic Boom and Underlying Tensions

experienced robust economic expansion during the period from 1945 to 1975, characterized by annual GDP growth averaging nearly 6 percent between 1960 and 1973. This growth, exceeding 5 percent annually in the early postwar decades, stemmed from gains, state-directed industrialization, and reconstruction efforts that modernized and boosted sectors like and . Industrial production expanded rapidly, with average annual growth of about 5.1 percent throughout the , supported by investments in key industries such as automobiles, steel, and chemicals. Unemployment remained low, hovering around 1.5 to 2 percent in the early , with roughly 250,000 unemployed individuals amid a growing labor force driven by demographic expansion and female workforce participation. rose steadily, exemplified by government-mandated increases in minimum industrial wages, such as the 2 percent hike announced on September 1, 1965, reflecting broader gains in living standards and . accelerated, with rural-to-urban migration fueling employment and booms, while climbed, positioning as one of Europe's leading economies by the mid-1960s. Despite this prosperity, structural rigidities fostered underlying tensions. were marked by centralized bargaining and limited worker autonomy, with unions often sidelined in decision-making, leading to simmering grievances over hierarchical management and insufficient profit-sharing despite wage gains. By late 1966, industrial production stagnated from mid-year levels into 1967, accompanied by slight unemployment upticks and inflationary pressures from global currency strains, eroding confidence in the Gaullist model's sustainability. Rapid modernization exacerbated generational divides, as a youthful population—bolstered by the post-World War II baby boom—confronted outdated educational and social institutions ill-suited to emerging aspirations for personal freedom and cultural expression, amid influences like opposition to the . Persistent class disparities, uneven , and a complacent further alienated students and young workers, who perceived the as benefiting elites while constraining broader societal mobility.

Social and Cultural Precursors

The demographic bulge from France's post-World War II swelled enrollments, doubling from about 300,000 students in the early to 600,000 by , without corresponding expansions in facilities or faculty, resulting in overcrowded lecture halls and strained resources. This mismatch fueled student grievances over inadequate educational conditions and curricula perceived as disconnected from modern realities. Rigid hierarchies, where professors wielded unchecked authority and discouraged debate, further alienated a generation seeking participatory learning. Generational conflicts intensified as an emerging , influenced by global trends like , cinema, and calls for sexual freedom, clashed with Gaullist France's conservative social norms, including patriarchal family structures and moral codes enforced in institutions such as segregated dormitories. Economic prosperity during the period created rising expectations among youth, yet persistent class immobility, bureaucratic centralism, and authoritarian tendencies in daily life bred resentment toward a system viewed as stagnant despite material gains. Intellectual undercurrents, including critiques from groups like , which rejected both Stalinist bureaucracy and capitalist alienation, laid groundwork for anti-authoritarian thought among students, emphasizing worker self-management and cultural critique over traditional Marxist . The legacy of the (1954–1962), with its revelations of and forced , instilled lasting anti-militarist and anti-imperialist sentiments, as many participants in anti-war protests transitioned into university activism. These elements converged to challenge the perceived rigidity of French society, priming discontent that erupted in 1968.

Outbreak of Protests

Nanterre University Spark

The unrest at , a suburban of the established in 1964 to alleviate overcrowding in central faculties, began in early amid student dissatisfaction with administrative authoritarianism and campus restrictions. Students protested against rules prohibiting men from entering women's dormitories after 9 p.m. and vice versa, viewing them as paternalistic infringements on personal autonomy, alongside complaints of substandard facilities, irrelevant and curricula focused on outdated Marxist theory, and faculty indifference to student input. These grievances reflected broader generational frustrations with consumer and perceived hypocrisy in Gaullist France's moral conservatism, though participation remained limited to a radical minority of approximately 150-200 activists out of thousands enrolled. German-born student , a major known as "Dany le Rouge" for his libertarian Marxist views and red hair, emerged as a leader by organizing direct actions, including invasions of female dorms to demand co-ed access and critiques of university bureaucracy as an extension of capitalist alienation. Cohn-Bendit's blended Situationist-inspired cultural subversion with anti-imperialist opposition to the , attracting a coalition of anarchists, Trotskyists, and Maoists who rejected both establishment politics and orthodox communism. On January 25, 1968, he faced disciplinary hearings for such provocations, escalating tensions with administrators. The pivotal event occurred on , 1968, when police arrested six students—including future Movement of 22 March members—for participating in an anti-Vietnam War disruption at the Saint-Lazare train station, prompting 200-300 radicals to occupy the university's administrative tower and convene an unsanctioned meeting in the council chamber. This occupation birthed the Mouvement du 22 Mars ( Movement), a loose, non-hierarchical group of about 100 core members advocating "" through spontaneous action, university democratization, and solidarity with global anti-colonial struggles, while explicitly denouncing the French Communist Party's reformism. The movement's manifesto, drafted that day, called for ending "" in education and society, drawing from Guy Debord's Situationist ideas, though its influence was initially confined to 's activist circles. Subsequent clashes intensified after right-wing students from attacked leftists on April 21, leading to retaliatory occupations and police summons threatening expulsions, particularly targeting Cohn-Bendit. On , hundreds rallied against these measures, but the administration's refusal to negotiate fueled . The government's decision to close indefinitely on May 2—following weeks of intermittent disruptions and to preempt further violence—displaced protesters to the Sorbonne, where on May 3 they demanded the release of arrested comrades and reopening of both campuses, marking the transition from localized grievance to nationwide conflagration. This closure, intended as containment, inadvertently amplified the spark by scattering agitators into proper, where alliances with larger student bodies proved catalytic. Accounts from participants emphasize libertarian impulses over structured ideology, though contemporary analyses note the movement's marginal size and reliance on provocation rather than mass appeal, with left-biased academic retrospectives often overstating its grassroots purity.

Sorbonne Occupation and Barricades

On May 3, 1968, approximately 600 students assembled in the courtyard of the in ' Latin Quarter to protest the closure of University and the potential expulsion of student leaders from prior demonstrations there. The gathering aimed to show solidarity with Nanterre activists but coincided with a counter-march by radical right-wing students, prompting university rector Jean Roche to request police intervention to prevent between the groups. At around 4:45 p.m., helmeted police entered the courtyard, cleared it, and arrested over 400 demonstrators, which sparked clashes on surrounding streets as protesters decried the police presence on campus grounds. The Sorbonne was subsequently closed by authorities, escalating tensions and drawing thousands more students into daily marches against the intervention and for greater university autonomy. Protests intensified over the following week, with police using tear gas and batons to disperse crowds, resulting in hundreds of injuries and further arrests. By May 10, student numbers had swelled to several thousand, leading to the erection of over 600 barricades across Latin Quarter streets using uprooted trees, paving stones, and overturned vehicles to fortify positions against anticipated police advances. This "Night of the Barricades" from May 10 to 11 saw intense street battles, with protesters hurling projectiles and police deploying tear gas, clubs, and charges that left at least 367 people hospitalized and exacerbated public outrage over state force. The confrontations, evoking historical revolutionary imagery, solidified student resolve but failed to dislodge police control, as authorities dismantled most barricades by morning amid reports of widespread property damage and heightened sympathy from onlookers. The Sorbonne's full occupation occurred on May 13, after the announcement of a nationwide prompted police withdrawal from the Latin Quarter to manage broader unrest. Students swiftly entered and seized the university buildings, transforming them into a for coordinating protests, assemblies, and the distribution of leaflets demanding educational reforms, opposition to the , and critiques of capitalist structures. The occupation committee, formed shortly thereafter, organized internal governance through mass meetings and rejected traditional hierarchies, though internal divisions emerged between Trotskyist, anarchist, and Situationist factions over tactics and goals. Authorities tolerated the hold initially due to the strike's scale but later attempted negotiations, which students rebuffed in favor of sustained disruption. This phase marked a shift from sporadic clashes to institutionalized resistance, amplifying the movement's visibility and inspiring similar actions at other universities.

Expansion to General Strike

Worker Mobilization and Alliances

Worker mobilization during the May 1968 events in France was initially spurred by solidarity with student protests but rapidly developed into widespread spontaneous actions driven by economic grievances accumulated over years of labor conflicts. On May 13, 1968, the communist-led Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) and the more reformist Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT) called for a one-day general strike against police repression of students, resulting in a joint march of up to 800,000 participants in Paris under banners proclaiming unity between students, teachers, and workers. Despite the unions' intention to limit the action to a symbolic day, workers extended strikes indefinitely starting May 14, occupying factories without formal union authorization in many cases, such as the Sud-Aviation aerospace plant in Nantes where 4,000 employees seized control. This spontaneity reflected underlying tensions from 1967's labor disputes and dissatisfaction with stagnant wages amid economic growth. By May 20, strikes encompassed six million workers, peaking at around 10 million—two-thirds of France's labor force—by May 24, with over 300 major factories occupied nationwide, paralyzing key industries like automotive, steel, and chemicals. The CGT, dominant in heavy industry, organized many occupations but emphasized wage increases and working conditions over political revolution, while the CFDT showed greater openness to broader social change. Alliances between students and workers were symbolically strong in early joint rallies, yet practical collaboration was limited by union hierarchies; CGT leaders deliberately separated the groups to channel worker militancy into negotiable economic demands, viewing student radicalism as disruptive to disciplined bargaining. Attempts by students to forge direct links, such as entering occupied factories for discussions, were frequently rebuffed by union stewards wary of ideological contamination. This dynamic highlighted a core tension: while the student spark ignited worker action, unions reasserted control to prevent the movement from escalating into systemic challenge.

Nationwide Economic Paralysis

The general strike initiated on May 13, , expanded rapidly nationwide, encompassing between 7.5 million and 10 million workers—approximately two-thirds of the French labor force—by the end of the month, effectively halting most industrial production and services. Factories in key sectors such as automobiles, metallurgy, chemicals, and were occupied by workers, with assembly lines stopped and output ceasing across major plants like , , and Sud-Aviation. This occupation strategy, inspired by tactics, prevented managerial interference and symbolized worker control, leading to a complete shutdown of activities that persisted for weeks in many facilities. Transportation infrastructure collapsed under the weight of coordinated walkouts, with workers, drivers, and laborers bringing freight and passenger services to a standstill, resulting in empty tracks, idle ships at docks, and disrupted supply chains. Fuel shortages emerged acutely as refineries and distribution networks halted operations, leaving pumps dry and stranding motorists, while air travel was curtailed by strikes at airports like . Public utilities and services faced similar paralysis; postal deliveries ceased, telephone exchanges operated minimally, and administrative offices closed, exacerbating the isolation of communities and hindering emergency responses. The cumulative effect manifested as a profound economic immobilization, with an estimated 150 million working days lost—far exceeding any prior French strike wave—and immediate production drops in industry estimated at up to 15-20% for the affected period, though precise GDP contraction figures for May alone remain debated due to the brevity of the peak disruption. Retail and faltered amid reduced mobility and hoarding, while agricultural output, though less directly hit, suffered from delayed harvests and issues. This widespread cessation underscored the strike's leverage, pressuring the government amid fears of indefinite prolongation, yet it also sowed seeds of and competitiveness erosion in subsequent months.

Governmental Response and Crisis

De Gaulle's Initial Reactions

In the early days of the unrest, following the Sorbonne occupation on May 3, 1968, de Gaulle authorized police to clear occupied university buildings, including the Sorbonne and Odéon theater, dismissing the student actions as manageable agitation. This reflected his view of the protests as limited to youthful disorder rather than a broader threat, with initial reliance on to restore order without broader governmental upheaval. By May 12, amid escalating clashes after the Night of the Barricades on May 10–11, de Gaulle convened an early morning meeting at the where he inquired about potential army intervention to quell the disturbances but was advised against it by aides due to risks of further escalation. Facing pressure from , who threatened resignation unless the Sorbonne reopened to facilitate negotiations with students and unions, de Gaulle relented, remarking, "If you win, so much the better... If you lose, too bad for you." This concession marked a shift from outright suppression to tentative dialogue, though de Gaulle remained detached, delegating domestic handling to Pompidou while prioritizing institutional continuity. De Gaulle's underestimation persisted into mid-May; on May 14, as the first major strikes erupted involving over a million workers, he departed for a to , signaling confidence that the crisis would not derail or require his direct oversight. This decision, amid reports of factory occupations and union mobilizations, highlighted a governmental miscalculation of the protests' potential to unite students and labor, with de Gaulle expecting communist union leaders to restrain radical elements rather than amplify them.

Flight to Germany and Rallying Support

On the morning of May 29, 1968, amid escalating unrest with factories occupied, student protests intensifying, and rumors of governmental collapse, President Charles de Gaulle abruptly canceled a scheduled Council of Ministers meeting and departed Paris secretly by helicopter and then a twin-engine Beechcraft aircraft, without informing his prime minister, Georges Pompidou. His destination was Baden-Baden in West Germany, where he landed at approximately 3:05 p.m. local time at the local airport, observed only by a small number of airport staff. De Gaulle's unannounced visit was to General , commander of the French Forces in , who controlled around 70,000 troops stationed there. The meeting, held at Massu's headquarters, focused on securing assurances of military loyalty amid fears that the crisis could lead to a communist or ; Massu, a longtime associate of de Gaulle from the era, reaffirmed the army's support and reportedly persuaded the president against resignation or further flight, emphasizing the need to return and confront the situation. This encounter provided de Gaulle with a critical , including potential readiness for troop deployment to restore order if fell further into chaos. De Gaulle departed shortly after the discussion and returned to France by evening, reappearing publicly the following day. On , he broadcast a radio refusing to yield power, dissolving the , calling for legislative elections within a month, and framing the unrest as an illegitimate seizure attempt by anarchists and communists backed by the . The speech galvanized conservative and Gaullist supporters, prompting massive counter-demonstrations in and other cities, with estimates of up to 1 million participants marching in favor of the government, shifting momentum away from the strikers and restoring de Gaulle's authority.

Resolution and Short-term Aftermath

Grenelle Accords and Negotiations

Following the escalation of the general strike that paralyzed much of the French economy by mid-May 1968, Prime Minister initiated negotiations on May 25 at the Ministry of Social Affairs on Rue de Grenelle to avert further disruption. The talks involved representatives from the government, major trade unions such as the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) led by Georges Séguy, and employer groups including the Conseil National du Patronat Français (CNPF). , serving as Secretary of State for Employment, participated actively alongside Pompidou, focusing on social affairs provisions. The objective was to secure concessions addressing workers' demands for higher pay and improved conditions amid and stagnant , which had averaged annual increases of only 4-5% in the preceding years despite . The resulting Grenelle Accords, announced on May 27 but never formally signed due to subsequent rejection, offered substantial material gains: a 35% hike in the salaire minimum interprofessionnel garanti (SMIG), elevating the hourly minimum from 2.22 francs to 3 francs, alongside a 10% general increase across sectors, incorporating prior adjustments. Additional terms included enhanced union access to workplaces for recruitment and representation, though without mandating elected worker committees or reductions in the standard 40-48 hour workweek. These provisions represented a direct state intervention to boost , with the government committing to subsidize a portion of employer costs to mitigate inflationary pressures estimated at 5-7% annually. Pompidou presented the package as a pathway to resume production without capitulating to demands, emphasizing its alignment with France's growth model. Despite union leadership endorsement, the accords faced immediate repudiation from rank-and-file workers at occupied factories, such as Renault's Billancourt plant, where CGT-affiliated employees voted against implementation by margins exceeding 80% in some assemblies. Rejection stemmed from perceptions of the offers as inadequate amid the strike's momentum—workers had secured effective control over production sites and sought broader structural changes like profit-sharing or management co-determination, influenced by radicals advocating autogestion (self-management). Contemporary reports noted that agitators from far-left groups amplified distrust of union negotiators, framing the accords as a bourgeois compromise that preserved capitalist hierarchies. Strikes persisted, involving up to 10 million participants and halting 70% of industrial output, until early June when exhaustion and de Gaulle's rally shifted momentum. The failure highlighted a disconnect between union bureaucracies and militants, prolonging the crisis despite the accords' tangible economic concessions.

June 1968 Elections

On May 30, 1968, President , responding to the ongoing crisis precipitated by the May events, delivered a radio address announcing the dissolution of the and calling for new legislative elections to be held on June 23 and 30. This move followed widespread perceptions of governmental vulnerability amid student protests and the largest in French history, with de Gaulle framing the vote as a mandate to reject disorder and affirm republican institutions. The elections proceeded under France's two-round majoritarian system, requiring an absolute majority in the first round or a plurality in the second among qualified candidates. reached 80.01% in the first round, reflecting heightened public engagement amid the recent turmoil, with 22,539,743 ballots cast out of approximately 28 million registered voters. In , the Union pour la défense de la République (UDR), the Gaullist party, secured 43.65% of the valid votes (9,663,605), leading the field and electing 142 deputies outright. The Parti communiste français (PCF) garnered 20.03%, while the Fédération de la gauche démocratique et socialiste (FGDS) obtained 16.53%, highlighting a fragmented opposition unable to capitalize on the strike's momentum. The second round on June 30 saw turnout dip slightly to 77.82%, but the UDR consolidated its lead, ultimately winning 295 seats in the 487-member Assembly. Allies such as the Républicains indépendants added 64 seats, ensuring a clear pro-Gaullist exceeding 350 total. The PCF suffered sharp losses, dropping to 34 seats from 73 in the prior 1967 Assembly, while the FGDS managed only 57.
Party/GroupSeats Won
Union pour la défense de la République (UDR)295
Républicains indépendants64
Fédération de la gauche démocratique et socialiste (FGDS)57
Parti communiste français (PCF)34
Centre Progrès et Démocratie Moderne28
Divers and others9
This outcome, a reversal from the left's gains in , empirically demonstrated broad electoral repudiation of the May unrest's radical elements, with voters prioritizing stability over demands for systemic overhaul, as evidenced by the UDR's vote share surge from prior elections. The results temporarily bolstered de Gaulle's authority, enabling passage of stabilization measures, though underlying tensions persisted.

Economic Impacts

Immediate Disruptions and Costs

The May 1968 general strike mobilized approximately 10 million workers, representing two-thirds of France's labor force, leading to the occupation and shutdown of thousands of factories, mines, and offices across the country. Major industrial sites such as Renault's Billancourt plant, Citroën facilities, and Sud-Aviation factories were paralyzed, with production halting in key sectors including automotive, aviation, and chemicals. Transportation networks collapsed as rail services, postal operations, and air traffic were suspended, stranding goods and passengers nationwide. This widespread stoppage resulted in an estimated 150 million lost working days, according to records from the French Labor Ministry, dwarfing previous strike volumes and causing acute shortages of essential goods like and in urban areas. The French Central Bank reported a direct economic loss of around 2 billion U.S. dollars (equivalent to approximately 18 billion in 2023 dollars), equating to roughly 2 percent of the nation's annual gross national product at the time. Inflationary pressures surged immediately due to supply disruptions, with wholesale prices rising by up to 5 percent in affected sectors, while and deferred investments exacerbated short-term liquidity strains. Government estimates placed the total cost of disrupted production and services at over 10 billion francs (about 2 billion dollars), with recovery efforts requiring weeks of overtime and imports to refill depleted stocks. Small businesses and self-employed workers faced severe interruptions, contributing to a wave of bankruptcies in retail and services, though larger firms negotiated wage hikes post-strike to resume operations. These immediate effects underscored the strike's role in temporarily severing France's post-war economic momentum, prioritizing worker demands over output continuity.

Long-term Structural Effects

The Grenelle Accords of May 27, 1968, which granted a 35% increase in the (SMIG) and a 10% rise in average wages alongside enhanced union rights, imposed immediate cost pressures on French firms, eroding competitiveness through elevated labor expenses relative to productivity gains. These concessions, while resolving the acute strike wave involving up to 10 million workers, entrenched inflationary dynamics, as wage indexation mechanisms amplified price spirals without corresponding output expansions, contributing to a trade deficit surge and capital outflows in subsequent years. Structurally, the events marked the termination of France's full-employment era, with the rate rising from approximately 2% in to over 4% by 1977, doubling within nine years amid rigidified that prioritized worker protections over flexibility. This shift fostered adversarial , characterized by heightened strike frequency and for unions, which delayed structural adjustments and perpetuated dualism in the labor market—insiders with strong protections versus outsiders facing . Consequently, medium-term GDP growth decelerated relative to peer economies, as the 1968 wage premium constrained and performance, setting precedents for subsequent inertia in deregulating labor institutions. On the supply side, the crisis prompted expanded access to higher education by suspending rigorous examinations, enabling an additional cohort of students—estimated at 20-30% of participants—to obtain degrees, yielding long-term private returns through elevated lifetime earnings for those marginal entrants. However, this strained institutional quality and , contributing to over-education mismatches and diluted premiums in a labor market already burdened by post-1968 entitlements, though aggregate gains remained modest amid broader productivity slowdowns. Overall, these effects reinforced path dependencies in France's , prioritizing redistribution over adaptability and correlating with persistent eurozone-era vulnerabilities.

Social and Cultural Consequences

Reforms and Perceived Achievements

In response to the student protests demanding greater and institutional change, the French government under Prime Minister enacted the Loi d'orientation de l'enseignement supérieur on November 12, 1968, spearheaded by . This legislation granted universities autonomy from centralized ministerial control, promoted interdisciplinary programs, and introduced participatory governance structures involving students, faculty, and administrative staff in decision-making bodies. The reforms dismantled the traditional faculty system, replacing it with multidisciplinary "units" to address overcrowding and rigidity in higher education, though implementation faced resistance and uneven adoption across institutions. Worker demands during the general strike contributed to tangible economic concessions, including a 35% increase in the (SMIG) and a 10% rise in average wages, alongside enhanced union representation within workplaces, which were partially realized despite the CGT and other unions rejecting the formal Grenelle Accords. These adjustments, affecting nearly 10 million strikers, marked short-term gains in living standards and labor protections, with state investment in social policies expanding in subsequent years to mitigate unrest. Perceived achievements often center on cultural liberalization, with proponents attributing May 1968 to accelerating the , advocacy, and a broader rejection of authoritarian norms in family and society. Slogans emphasizing personal emancipation influenced public discourse, fostering demands for reduced social taboos, though empirical causation remains debated, as many shifts aligned with pre-existing 1960s trends in rather than direct policy outcomes of the events. Left-leaning interpretations, prevalent in academic accounts, credit the unrest with eroding conservative Gaullist structures and enabling modern , yet these claims overlook the decisive electoral repudiation of radical demands in the June 1968 legislative elections.

Criticisms of Moral and Social Decay

Critics of the events have argued that the movement's emphasis on and rejection of traditional norms accelerated a broader and social decay in French society, fostering and at the expense of discipline and communal responsibility. Slogans such as "Il est interdit d'interdire" ("It is forbidden to forbid"), prominently graffitied during the protests, symbolized a deliberate on established prohibitions, including those governing personal conduct and family structures. Philosopher described this ethos as promoting a "social childishness" where perpetual supplanted mature , contributing to a cultural infantilism that persisted in subsequent generations. A central point of contention has been the movement's role in inaugurating a that undermined marital stability and familial cohesion. Student protests began with demands for co-ed dormitories and unrestricted sexual relations on campuses, framing such freedoms as essential to from bourgeois constraints. This permissiveness, critics contend, paved the way for legislative changes like the 1975 liberalization of laws, after which France's crude divorce rate rose from approximately 1.2 per 1,000 inhabitants in to over 2.0 by the 1980s and beyond. Former President explicitly blamed the "heritage of May '68" for eroding public morals, asserting in his 2007 campaign that it instilled intellectual and , leading to hedonistic and a decline in . Empirical trends post-1968 lend weight to these critiques in the eyes of detractors, including a sharp increase in out-of-wedlock births—from negligible levels in the to 58.5% of children born to unmarried parents by —and a broader of family-centric values amid rising . Right-wing commentators have linked this to the events' glorification of personal gratification over intergenerational duties, viewing the subsequent societal shifts—such as normalized and delayed family formation—as causal outcomes of the 1968 spirit's triumph over restraint. While left-leaning narratives celebrate these changes as progressive liberation, conservative assessments portray them as precipitating social fragmentation, with weakened institutions unable to counterbalance the atomizing effects of unchecked .

Political Legacy and Interpretations

Left-wing Narratives of Revolution

Left-wing accounts portray the events in as a spontaneous and near-successful , ignited by protests at University on , 1968, which escalated into nationwide occupations and a paralyzing the by mid-May. Proponents, including participants from the 22 March Movement led by , emphasized the alliance between radical students and industrial workers, culminating in factory occupations across sectors like automotive and steel, where self-management experiments briefly supplanted hierarchical production. These narratives attribute the uprising's momentum to anti-authoritarian demands transcending traditional Marxist orthodoxy, critiquing both Gaullist conservatism and the (PCF) for bureaucratic inertia that allegedly sabotaged a full seizure of power. The , a small group influencing activists, framed as an insurrection against the "" of alienated commodity life, where in Paris's Latin Quarter from May 10-11 symbolized a rupture toward authentic communal living. Their pamphlets, such as and Situationists in the Occupations Movement, France, May-June 1968, celebrated the Sorbonne's transformation into a "people's university" and worker assemblies as embryonic councils bypassing state and union mediation, arguing the events prefigured a total critique of beyond mere wage demands. Anarchist and libertarian Marxist interpreters, like those in Cohn-Bendit's Le Gauchisme, remède à la maladie sénile du communisme, depicted the PCF-led CGT unions as complicit in deradicalizing the strike by negotiating the Grenelle Accords on May 27, which offered a 35% hike and reduced workweek but preserved capitalist relations, thus "recuperating" revolutionary energy. Such perspectives, often advanced by former militants or sympathetic intellectuals in outlets like , recast the political failure—evident in Charles de Gaulle's dissolution of the on and the Gaullist electoral triumph on June 23, securing 353 seats against the left's fragmented 117—as a moral and cultural victory. They highlight enduring shifts in social norms, including relaxed laws post-1968 and expanded access to contraception via the Neuwirth Law of December 1967 (amplified in spirit), as evidence of liberated subjectivity challenging patriarchal and bourgeois constraints. However, these accounts, predominantly from left-leaning academic and activist circles prone to retrospective idealization, underemphasize empirical fractures: intra-left rivalries between Trotskyists, Maoists, and anarchists prevented unified strategy, while worker demands prioritized material gains over utopian restructuring, as documented in strike committee records showing localized rather than national coordination. Trotskyist analyses, such as those from the International Socialist Review, interpret the events as a "" for future class struggles, faulting the absence of a revolutionary party for the retreat, yet glorifying the ten million strikers as proof of capitalism's vulnerability amid post-World War II prosperity. This framing persists in leftist historiography, viewing not as defeat but as generative of global radicalism, influencing movements from to U.S. campus protests, despite France's subsequent rightward shift and the left's electoral marginalization until the 1981 Mitterrand victory.

Right-wing Critiques of Instability

Right-wing commentators, including philosopher Raymond Aron, critiqued the May 1968 events as fostering immediate societal instability through a profound rejection of established authority and order, characterizing the protests as an "antinomian" movement that detested power itself and promoted total societal negation. Aron, in his analysis La Révolution introuvable published shortly after the unrest, described the upheaval as an unfound revolution driven by youthful psychodrama rather than coherent political aims, arguing it exacerbated France's persistent "revolutionary virus" by encouraging anarchic impulses over rational governance. He contended that the student-led disruptions, which escalated into nationwide strikes involving approximately 10 million workers by early June, disrupted economic production—causing an estimated 2-3% GDP loss in 1968—and undermined institutional stability without yielding substantive reforms, instead amplifying generational conflict and anti-authoritarian sentiment. Conservative voices extended these concerns to long-term instability, positing that initiated a cultural shift toward and weakened social structures, contributing to enduring fragmentation in French society. , during his 2007 presidential campaign, explicitly blamed the "heritage of " for imposing intellectual and , asserting it eroded traditional values, family authority, and national cohesion, which he linked to rising social issues like urban unrest and identity conflicts in subsequent decades. In a April 29, 2007, rally speech in , Sarkozy declared the need to "liquidate once and for all" this legacy, arguing it prioritized individualist excesses over collective discipline, a view echoed by other right-leaning figures who attributed post- rises in rates (from 10% in 1968 to over 40% by the ) and delinquency to the events' promotion of permissiveness and critique of hierarchy. These critiques often highlight causal links to policy outcomes, such as expanded social welfare and educational reforms under subsequent governments, which conservatives claim incentivized dependency and diluted , fostering economic rigidity evident in France's persistent high (hovering around 8-10% in the 1970s-1980s) and strike-prone . Empirical assessments from right-wing perspectives emphasize that the events' instability was not merely transient but structurally embedded, as the Grenelle Accords' wage increases (up to 35% in some sectors) fueled peaking at 6.5% in 1969 without addressing underlying issues, setting precedents for adversarial unionism that hampered growth. Critics like Aron further reasoned that the movement's failure to achieve revolutionary aims—evidenced by de Gaulle's Gaullists securing 353 of 487 seats in the June 1968 legislative elections—revealed its basis in ideological fantasy rather than viable alternatives, perpetuating cycles of unrest by normalizing extra-parliamentary disruption as a political tool. This view posits a direct lineage to later instabilities, including the suburban riots, where similar anti-authority dynamics resurfaced amid socioeconomic strains traceable to 1968's cultural liberalization.

Empirical Assessments of Failure

The June 1968 legislative elections, held in direct response to the May unrest, resulted in a resounding victory for Gaullist forces, with the Union for the Defense of the Republic and allied parties capturing 353 of 487 seats in the , up from 242 prior to dissolution. This outcome represented a clear empirical rejection of the movement's radical demands, as reached 80% and pro-government parties garnered over 46% of the first-round vote, reflecting widespread public fatigue with disruption and preference for stability. The strikes, involving up to 10 million workers and paralyzing key industries for weeks, inflicted short-term economic damage including halted production, , and trade deficits, exacerbating inflationary pressures that persisted into subsequent years. While the Grenelle Accords delivered average wage increases of 35% for manual laborers and reduced workweeks, these concessions failed to achieve the protesters' goals of worker self-management or systemic overhaul, instead reinforcing wage-labor dynamics within ; industrial output rebounded but with diminished competitiveness abroad. Long-term metrics underscore structural continuity rather than transformation: French GDP growth averaged 5.1% annually in the 1960s but slowed post-1968 amid rising unemployment, which doubled from 2% to over 4% within a decade, signaling the end of the full-employment era without the egalitarian redistribution envisioned by strikers. The movement's inability to sustain momentum—due in part to and union directives to resume work, prioritizing electoral gains over insurrection—prevented seizure of state power, leaving inequality metrics like the largely unchanged through the . Empirical analyses highlight the disconnect between aspirational slogans and causal outcomes: university enrollment expanded via post- reforms, yet hierarchical admission systems endured, with elite grandes écoles retaining selectivity; politically, leftist fragmentation persisted, as the Communist Party's vote share declined from 22% in 1967 municipal elections to under 20% in , enabling Gaullist dominance until 1974. These data points, drawn from electoral records and economic indicators, affirm the events' failure to disrupt entrenched power relations, despite tactical concessions that masked underlying stasis.

Cultural Representations

Slogans, Graffiti, and Symbolism

During the May 1968 protests in , graffiti and slogans proliferated on walls, barricades, and public spaces, serving as ephemeral manifestos that blended anti-authoritarian critique, surrealist provocation, and calls for social upheaval. These inscriptions, often scrawled hastily with paint or chalk, drew from rhetoric, emphasizing the rejection of consumerist spectacle and hierarchical structures. Collections such as Julien Besançon's Les murs ont la parole (1968) documented over 300 such expressions from streets, capturing the movement's poetic and defiant ethos. Prominent slogans included "Sous les pavés, la plage" ("Under the cobblestones, the beach"), which romanticized the upturning of urban infrastructure to reveal primal freedom, appearing on barricades during clashes in the Latin Quarter around May 10-11. Another, "Il est interdit d'interdire" ("It is forbidden to forbid"), challenged institutional prohibitions, reflecting libertarian impulses against and state controls. "Soyez réalistes, demandez l'impossible" ("Be realistic, demand the impossible") encapsulated the paradoxical logic of the protests, urging transcendence of pragmatic limits in favor of utopian demands. These phrases, echoed in worker tracts and student tracts, influenced the general strike that mobilized 10 million participants by late May. Graffiti extended to ironic and existential barbs, such as "La liberté commence où l'ignorance finit" (" begins where ends") and " dépassé" (""), critiquing bourgeois complacency and technocratic society. In and other cities, similar markings adorned faculty buildings, with phrases like "L'université est une prostituée de l'État" ("The is a prostitute of the state") targeting academic complicity in . These writings, transient yet widely photographed, fueled media coverage and later anthologies, though their authorship remained anonymous and collective. Symbolism in May 1968 drew from radical , including the as a of and resistance, repurposed in posters uniting students and immigrant workers. The Atelier Populaire, operating from the École des Beaux-Arts, produced over 300 silk-screen posters with bold slogans and minimalist designs, such as fists clenched against factory smoke or intertwined worker-student figures, distributed during occupations. Cobblestones, pried from streets for barricades, symbolized both defensive praxis and the unearthing of suppressed desires, aligning with Situationist tactics. Black flags of and red flags of waved alongside, though the movement's heterogeneity resisted unified iconography, prioritizing verbal agitation over fixed emblems.

Depictions in Media and Arts

The events of May 1968 have been portrayed in numerous films, often by directors linked to the French New Wave who engaged with or sympathized toward the protests, emphasizing themes of youthful rebellion, sexual liberation, and societal critique. Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers (2003) depicts three young people in Paris amid the unrest, intertwining political agitation with personal experimentation in relationships and cinema. Philippe Garrel's Regular Lovers (2005) fictionalizes the experiences of anarcho-communist youth in the immediate aftermath, portraying romantic ideals alongside the era's ideological fervor and tragic disillusionment. Jean-Luc Godard's Tout Va Bien (1972) examines persistent class conflicts in a factory strike setting, reflecting on the limitations of the 1968 upheavals through structured narrative interruptions and Brechtian techniques. Documentaries also capture the period's intensity, such as Gudie Lawaetz's Mai 68 (1974), which compiles footage of street demonstrations and occupations to convey the revolutionary momentum in real time. Michel Hazanavicius's Redoubtable (2017) biographically portrays Godard during the events, highlighting interpersonal tensions within activist circles amid broader turmoil. In , the Populaire collective produced over 300 silkscreen posters between May and June 1968, serving as plastered across walls to rally support against the government and ; these works featured bold, simplified imagery and slogans like "La beauté est dans la rue," blending influences with direct political messaging. during the protests, including at University, evolved into ephemeral expressing anti-authoritarian sentiments, later documented as symbolic of the movement's spontaneous creativity. Musical depictions include Claude Nougaro's "Paris Mai" (1969), a reflective evoking the city's transformed atmosphere post-uprising, and Léo Ferré's collaborations like "L'Été 68" with , critiquing the fleeting nature of the revolt through elements. Later international echoes appear in The Stone Roses' "Bye Bye Badman" (1989), referencing the riots' countermeasures with fruits as a motif of resistance. Literary representations analyze the events' societal impacts in works like Margaret Atack's May '68 in French Fiction and Film (1999), which surveys post-1968 novels and stories rethinking representation and social structures through characters grappling with generational rupture and failed ideals.

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