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Top: Protest in Toulouse, 12 June 1968; bottom left: posters in Paris; barricades in Bordeaux, May 1968

五月风暴（法語：Mai 68）是指1968年春夏之交时在法国发生的持续约七周的一场大规模抗议、罢工与社会动荡浪潮，被视作欧洲现代史上最具影响力的社会运动之一。该运动最初由学生针对大学体制及政府镇压的示威引发，随后迅速升级为波及数千万工人的全国性总罢工，国家一度濒临革命甚至内战边缘。这场事件深刻重塑了法国的政治格局、劳资关系与文化生态，其激进的思潮与行动主义遗产影响延续至今。

第二次世界大战后，法国经历了快速的现代化、经济增长与城市化，但社会矛盾也随之加剧。1945至1975年间被称为辉煌三十年的经济繁荣期，反而扩大了社会不平等与群体之间的疏离感，其中学生和青年工人群体尤甚。至1960年代末，法国高等教育体系已难以应对激增的学生人数，僵化的学术结构叠加对保守社会规范的不满，使学生群体日趋激进。受反文化、反帝国主义、马克思主义及无政府主义思潮影响，学生们逐渐将自身定位为反抗资本主义与威权主义的革命力量。与此同时，法国工人阶级虽身处经济增长期，却因工资停滞与恶劣劳动条件而积怨日深。由夏尔·戴高乐主导的法兰西第五共和国政治秩序，被民众广泛认为陈旧且充满压迫性。

此次事件起源或可溯至1968年3月底巴黎楠泰尔大学的学生示威。警方介入镇压示威运动后，楠泰尔大学于5月2日关闭，抗议活动随之转移至巴黎市中心的索邦大学。5月6日，警方暴力驱散索邦大学的学生集会，导致警方与抗议者发生大规模冲突。随着对抗升级，学生们筑起街垒，5月10日晚爆发抗议者与警察的激烈巷战。

公众的愤怒推动运动持续扩大，至5月13日已发展为总罢工。约1000万工人（占全国劳动力三分之二）参与这场法国史上最大规模的罢工，工厂、交通运输与公共服务陷入瘫痪。极左翼团体影响力增强，革命呼声日益高涨。戴高乐政府逐渐失去对法国的控制，戴高乐本人随即于5月29日短暂前往位于西德的法国军事基地，次日返回后立即解散国民议会并宣布提前大选。

此时运动已现颓势。政府、资方与工会代表于5月27日达成《格勒内勒协议》，承诺提高工资与改善福利。随着戴高乐重掌权力，革命浪潮逐渐消退。在6月23日的立法选举中，其所属政党取得压倒性胜利，标志着短期运动的政治失败。

尽管未能引发革命，五月风暴仍产生深远影响：削弱了戴高乐的权威，致其次年辞职；政府增加教育与社会政策投入；极左翼选举影响力下降。罢工迫使资方在劳工权利领域作出重大让步，包括加薪、改善工作条件和扩大社会保障。该运动还促进了女性主义、环保主义及LGBTQ平权运动发展，并深刻影响了米歇尔·福柯、让·鲍德里亚等思想家，运动的口号与意象至今仍是法国政治社会讨论的重要参照。

May 68 (法語：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. Initially 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 had undergone rapid modernization, economic growth, and urbanization, leading to increased social tensions. The Trente Glorieuses, the "Thirty Glorious Years" of growth from 1945 to 1975, had also 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, 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

Political climate

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.

University demonstration

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.

Contexte

Contexte économique

Paradoxalement, la crise de mai- survient au terme d'une décennie de prospérité inégalée. Sur le plan économique, c'est l'apogée des « Trente Glorieuses », avec un taux de croissance stable de l'ordre de 5 %. Le PIB par habitant en parité de pouvoir d'achat augmente lui aussi beaucoup pendant les années 1960, de l'ordre de 5 % par an. Les conditions de vie s'améliorent en parallèle : entre 1954 et 1968, le taux de foyers disposant d'une baignoire ou d'une douche passe de 10 % à la moitié, et ceux équipés d'une toilette d'un quart à la moitié. La société de consommation s'est installée dans les mœurs, sans que l'on prenne vraiment conscience de toutes ses implications ni des déséquilibres mondiaux qui se développent.

Toutefois, la société française est jugée très inégalitaire, l'indice de Gini est élevé : certains sont exclus de cette période d'enrichissement rapide.

En outre, cette croissance est aussi liée à la concurrence internationale accrue dans le cadre du marché commun européen lancé par étapes à la suite des traités de Rome de 1957. Les barrières douanières entre les Six sont levées le . Dans ce contexte, la pression sociale et salariale s'accroît tandis que persistent de profondes inégalités :

• nombreuses fermetures d'usines dans le textile, la mécanique, la métallurgie ;
• entre Template:Nombre d'emplois ;
• cinq millions de personnes sous le seuil de pauvreté ;
• deux millions de personnes perçoivent des salaires de l'ordre de Template:Nombre ou Template:Nombre par mois.

Depuis plusieurs mois, voire une année, des symptômes importants d'une détérioration de la situation économique française ont fait leur apparition. Le nombre de chômeurs s'accroît régulièrement : début 1968, ils sont déjà près de Template:Nombre, soit un taux de chômage de 2 %. Les jeunes se trouvaient les premiers touchés et en 1967, le gouvernement doit créer l'ANPE. La grande grève des mineurs de 1963 a signalé le malaise d'un monde de la mine qui vit ses dernières années avant le début d'une crise fatale. Un nombre important de grèves se tiennent aussi entre 1966 et 1967, en région parisienne comme en province. Deux millions de travailleurs sont payés au SMIG et se sentent exclus de la prospérité, dont beaucoup d'ouvriers des usines, de femmes ou de travailleurs immigrés. Les salaires réels commencent à baisser et les travailleurs s'inquiètent pour leurs conditions de travail. Les syndicats s'opposent ainsi aux ordonnances de 1967 sur la Sécurité sociale. Des bidonvilles existent encore, dont le plus célèbre est celui de Nanterre, directement sous les yeux des étudiants.

Même les catégories les plus privilégiées ne sont pas sans motifs d'inquiétude : la massification de l'enseignement supérieur a entraîné sur les campus d'innombrables problèmes de locaux, de manque de matériel, de transports. En 1967-1968, le gouvernement reparle aussi de « sélection scolaire », ce qui inquiète les étudiants.

Contexte politique

thumb |gauche|Paris, début 1968.

Sur le plan politique, le mouvement survient en une période d'usure de la République gaullienne, en place depuis 1958. En 1965, lors de la première élection présidentielle au suffrage universel direct tenue depuis 1948, le général de Gaulle a été mis en ballottage par François Mitterrand et Jean Lecanuet à la surprise générale. Aux élections législatives de 1967, sa majorité à l'Assemblée nationale se réduit à un seul siège. Les centristes tel Valéry Giscard d'Estaing assortissent de réserves critiques leur soutien au pouvoir (le « oui, mais » de 1967). Les démocrates-chrétiens tels Jean Lecanuet restent hostiles. L'extrême droite ne pardonne pas au général le procès de Vichy ou l'« abandon » de l'Algérie française. Les gaullistes s'irritent du maintien à Matignon de Georges Pompidou, jugé trop conservateur. Quant à ce dernier, une sourde rivalité l'oppose depuis 1965 au général de Gaulle, dont il lorgne en silence la succession. Le , le slogan « Dix ans, ça suffit ! » traduit dans les défilés une certaine lassitude de l'opinion.

De Gaulle était arrivé au pouvoir grâce à des tensions sociales particulières survenues autour du coup d'État du 13 mai 1958 en jouant habilement de circonstances exceptionnelles en apparaissant comme un recours après l'émeute du 13 mai et la prise du pouvoir par l'armée à Alger. De ce fait, aux yeux de ses opposants, la légitimité de son régime reste fortement entachée par les soupçons d'un « coup d'État » originel. En dépit des succès du pouvoir (fin de la guerre d'Algérie et de la décolonisation, résorption de la crise économique, monétaire et financière, croissance soutenue) et de l'acclimatation progressive de la Constitution française du 4 octobre 1958 renforçant le pouvoir exécutif par un régime semi-présidentiel, renforcé par l'élection du président de la République au suffrage universel direct et ayant recours durant plusieurs années aux référendums] (voir comme exemple le Référendum français sur l'élection au suffrage universel du président de la République), ses pratiques autoritaires suscitent une critique croissante. Ainsi l'ORTF, détentrice du monopole de l'audiovisuel, se fait ouvertement le relais de la propagande officielle. À Paris, le préfet Maurice Papon, responsable des tueries du 17 octobre 1961 et de l'affaire de la station de métro Charonne le 8 février 1962, n'a été remplacé qu'en 1967 par Maurice Grimaud, lettré humaniste venu de la gauche mendésiste. Par ailleurs, la politique extérieure de prestige de Charles de Gaulle et son nationalisme ne répondent pas nécessairement aux attentes plus matérielles, culturelles et sociales de la majorité des Français, vu son âge (78 ans). En , un célèbre éditorial de Pierre Viansson-Ponté dans Le Monde constate que « la France s'ennuie », reprenant le constat prophétique de Lamartine sous le gouvernement Guizot quelques années avant la révolution de 1848.

Le Parti communiste français, de loin la première force de gauche, peine à se déstaliniser. Les bureaucraties d'URSS et d'Europe de l'Est répugnent aux jeunes militants d'extrême gauche, dont le modèle se situe désormais plutôt du côté de Cuba ou de la Chine.

Parallèlement, les gauches non communistes ne parviennent pas à sortir de leurs divisions et de leurs discrédits. Donc, un espace ouvert pour que des groupuscules « gauchistes » (trotskistes, prochinoisTemplate:Etc.) se multiplient en marge des grandes organisations officielles. La politisation et l'agitation sont entretenues dans la jeunesse, par exemple, par les comités Vietnam, formés majoritairement de lycéens et étudiants, qui dénoncent « l'impérialisme américain » visible par la guerre du Viêt Nam. La guerre froide fait aussi naître des idées antinucléaires.Template:Référence nécessaire

Les universités de Clermont-Ferrand, Nantes, Montpellier ou Nancy sont en ébullition bien avant le Mouvement du 22 mars, qui leur fait référence dans ses premiers tracts.

Origines culturelles

Mai 68 ne se comprend que dans un monde en rapide mutation. L'accélération de l'exode rural et de l'urbanisation, l'augmentation considérable du niveau de vie, la massification de l'éducation nationale et de l'université, l'avènement de la culture des loisirs, du spectacle et des médias de masse, représentent des changements accélérés et sans précédent en moins d'une génération.

Les années 1960 sont aussi celles de l'affirmation de la jeunesse (qui représente un tiers de la population) en tant que catégorie socio-culturelle et politique à part entière. En particulier, la jeunesse a maintenant sa propre culture, avec une presse qui lui est destinée (Hara-Kiri, Actuel), des émissions de radio très suivies (Salut les copains) ou ses chanteurs attitrés (les Rolling Stones, les Beatles, Johnny HallydayTemplate:Etc.). Elle a aussi ses propres malaises et ses propres revendications (notamment en matière de liberté sexuelle) que les pouvoirs publics et le monde adulte tardent à comprendre. La France a autorisé l'usage de la pilule contraceptive en , mais elle est encore peu répandue.

Sur le plan religieux, la France, encore très catholique, vient de suivre avec passion le concile Vatican II, qui a profondément rénové Template:Incise le catholicisme traditionnel, et surtout les mouvements d'action catholique. En particulier, les Scouts de France représentant à l'époque une part non négligeable des jeunes chrétiens, ont modifié les rapports hiérarchiques dans leurs structures en remettant en cause, à partir de 1964, un modèle de type militaire et introduisant la collégialité des décisions au sein des équipes. La Jeunesse étudiante chrétienne en ébullition doit être reprise en main par la hiérarchie dès 1964. Le mouvement des prêtres ouvriers, dont la condamnation est levée en 1965, reprend son essor. De nombreux chrétiens se préoccupent de rénover les relations des fidèles aux autorités religieuses, de revisiter les pratiques et les dogmes, voire de concilier foi et révolution.

Sur le plan sociologique, la dynamique de groupe s'est répandue pendant les années 1960 dans les formations des responsables de toutes les organisations et des entreprises. La mode est au débat.

Toutefois, les clivages sociaux sont encore extrêmement rigides. 92% des étudiants viennent encore de la bourgeoisie. Le paternalisme autoritaire est omniprésent. On commence à ouvrir des lycées « mixtes »[[#ref_{{{1}}}|^]] , mais de nombreux établissements scolaires sont encore réservés aux garçons ou aux filles. Celles-ci ne sont pas autorisées à porter le pantalon. Par ailleurs, il est interdit de fumer dans un établissement, et les garçons, dans les universités, n'ont pas le droit d'accèder aux internats de filles.

L'éducation n'a pas encore connu de réformes structurelles, et le décalage est criant entre les aspirations d'une jeunesse et les cadres moraux qu'ils ressentent comme dépassés.

Sur le plan philosophique, plusieurs auteurs ont eu une influence importante au moins sur une partie du mouvement, pendant et après : le freudo-marxiste Wilhelm Reich, dont le livre La fonction de l'orgasme paru en 1927 en anglais et son manifeste, Template:Lien, est paru en 1936 ; le livre d'Herbert Marcuse L'Homme unidimensionnel, sous-titré Essai sur l'idéologie de la société industrielle avancée, paru en France en 1964 puis réédité en 1968 ; les ouvrages des membres de l'Internationale situationniste tels le Traité de savoir vivre à l'usage des jeunes générations, de Raoul Vaneigem, paru en 1967 ; La Société du spectacle, de Guy Debord, paru en 1967; et leur pamphlet collectif De la misère en milieu étudiant considérée sous ses aspects économique, politique, psychologique, sexuel, et notamment intellectuel et de quelques moyens pour y remédier ; À l'École normale supérieure de la rue d'Ulm, le philosophe communiste Louis Althusser a formé une génération de penseurs marxistes-léninistes français, qui forment l'embryon des premières organisations maoïstes.

Cependant, peu des penseurs éminents de l'époque prennent part en personne au mouvement, dont l'explosion les surprend autant que tout le monde. En général, ils sont initialement perplexes ou réservés, voire hostiles.

Une partie de la jeunesse radicalisée regarde avec fascination vers les mouvements révolutionnaires du tiers-monde : Ho Chi Minh, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro servent de modèle pour certains, et l'irruption sur la scène chinoise des jeunes gardes rouges donne l'impression que la jeunesse en tant que telle peut avoir un pouvoir politique dans la société et remettre en cause l'autorité des adultes et des pouvoirs. On suit aussi attentivement les luttes menées aux États-Unis par le mouvement d'émancipation des Noirs, ou encore par les sit-in et les diverses recherches du mouvement hippie et étudiant, notamment à l'université de Berkeley. En , des incidents retentissants opposent étudiants du Mouvement des étudiants allemands socialistes (Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund) et autorités de l'Allemagne de l'Ouest. Le caractère international de ces mouvements permet de replacer les événements français au sein d'une dynamique mondiale.

Origines immédiates

Template:Article détaillé Le Mouvement du 22 Mars, prenant le relais de la contestation menée par de petits groupes (tels les situationnistes, les enragés de René Riesel et les anarchistes), se fait connaître ce jour-là en occupant la salle du conseil des professeurs au dernier étage du bâtiment B, la tour administrative de la faculté de Nanterre. Sa principale revendication est la protestation contre des arrestations d'étudiants opérées deux jours plus tôt lors d'une manifestation contre la guerre du Viêt Nam. Le 2, une journée « anti-impérialiste » est organisée à l'université de Nanterre, conduisant notamment à l'interruption d'un cours de René Rémond. Le doyen Pierre Grappin décide alors la fermeture administrative de la faculté, ce qui provoque la diffusion du mouvement de contestation, dès le lendemain, au Quartier latin et à la Sorbonne, et le début, proprement dit, de Mai 68 ·  · .

Antiautoritaire, le mouvement est porteur d'un idéal politique très libertaire au sens des libertés individuelles et très critique vis-à-vis de la société de consommation, de l'autoritarisme, de l'impérialisme. Le mouvement joue aussi de thèmes touchant à la vie de tous les jours, comme le droit d'accès pour les garçons aux résidences universitaires des filles et la libération de la sexualité.

Mouvement spontanéiste, le émerge par sa pratique systématique de l'action directe (occupations de bâtiments administratifs, notamment) et se développe grâce à la démocratie directe en assemblées générales ouvertes à tous. Tout en refusant l'institutionnalisation en « organisation », il provoque un processus d'auto-organisation des étudiants « ici et maintenant ».

[[Fichier:Serge July par Claude Truong-Ngoc février 2014.jpg|vignette|296x296px|Serge July]] [[Fichier:Daniel Cohn-Bendit (1968).jpg|thumb|Daniel Cohn-Bendit en 1968.]]

Il n'y a pas eu à proprement parler de « figures de proue » du mouvement, qui est demeuré « multiforme » et sans organisation centralisée. Certains sont cependant devenus, a posteriori, des emblèmes du mouvement, même si leurs discours, singuliers, ne sauraient résumer la diversité d'opinions qui existaient au sein du mouvement et si, pour certains, ce discours postérieur a parfois consisté à réécrire les événements : parmi eux, Serge July et Daniel Cohn-Bendit · . Ce dernier a publié son autobiographie, "Le Grand Bazar", aux Editions Denoël, dès 1975. Ce livre est la première publication de la photo Daniel Cohn-Bendit face à un CRS devant la Sorbonne, de Gilles Caron, cinq ans après son décès, utilisée en couverture de l'ouvrage et l'une des plus médiatisée au XXI^e siècle.

L'écrivain Robert Merle (prix Goncourt 1949), professeur d'anglais à la faculté de Nanterre, a consacré un roman entier, Derrière la vitre, à la journée du 22 mars et à celles qui l'ont précédée. On y retrouve beaucoup de figures de l'époque, ainsi qu'une analyse des causes et rêves du mouvement. Cet ouvrage sur les événements, est complété par celui de Kristin Ross sur les discours qui ont été tenus sur Mai 68, de 1968 à nos jours.

Les causes de ce mouvement sont diverses. Des analyses évoquent l'idée qu'une grande rigidité cloisonnait les relations humaines et les mœurs et celle d'un début de dégradation des conditions matérielles après la période de reconstruction suivant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. À l'époque, de nombreux bidonvilles jouxtent Paris, notamment celui de Nanterre. Les étudiants qui se rendaient dans la faculté fraîchement construite découvrirent ce milieu, la pauvreté, la condition ouvrière. Le mécontentement naissant dans le milieu étudiant sera relayé par celui qui se profilait depuis plusieurs années dans le secteur ouvrier.

Phases

thumb|290px|right|Une affiche de Mai 68 (non signée). Template:Section à sourcer Les historiens divisent classiquement le déroulement de Mai 68 en trois phases, une « période étudiante » du 3 au 13 mai (le est la date de la grande grève qui a mobilisé tous les secteurs), une « période sociale » du 13 au 27 mai (la date des accords de Grenelle), et une « période politique » du au (date des élections législatives).

Avant comme après le rejet par la base, le , des accords de Grenelle, négociés par le Premier ministre Georges Pompidou avec les syndicats, Charles de Gaulle apparaît dépassé par les événements. Après sa disparition-surprise de 24 heures le 29 mai, il revient de Baden-Baden, quartier général de l'armée française en Allemagne, et reprend l'initiative en décrétant le la dissolution de l'Assemblée nationale.

La lassitude et le retournement de l'opinion publique, initialement favorable au mouvement, amènent un raz-de-marée gaulliste aux élections anticipées du . Les grèves cessent progressivement courant juin et les hauts lieux de la contestation, tels que la Sorbonne et l'Odéon à Paris, et les grandes usines, sont évacués par la police.

Mai 68 a suscité, dès l'époque, de nombreuses controverses et interprétations divergentes sur sa nature et sur ses causes, comme sur ses héritages. Il s'est prolongé en ouvrant la voie aux nouvelles formes de contestation et de mobilisation des années 1970 (nouveaux mouvements sociaux) telles que l'autogestion, l'écologie politique, les mouvements féministes, le « retour à la terre » avec des communautés alternatives ou bien la Lutte du Larzac, l'effervescence des luttes de libération (armées) en Corse, au Pays Basque, en Bretagne, en Alsace et aussi du nationalisme occitan, qui comporte comme les quatre autres exemples des composantes syndicales, culturelles, des organisations de masse et de jeunesse.

Au-delà du Mouvement autonome, qui est l'héritier plus ou moins direct des émeutes de 1968, l'événement a eu un impact considérable sur le plan social et surtout culturel, en étant à l'origine de nombreux « acquis sociaux » et de nombreuses réformes sociétales des années suivantes.

Events of May

Student protests

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. 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. 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

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.

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'". 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Calls for new government

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.

De Gaulle flees

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."

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. The canceling of the ministerial meeting and de Gaulle's mysterious disappearance stunned the French, including Pompidou, who shouted, "He has fled the country!"

Government collapse

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. 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.

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, and returned to Colombey by 6:00 pm. 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.

Revolution prevented

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. 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.

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. 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. 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. A survey conducted immediately after the crisis found that 20% of Frenchmen would have supported a revolution, 23% would have opposed it, and 57% would have avoided physical participation in the conflict. 33% would have fought a military intervention, while only 5% would have supported it and a majority of the country would have avoided any action.

Election called

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.

Aftermath

Protest suppression and elections

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. 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).

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

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".

Legacy

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

May 1968 is an important reference point in French politics, representing for some the possibility of liberation and for others the dangers of anarchy. 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.

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

Slogans and graffiti

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 in collaboration with public relations expert Bernard Fritsch. 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")
• L'imagination au pouvoir ("Power to the imagination")
• Jouissez sans entraves ("Enjoy without hindrance")
• Élections, piège à con ("Elections, a trap for idiots")
• CRS = SS
• Je suis Marxiste—tendance Groucho ("I'm a Marxist—of the Groucho persuasion")
• Marx, Mao, Marcuse! Also known as "3M".
• Cela nous concerne tous. ("This concerns all of us")
• Soyez réalistes, demandez l'impossible ("Be realistic, demand the impossible")
• "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)
• "I love you!!! Oh, say it with paving stones!!!"
• "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)
• Travailleurs la lutte continue[;] constituez-vous en comité de base. ("Workers[,] the fight continues; form a basic committee.") or simply La lutte continue ("The struggle continues")

In popular culture

Cinema

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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

• 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).
• 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.
• The Refused song "Protest Song '68" is about the May 1968 protests.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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."
• 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.
• 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

• James Jones's 1971 novel The Merry Month of May tells a story of (fictional) American expatriates caught up in Paris during the events.
• Gilbert Adair's 1988 novel The Holy Innocents has a climactic finale on the streets of 1968 Paris. It was adapted for the screen as The Dreamers (2003).

Art

• Spanish painter Joan Miró's painting May 1968 was inspired by the events in May 1968 in France.
• Liberté ? Égalité ? Fraternité ? is a triptych about May 68 events by Peruvian painter Herman Braun-Vega.

See also

• 1962 Rangoon University protests
• 1968 Columbia University protests
• 1968 Polish political crisis
• 1968 May-June strike of ORTF technicians and journalists
• 1968–1969 Japanese university protests
• Mexican Movement of 1968
  • Tlatelolco massacre
• 1973 Thai popular uprising, Thailand
• 6 October 1976 massacre, Thailand
• 1989 Tiananmen Square protests
• 1992 Black May, Thailand
• 2005 civil unrest in France
• 2006 Thai coup d'état
• 2006 youth protests in France
• 2011 anti-austerity movement in Spain (Movimiento 15-M).
• 2020 Thai protests
• 2020–21 Belarusian protests
• 8888 Uprising
• Autonomism
• Enragés
• Euromaidan
• First Quarter Storm
• On the Poverty of Student Life
• Report on the Construction of Situations
• Quiet Revolution
• Saffron Revolution
• Socialisme ou Barbarie
• Sunflower Student Movement, Taiwan
• Taksim Gezi Park protests
• U Thant funeral crisis
• Yellow Vests Movement

Bibliography

• Damamme, Dominique; Gobille, Boris; Matonti, Frédérique; Pudal, Bernard (编). Mai-juin 68. Éditions de l'Atelier. 2008. ISBN 978-2708239760 （法语）. 
• Rotman, Patrick. Mai 68 raconté à ceux qui ne l'ont pas vécu. Seuil. 2008. ISBN 978-2021127089 （法语）. 

Further reading

• Abidor, Mitchell. May Made Me. An Oral History of the 1968 Uprising in France (interviews).
• Adair, Gilbert. The Holy Innocents (novel).
• Bourg, Julian. From Revolution to Ethics: May 1968 and Contemporary French Thought. (2nd ed 2017) excerpt
• Casevecchie, Janine. MAI 68 en photos:, Collection Roger-Viollet, Editions du Chene – Hachette Livre, 2008.
• Castoriadis, Cornelius with Claude Lefort and Edgar Morin. Mai 1968: la brèche.
• Cliff, Tony and Birchall, Ian. France – the struggle goes on. Full text at marxists.org
• Cohn-Bendit, Daniel. Obsolete Communism: The Left-Wing Alternative.
• Dark Star Collective. Beneath the Paving Stones: Situationists and the Beach, May 68.
• DeRoo, Rebecca J. The Museum Establishment and Contemporary Art: The Politics of Artistic Display in France after 1968.
• Feenberg, Andrew and Jim Freedman. When Poetry Ruled the Streets.
• Ferlinghetti, Lawrence. Love in the Days of Rage (novel).
• Gregoire, Roger and Perlman, Fredy. Worker-Student Action Committees: France May '68. PDF of the text
• Harman, Chris. The Fire Last Time: 1968 and After. London: Bookmarks, 1988.
• Jones, James. The Merry Month of May (novel).
• Knabb, Ken. Situationist International Anthology Full text at bopsecrets.org.
• Kurlansky, Mark. 1968: The Year That Rocked The World.
• Perreau-Saussine, Emile. "Liquider mai 68?", in Les droites en France (1789–2008), CNRS Editions, 2008, p. 61–68, PDF
• Plant, Sadie. The Most Radical Gesture: The Situationist International in a Postmodern Age.
• Quattrochi, Angelo; Nairn, Tom. The Beginning of the End. Verso Books. 1998. ISBN 978-1859842904. 
• Ross, Kristin. May '68 and its Afterlives.
• Schwarz, Peter. '1968: The general strike and the student revolt in France'. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 12 June 1010. World Socialist Web Site.
• Seale, Patrick and Maureen McConville. Red Flag/Black Flag: French Revolution 1968.
• Seidman, Michael. The Imaginary Revolution: Parisian Students and Workers in 1968 (Berghahn, 2004).
• Singer, Daniel. Prelude To Revolution: France In May 1968.
• Staricco, Juan Ignacio. The French May and the Shift of Paradigm of Collective Action.
• Touraine, Alain. The May Movement: Revolt and Reform.
• The Atelier Popularie. Beauty Is in the Street: A Visual Record of the May 68 Uprising.

External links

Archival collections

• Guide to the Paris Student Revolt Collection. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
• Paris 1968 Posters Digital Collections | Victoria University Library in the University of Toronto
• Paris 1968 Documents Digital Collections | Victoria University Library in the University of Toronto
• Paris, Posters of a Revolution Collection Special Collections | Victoria University Library in the University of Toronto
• May Events Archive of Documents
• Paris May–June 1968 Archive at marxists.org

Others

• May 1968: 40 Years Later, City Journal, Spring 2008 互联网档案馆的存檔，存档日期5 May 2008.
• Maurice Brinton, Paris May 1968
• Chris Reynolds, May 68: A Contested History, Sens Public
• Marking the French Social Revolution of 1968, an NPR audio report
• Barricades of May '68 Still Divide the French New York Times