More than a history, this book is a passionate reliving of the French May Events of 1968. The authors, ardent participants in the movement in Paris, documented the unfolding events as they pelted the police and ran from the tear gas grenades. Their account is imbued with the impassioned efforts of the students to ignite political awareness throughout society. Feenberg and Freedman select documents, graffiti, brochures, and posters from the movement and use them as testaments to a very different and exciting time. Their commentary, informed by the subsequent development of French culture and politics, offers useful background information and historical context for what may be the last great revolutionary challenge to the capitalist system.
"This book is fascinating to read. The May events in France are very important. They are open to numerous interpretations but certainly they provide the only example of a government of an advanced industrial society brought to its feet, if only for a couple of weeks. They resonate backwards with the history of revolutions and forward to 'the new social movements' and the upheavals and reorganizations in Europe that continue to this day." -- Mark Poster, author of Existential Marxism in Postwar France: From Sartre to Althusser
"I know of no other book quite like it. It authoritatively captures an important moment in twentieth-century history, and does so with real verve and flair. I could not imagine teaching the sixties without recourse to it." -- Paul Thomas, University of California, Berkeley
students. Roche realized this and sent a message to the crowd that he was ready to “receive representatives of the students of the Sorbonne” in order to examine with them the conditions under which courses could resume. Roche finally and properly panicked; he realized that somebody had to stop the violence that threatened. But he was the only one. The ministers were still very much in their own stew, and were hardly prepared to deal directly with student demands. Peyrefitte was astounded by what he
foolish, that we did not see ’36. They say, wait. Wait for the unions to give the word and things will be all right. Well, the unions want to control everything and do nothing. Up to Monday, the unions told us in leaflets that the students were stupid, and then the next day, bravo, everybody is for the students! All of a sudden we realized what the unions were all about. We saw how the students fought and what they got. It worked. Cars burned, material damaged, all that is unimportant. What is
Sorbonne-Odeon 91 blank verso before FBT Essay II. In the Service of the People “Obedience begins with conscience and conscience with disobedience.”10 The struggles of May briefly dislocated one of the structural bases of capitalist democracy: the allegiance of the middle strata to the established parties and institutions. Opposition exploded among teachers, journalists, other employees in the “culture industry,” social service workers, civil servants, and even among some middle and lower
Service of the People day we went and removed the posters which an ad agency put up for the incumbent deputy from “la Malene” ´ and, in order to re-establish a certain balance in the decoration of the neighborhood, we put up posters from the Peoples’ Studio about our committee or the companies of MaineMontparnasse. We had a few problems with the Montparnasse railroad station itself. From the inception of our committee, we went to see the railway workers’ strike picket to offer it our services.
for everyone what the capitalists did scandalously for a few. Do not let bourgeois or social-democratic politicians negotiate the return to order in exchange for a ministry. 162 Self-Management: Strategy and Goal Force de Gaulle’s departure and the creation of a workers’ government. The government we want must institute direct democracy within a socialism based on the proposals of rank and file committees. These committees must assure its effective realization. Do Not Fall into the Trap of
