The French Student Revolution of May 1968

Outline:

I.?????Introduction

????A. General introduction

????B. Research Question

????C. methodology

II.?????The circumstances that led to the start of this revolution

????A. The path of the revolution

????B. The evolution of the revolution

III.?????The results of the revolution

????A. Election results

????B. The reason behind the failure of the revolution

IV.?????Conclusion

On May 9, 1968, a large student demonstration took place in the Quartier Latin, after several months of student unrest in and around Parisian Universities. The students drew lines and glued them together to make borders. The police raided the roadblocks and arrested the students in the area, putting them in neighboring apartments and beating them with truncheons late at night. The images and accusations from the night of the 9th to the 10th of May sparked a general strike to protest what happened on the 13th of May (Ahluwalia, M. 2012). Other strikes, for various reasons, have followed the occupation of large factories. These actions spread and multiply until the entire country is engulfed in a prolonged general strike. Political protests and demonstrations are also spreading, not only in Paris, but also in other cities and even in rural areas. Many people felt that time that the revolution is on the horizon. It was called "May 68" or simply "May" and it was in progress (Drott, E. 2011). The protests of the May 1968 revolution were not just events and a passing historical stage in which the voice of youth revolted against the restrictions that restricted and destroyed it, but rather a milestone and an uprising that completely changed the face of the country and its effects and repercussions continue to this day, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy stated at the start of his term on the day he declared that one of his objectives was to "restore the dignity of the French people", while his opponents witnessed the moment when he permitted the formation of the New France, titled Liberty and social Justice(May 1968 After forty years, 2017). But why did the student revolution of May 1968 fail to achieve its goal?

By relying on a variety of policy data qualitative and quantitative studies conducted by numerous research institutions, writers, and journalists, this article will address the reason behind the failure of the May 1968 student revolution, starting from the circumstances that led to the revolution's erupting, the path it took, and its current developments. It will also be tackling the aftermath of the revolution, the results of the elections that followed, and the reasons for its failure.

The events of May 1968 erupted as a result of accumulations imposed by significant national and international circumstances at the political and economic levels since the early 1960s. On the political front, it is a popular state of fear that prevails in the country as a result of the general de Gaulle regime's restrictions on liberties, as well as restrictions on intellectuals, writers, and politicians under the guise of security and protection of the state, the republic, and its principles (Ahluwalia, M. 2012). The forced conscription and the situation of French colonies abroad, particularly Algeria and the massacres that occurred prior to its independence in 1962, have fueled the debate, as has the return of two million French citizens (Drott, E. 2011).

Despite the threats and restrictions that numerous works and plays have faced, the state and its agencies have been unable to impose censure on intellectuals and the press, and intellectuals have been forced to publish declarations and calls, including the Declaration 121, which has refused to participate in wars and has incited disobedience to the state (Reader, K. 2013). The declaration was written by Maurice Blancheau and signed by several people, including Jean-Paul Sartre. The French Communist Party, like the majority of countries at the time, was under the control of the Stalinists, at a time when communism was suffering from numerous divisions, one of which was the ongoing conflict between China and the Soviet Union (BOURG, J. 2007). Trotsky and his institutions, particularly the Communist Party, have been transformed into traditional power institutions, requiring a minimum of revolution tacit in contrast to the principles of the Marxist-Leninist revolution, which emphasized the inevitability of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie. As a result of this reality, communist and syndicates were on the same path. On a macroeconomic level, 1968 marks a turning point in the French economy, transitioning from growth to stagnation and beginning to engulf workers, living standards, and unemployment (Reader, K. 2013). The surprise was that the revolution started by students, not workers, and was based on the reclaiming of liberties, specifically the slogans "Stop the taboo" and "Don't give away my freedom" which later became economic slogans. The educational system has evolved in tandem with economic changes (May 1968 events in France, 2015).

France, like other world powers at the time, required technicians and researchers to compete on the global market. The number of university students has exploded, rising from 60 000 in a population of 42 million people before World War II to 500 000 in a population of 50 million. A change in quality has resulted from an increase in quantity (BOURG, J. 2007). Economic growth and educational changes have led to an increase in the number of children from working-class and lower-middle-class families enrolling in universities. Inequality in capitalism continued to prevent many people from obtaining higher education; however, whereas before the war, only one out of every hundred workers attended university, only one out of every ten did so in 1968. More importantly, this swollen student body has resulted in stress and fatigue (Reed, E. 2012). The fighting conditions have deteriorated, students were confronted with overcrowding, despite the fact that universities were in the midst of a construction frenzy to keep up with the pace. The Latin Quarter of Paris, which houses faculties such as the Sorbonne, is home to 150 000 students who visit almost every day. Previously, students would gather for a conference on a single topic in order to secure seats at their tables in class. The high rate of unemployment has raised serious concerns among students about finding work after graduation, even among those who have completed their degrees. 65% of French university students have not completed their studies, and 40% of the 450 000 are under the age of 25. However, the university system suffered from the same issues as Gaullism in its entirety. In the classroom, professors avoided contemporary issues in favor of giving lectures on classics, focusing on respect and rejection of dialogue. It was forbidden for students to publish photos or to house someone of a different gender in their dorms (Memou, A. 2013).

The fight for sexual liberation erupted in student dorms across the country on Valentine's Day. Thousands of students have been assaulted for "free circulation," according to the UNEF, with male students frequently attempting to assassinate female dormitories. The doyens waited for Parisian authorities and, in some universities, called the police. Students occupied the rector's office in Nantes, and fought the police in Montpellier. Even though the Minister of Education only allowed women to enter student dormitories and only if they were over the age of 21, the movement was successful (Michel, W. 2016).

To address overpopulation, the government implemented the Fuchsia reforms. Among other things, he has reduced educational requirements, forced students to choose a major almost immediately, and given them a very short window of a few years to complete their degree. The brutal justification for education has arrived and failed to provide genuine solutions to students' problems. In response, Nanterre sociology students went on strike for ten days in November 1967 (May 1968 events in France, 2015). The movement eventually included the entire faculty and about ten thousand students out of a total of twelve thousand, because it demanded educational reforms, program changes, and the end of fee-based courses. From Algeria to 1968, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNEF) shifted to the left (May 1968 After forty years, 2017). A significant number of Catholic socialists have pushed the Federation into policy and, within the FAU, have collaborated with young left-wing communists. During the September 1963 meeting, the left-wing group "Mino" took over the right-wing syndicate and attempted to maintain the military zeal of their Algerian campaigns. Despite the fact that the number of members has increased from 100 000 in 1961 to 500 000 in 1968, party politics has become more complex. He led a series of student protests in May, led by President Jacques Sauvagot, and assisted in bringing the unions into the war (Michel, W. 2016).

During protests against the Vietnam War, students marched under the banner "Victory at the Front of National Liberation!" while brandishing banderoles, and they also set up organizations. The nationalist group, Vietnam, has linked radical students with left-wing intellectuals and small-time left-wing parties, quickly transforming itself into a slew of regional groups (The Myth of May 1968 in bandes dessinées, 2016). Even more importantly, the high school students have organized an entire group of high school students comities in Vietnam. By the end of 1967, they had been transformed into high school action committees, with the goal of organizing a left-wing movement among the students. In April 1968, their number had increased to 500 in a few Parisian schools, but they played an important role in the May 1968 explosion (Memou, A. 2013). University demonstrations have also erupted in solidarity with Vietnam. When a group of extroverted students took over an administrative building on campus following the arrest of Trotskyist student Xavier Langled during a protest against the American Express office near Nanterre in March, they formed committees, wrote a manifesto, and wrote the first scribbles of famous satires. Following the fight to protect anti-war student militants, students formed a large and radical movement on March 22. "She has been described as anti-imperialist, anti-bureaucratic, and anticapitalistic," writes Daniel Bensad. All of these movements have attracted a large number of young revolutionaries (Reed, E. 2012). Following the expulsion of Communist Party youth activists in 1965. On campus, organizations such as the Revolutionary Communist Youth , the Union of Maoist Youth, and the Marxist-Leninists were recruited, formed, and led the struggle. Maoists have formed their own front groups in order to "serve the people." This emerging radical left has found a large audience on campus, with hopes dashed and systemic illusions exposed (Memou, A. 2013). These organizations were too small to have a significant impact on the final May results, but their efforts were palpable throughout the campaign. "There was an electrical charge in the air," Daniel Bensad stated during the 1967-1968 school year (Memou, A. 2013).

On campus, a scuffle over free speech has erupted. On May 3, 400 ultra-orthodox students will gather at the Sorbonne, they met to discuss how to move the student movement forward, how to oppose the closure of the campus by the Nanterre administration and the threat of expulsion of eight student leaders, including Daniel Cohn-Bendit, and how to oppose the fascist Western movement that threatens political violence against militants (Reader, K. 2013). The Sorbonne doyen, most likely in consultation with the Ministry of Education, assumed that the majority of regular students would be preoccupied with final exams and called the police to crack down on all nascent student militants. At 16:30 p.m., the police had surrounded the school's courtyard, assailed their way, and violently escorted dozens of students into police vehicles. Instead of ignoring the repression and hiding their heads in their books, hundreds, if not thousands, of students have banded together and marched to the police lines. "Free our Comrades," the crowd chanted (Drott, E. 2011). During the course of seven days, the otherwise passive and apparently non-proletariat students were subjected to police barricades, dynamited gas canisters, and aerial cobblestones. This went far beyond the dissimulation and confrontation tactics of a radical minority. This was the reaction of tens of thousands of students in a social service organization. The 10th of May was a major turning point, when the UNEF, the CAL, and others gathered their forces at the Lion of Balfour, a mile south of the Sorbonne, and invaded the Parisian streets (Michel, W. 2016). While between 35,000 and 400,000 students marched through working-class neighborhoods, passers-by and demonstrators were attacked by workers' unions, erecting barricades in the Quartier Latin battleground. "The first septum appeared completely by chance, with no order or direction," Alan Craven, the JCR's chief, later stated (May 1968 After forty years, 2017).

Currently, all revolutionary organizations, particularly the AKP,?banded together to build barriers rather than attempt to disrupt the movement. During a press conference on May 11, Prime Minister Georges Pompidou announced the reopening of the Sorbonne University and the release of imprisoned students (Michel, W. 2016). This has increased public trust, and as demonstrated by the example of students, ordinary people have realized that they have the power to depose General de Gaulle and his government. Another significant turning point occurred on May 13th. Approximately one million people have descended on the streets of Paris for the largest gathering in the country's history to date (Ahluwalia, M. 2012). Participation in survivor gatherings across France has set new records. People have gained more confidence and a true sense of their own strength in the middle of humanity's sea, at the confluence of two rivers teeming with students and workers. Employees of the engineering and chemistry departments went on strike on May 17th. Trains have been halted, and post offices have closed. The tide is now whizzing across the country at dizzying speeds. Employees have effectively halted base production in a matter of days. In about a week, the tidal wave swept through all strata of society. At the same time, students across France are mobilizing (The Myth of May 1968 in bandes dessinées, 2016).

Following a massive demonstration on May 13, they began their occupation of the Sorbonne, their "revolutionary society." The school's structure can comfortably accommodate 6000 people. Every day, between 20 and 30 thousand people attend university. They take part in debates, form political organizations, organize popular power, and simply benefit from the atmosphere of freedom in the courtroom (Reed, E. 2012)?. Workers' inequitable consciousness and struggle were a challenge that arose from capitalism itself, but this inequity had to be addressed, which led to the effective intervention of a mass socialist revolutionary party that could coordinate activity across the country and in as many factories and schools as possible. As a large-scale party with deep roots, it was capable of defying the Communist Party's and CGT's heavy-handed policies (Memou, A. 2013). On the other hand, revolutionary groups such as the JCR and resurgent organizations such as the March 22 Movement have attempted to broaden the fight. With their assistance, student and labor committees have spread throughout the Paris region. Nonetheless, despite valiant efforts, the revolutionary groups were too small and socially inept to provide policy direction (Reed, E. 2012).

When the spontaneous sit-ins began, the government backed down. De Gaulle is leaving for a trip to Romania at the same time that the workers in Nantes are occupying their factory. After an excruciating two-week wait, the government attempted to intervene. On the 24th of May, de Gaulle took the oath of office and called a referendum, promising to resign if he lost. On the same day, Prime Minister Georges Pompidou summoned the trade unions and patronage organizations to a meeting to negotiate. However, a strong labor opposition forced him to retire and report the election results. As a result, this plan has failed to put an end to the general strike (Ahluwalia, M. 2012). With the appearance of significant indicators of dissatisfaction among the police and armed forces, the squabble deepens in government circles, because relations between President de Gaulle and Prime Minister Pompidou are strained. On the 29th of May, de Gaulle arrived in Baden, West Germany, where he announced his intention to "retire from political life." However, his political advisers persuade him of the necessity of returning to France, where he proposes the end of the general strike and the holding of legislative elections (Michel, W. 2016). The essence of de Gaulle's speech was for the working class to renounce the general strike, to renounce voluntarily its right to control the production process, to abandon its strong class unity with the rural masses and their large gains, and, of course, to renounce the hope of changing the society (Drott, E. 2011). In summary, the 9 million workers' armed forces were required to lay down their arms in exchange for General de Gaulle's recognition of the continuation of the throne, followed by the holding of legislative elections in the midst of the withdrawal and discontent of the populace, which the right-wing Gaullist had won on a silver plain (BOURG, J. 2007).

There is no doubt that the French Communist Party was the most powerful party on the French left in 1968. This has given the party a lot of clout in the working class. The Communist Party influenced not only the hundreds of thousands of its members, or one million and a half workers, in the general union of its partisans, but also a large number of other workers who did not belong to the party or the union but saw in it a militant and active section of the working class that deserved to be heard by the rest of the class (Marlowe, L. 2018). The Communist Party has taken control of a large number of municipalities in industrial areas. In terms of policy, the French Communist Party was steadfast in its support for Moscow. After being kicked out of the government in 1947, his strategy was to reclaim power through the Parliament. This goal can only be achieved through the formation of a coalition government. This would necessitate the Communist Party demonstrating its commitment to legislative means and constitutional procedures. Since the beginning of May, the party has been condemning left-wing students and accusing them of extroversion and adventurism (May 1968 After forty years, 2017). Faced with the massive demonstration on May 13th, which demonstrated widespread support for students, the party's tone had to shift slightly. With the onset of the global general strike, the party has had to maintain caution while advancing through the UGT to bring the movement under its control. The syndicate's policy was to appoint strike committees from among pro-government elements, to exclude revolutionary elements from workplaces, and to abolish regular mass meetings solely to ensure the continuation of workplace occupation (May 1968 events in France, 2015). When De Gaulle was asked to organize legislative elections on May 30, the Communist Party was unable to reject the proposal because doing so would have meant defining the party's legislative strategy. As a result, the Communist Party and the General Labor Union have begun to call for the end of the strike. This policy, combined with a combination of policing and economic concessions from the government and employers, resulted in a return to work in the vast majority of workplaces at the beginning of June, with the Gaullists and their allies winning 358 out of 487 positions. In comparison to 240 in the previous legislature, the proportion of the Communist Party has decreased from 73 to 34 (Memou, A. 2013).

The end of the general strike against wage increases has caused widespread dissatisfaction among the working class, and reformist leaders are still clinging to power ahead of the elections. As a result, the reformer has once again proven to be a loyal servant of the bourgeoisie by averting the society's revolutionary crisis. The communist party's and its union's decision to end the general strike for electoral reasons has sparked debate and opposition (Reader, K. 2013). Two days after de Gaulle cancelled his speech calling for the end of the strike, 30 000 people demonstrated in the streets of Paris, calling the elections "treason" and "the battle continues." While this number may appear to be enormous in general, it was insufficient to have an effective influence on the course of events in the midst of a massive political crisis afflicting the French society. This is not to say that the strikers wanted to resume their work. Despite massive economic concessions made by employers to workers in the electricity, gas, rail, and metro sectors, workers have been hesitant to accept the agreement. "Despite the money and other hardships, the strike turned into something like a party", explained a later syndical official (Reed, E. 2012). The problem for workers was not a lack of militants, but rather a lack of a coherent and crystallized direction that could mobilize them against the suffocating and pernicious position of the French Communist Party. In fact, elements of what could be considered a revolutionary left were present. From the beginning, the direction of the student movement was in the hands of left-wing students who opposed the Communist Party's reform, "revolutionary" apologists, and representatives of various political ideologies ranging from revolutionary Marxism to Trotskyism to Maoism (The Myth of May 1968 in bandes dessinées, 2016).

A group of Trotskyists also played a key role in the decision of Nantes Aerospace workers to go on strike, which paralyzed the French government. However, for three major reasons, the revolutionary left has not been able to provide an effective alternative that cuts the herb under the feet of the reformists. The first of these reasons is related to the size and influence of revolutionaries (Reader, K. 2013). When the events of May began, the revolutionary left was very weak. None of the 400 Trotskyist or Maoist organizations were members of the organization, and it did not include any workers. Even the "Voice of Labor" (later renamed Labor Struggle) group that refused to work among students was largely made up of former students who distributed brochures to factories from abroad. Despite the explosive growth of revolutionary organizations during the events, with tens of thousands of members, their influence on students has been severely limited due to the power of reform and bureaucracy over the factories (The Myth of May 1968 in bandes dessinées, 2016). The second and most important reason concerns the revolutionary left's political orientations. Influenced by anarchist and third-world ideas, the majority of revolutionary students believed that the system had been purchased by the working class and that the enemy to be defeated was not capitalism but the consumer society (Marlowe, L. 2018). It was natural for such ideas to create a schism and a schism between the revolutionary left and the working class. Finally, even among elements of the revolutionary left who have adopted a correct perspective on the conflict and recognized the importance of the working class in societal change, there is a lack of revolutionary experience and political sense as a result of their sudden appearance in the middle. The events and the absence of a long history of revolutionary action have rendered them incapable of addressing workers in the language they understand and communicating effectively with them (Marlowe, L. 2018).

Not to mention that, like any reaction, the Mai 1968 revolution was exaggerated in the opposite direction. Sexual liberation is no longer a threat to anyone. Pornography has devolved into a law without precedent. Homosexuality, like normal sexual relationships between a man and a woman, has become acceptable and legal. Recently, a Gaulle member from the north of France was called to account for saying, "In my opinion, a sexual relationship between a man and a woman is preferable to a sexual relationship between a man and a man or a sexual relationship between a woman and a woman" (Drott, E. 2011). That's why they've turned on him and insulted him by calling him "regressive, back, right-wing, fascist, and so on". That is why there has been a reaction against Mai 68, and the French have elected Sarkozy, the lawyer, who has profited from this putsch that has profited from the humor of the people, or rather the elderly, who are the majority (Michel, W. 2016). In his famous speech before his election to the presidency, he launched a ferocious attack on the May 1968 revolution in front of hundreds of thousands of people and in the presence of major French artists, actors, and personalities. "The heirs of May 68 have imposed the absurd idea that everything is equal and that there is no difference between good and bad, the question in this election is whether we will keep the legacy of May 68 or whether we will retire it once and for all from his father's reel!" (May 1968 After forty years, 2017).

Perhaps the intellectual influence of the movement was the most negative. After 68, and even more so in the preceding years, ideology dominates, particularly in social sciences, which are experiencing massive expansion, and is characterized by structuralism in all its forms, whether Marxist or a Marxist trend or not. From Claude Lévi-Strauss to Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser to Jacques Lacan, and Pierre Bourdieu to Roland Barthes, structuralism has influenced intellectual research and life in all fields (Reader, K. 2013). One of its defining characteristics was that it was focused on systems, structures, mechanisms, machines, and reproduction; it was not focused on the production of the society and its actors, and even less on their personality, which some regard as extinct. Occasionally, their own death is on the horizon. Philosophers Luc Ferry and Alain Renaud have dubbed this "thinking 68" or "thinking 68." However, structuralism has prevailed in the first place following the 68th of May (Michel, W. 2016).

To conclude, the movement's cultural impact is its most long-lasting and impressive contribution. Mai 68 marked the end of power in its most well-known and long-lasting forms. Furthermore, the charge leveled against her remains the same today as it was then. She has encouraged counter-culture, liberated the spoken word and the imagination, transformed the arts and literature, and opened the door to new challenges, energizing feminism and combating homophobia. He has launched a critique of institutions that have become more receptive to democracy and human rights in recent years. "The Breach" has not been closed since then.

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