[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] la [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] h [Music] 1968 industrial societies throughout the world are in ferment following two decades of growth and prosperity as in the early 19th century unrest begins in urban centers of culture Berkeley New York Tokyo Rome Milan Berlin Prague the ferment originates among the marginal among those considered to be Wards and dependents of society France the mother country of Revolution seems immune the regime of Charles deol is completing its 10th year in power 10 years of economic expansion of political stability of dramatic decolonization of increasing International Prestige the visible opposition in France is divided institutionalized and easily manageable de go is at the Pinnacle of his power but as in 1848 a new source of discontent appears outside the old social structure deal wants more than stagnant stabilization anxious to modernize France he sharply expands University facilities without altering its authoritarian structure to relieve pressure on the sorban a new American style campus is thrown up at non just outside Paris amidst some of the worst slums in France here are concentrated students in the human and social sciences drawn primarily from the upper middle class areas of Western Paris while the government televises long programs on student unrest in Berlin and New York to contrast external disorder with internal Tranquility the students are making other comparisons their middle class backgrounds with the dreariness of their campus and the misery crowding up around it the vociferous explosion of Youth elsewhere with the rigorous paternalism of their own system they compare their sense of maturity and numbers with their powerlessness in a Napoleonic University hierarchy their study of man and Society with the prospective futility of being unable to affect their social environment their majority begin to desire a radical change in the University a minority begin to agitate for a radical change in society the two goals are finally fused by a common foe the authoritarian goist regime by late April a few students agitators at n are successfully combining the Revolutionary example of international protest with mundane local sources of discontent to build a mass following on May 2nd the Rector of nter decides to end the disorder by closing the campus the next day students move to the sorban to recruit support for their demands that n be reopened the police are called in arrest some students and occupy the sorban for the first time in history angry students spontaneously take to the streets the evening of May 3rd sees the first direct clashes with the police the protest now begins to orchestrate its acts with symbols and tactics distilled from French Revolutionary [Applause] tradition on May 9th the militant left rallies in its traditional Meeting Hall La its keynote speaker is alak cine who will become an official presidential candidate in 1969 to gain free exposure for revolutionary propaganda on National Television Paris has again become the center for European Revolt radical students from France are joined by representatives of Italy Germany Belgium and Spain to solidify the move and sustain its momentum speaker follow speaker denouncing capitalism imperialism Bourgeois nationalism and bour culture [Applause] anti-fascist slogans burst enthusiastically from those for whom even the Algerian nightmare is a faded childhood memory [Applause] [Music] [Music] for [Applause] ref the final speaker is Dan K Bandit the organizational Genius of the Revolt at n he sounds the Tactical theme for the month to come TR anarchists situationists unite against the authorities for the sake of the movement [Applause] on May 10th the authorities are served with the traditional entree of Parisian revolutionary Cuisine cobblestones and barricades public opinion is strongly sympathetic to the students the government is hesitant and [Applause] uneasy [Applause] [Music] rep Poli police wait long hours before receiving orders to clear the streets the lack of clear Direction lowers morale and along with grievances of their own makes police reliability more [Applause] [Music] [Applause] questionable stones are the weapons of the students gas grenades clubs and fire horses those of the [Music] [Applause] police to those who think in military terms the barricades seem impossibly anachronistic after the May events Andre mroe minister of culture will declare such barricades outmoded in an era of Tanks angles already found them outmoded by 19th century Weaponry as had Napoleon at the end of the 18th century but barricades are a weapon of civil Strife a sign of crumbling Authority they are effective only as long as the state cannot or will not employ full military [Applause] [Music] force [Music] [Applause] the [Applause] not [Applause] he [Applause] done [Applause] on the scene radio coverage of the night's events unintentionally coordinate student action this is the first indication of the new role to be played by the mass media in the month-long [Applause] drama [Applause] in [Applause] neither side escalates its Weaponry but even without lethal instruments the toll sends a shock wave through France almost 400 wounded over 400 arrested mostly the children of respectable Parisian parents even without tanks the government is accused of unleashing unrestrained police violence May 13 1968 the 10th anniversary of deol's return to power [Applause] hundreds of thousands of workers join the students in an act of public Defiance not since the popular front of 1936 has France seen such street demonstrations nowhere in the world have workers responded so massively to student [Applause] initiative [Applause] the demonstration expresses contempt or indifference toward the gist regime contempt for its paternalism contempt for its agents indifference to its cherished icons indifference even to the symbols of the nation created by the Revolutionary and Napoleonic [Applause] eras it is a confrontation with the whole authoritarian Heritage yet an oblique almost playful confrontation it does not antagonize the public and keeps the authorities off balance the ritual of Revolution played with gustel without desperation without despair the Cadence chanting of slogans echoes in the streets down with the boura university university of the people all power to the workers digal resign French police Max SS stop fascism here the government's epithets are turned into proud claims they chant we are hoodlums as they will later identify with The Expelled kendit we are all German Jews Like many of the words many of the symbols of past revolutions appear the red flag of socialism the black flag of anarchism the clenched fist raised High the hym of the proletariat the international but the new context the new actors subtly alter their meaning the old disinherited join the new and for a brief moment the 19th and 20th centuries seem to [Applause] overlap [Music] [Applause] at curban the collapse of traditional Authority is total the police are withdrawn from the Latin quarter and the students take charge both of the university and of the surrounding streets [Applause] regular academic functions cease the professorial nobility commits corporate suicide University gets its revolutionary government its student Soviet founded on continuous discussion students reject expertise hierarchy academic and political neutrality the lecture halls and Courtyards are filled with endless discussion seriousness is combined with freedom from [Music] tension [Music] people want to talk to listen to express themselves to exchange views everything is put into question the role of the student in the university the role of the university in society are re-examined as action committees spring up in every institution of higher education traditional institutions appear to collapse of their own weight into popular democracies the students appear to be launching a new [Music] civilization organ [Music] re from the university the confrontation spreads outward to other areas of French society this is still a movement of the intelligencia the cultural and professional centers are the first to be affected typical is the seizure of the Odon theater in the Latin quarter denounced as a Bastion of Bourgeois culture the sequence of student action is repeated the ritual war council of consensus and reinforcement the march to the Latin quarter before the cameras the occupation of the buildings the happy self-contented confusion of the mass meeting [Music] [Applause] for [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] no one knows quite what to do but everyone has a suggestion the mood is one of exhilaration rather than determination of self-indulgence rather than self-defense no robes Pierre or trosky not even a con bendit Rises to Galvanize the assembly to revolutionary fervor or determined action ji Baro the sympathetic director of the theater can describe the process as a happening and Julian Beck can call it real living theater the most beautiful drama he has ever seen discussion centers around the ideals of participation and self-expression an increased share in decision- making and guarantees for expression become both the means and ends of the Revolution the occupation of the Odon is the First Step Beyond the university but others are to follow the national organizations of authors filmmakers musicians of lawyers and doctors all condemned as bastions of privilege Defenders of seniority and fossilized bureaucratic structures the discontent will reach even the nerve centers of modern society [Applause] [Music] coordination there are 10 million workers on strike Deal's acute sense of political timing seems to abandon him his call on May 24th for a pleite as in 1958 and 1961 for a choice between himself and chaos is greeted with derision and dismay the initiative passes to the Parliamentary and labor leadership [Music] on Premier pomu hopes to take a leap from the popular front government of the previous generation he seeks to divide the workers from the students by repeating the pacification strategy of Leon bloom in 1936 on May 27th the workers are recorded large economic gains the union leadership is satisfied but the rank and file reject the offer and Hoot down the leaders now de Go's strongman strategy has failed pid's economic strategy has failed the social confrontation has now become a full-scale political [Applause] crisis for the syndicalist myth of the general strike suddenly becomes a reality the transportation system ceases to function roads and streets become choked with cars out of gas the sidewalks become choked with garbage fears of money and food shortages begin to haunt the urban housewife the government media hither to underplaying the crisis is forced to reveal its full [Music] severity if the symbols are echoes from former revolutions the style of expression is new and the content of the expression is imaginative every wall becomes a writing surface covered with slogans questions statements humor posters created by the art students bck the streets of Paris it is the one industry that will flourish during the next few [Applause] weeks in the last week of May comes a crescendo of marches rallies and [Applause] barricades on May 22nd hundreds of thousands again take to the streets half holiday half Revolution the dissatisfied citizens refuse to recognize the legitimacy of Representative Authority the demonstrators reject traditional political processes as a farce chanting voting is whing election is prostitution the Chamber of deputies is dubbed the Chamber of [Applause] sellouts [Applause] [Applause] f on May 24th the long awaited address of De go to the nation is the signal for the most wide spread and violent confrontation of the month streets are ripped up and trees are felled as in February 1848 the barricades are built slowly conscientiously and professionally the construction proceeds without apparent fear of sudden Interruption the public looks on with the Detachment of Spectators seeing preparations for a contest whose outcome is of no great [Applause] [Music] concern [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that [Laughter] [Music] student groups roam further a field and more destructively stretching and scattering the forces of order [Music] the stock exchange on the right bank is damaged by fire a police station in the Latin quarter is burned [Applause] about [Applause] on May 27th defying a governmental ban on all demonstrations and bypassing communist leadership over 35,000 workers and students gather at the charlot stadium outside Paris For the First Time The participants seem convinced that Revolution is actually possible openly insurrectional slogans are shouted as France wonders if the government will simply disintegrate through its inability to restore normal living and working conditions May night the demonstrators marching relaxed and expectant through the workingclass districts of Paris obviously taste victory de go is rumored to have withdrawn to his country estate as he did in 1947 when he abruptly quit the government in reality he is in Boden Boden to check on the Loyalty of the French army and to lay contingency plans for the military occupation of [Applause] Paris [Applause] br but Paris in 1968 is to be spared a repetition of the June days of 1848 the ritual of Confrontation is to be answered by the ritual of counter confrontation on May 30th the go again addresses the nation This Time by radio no longer can the tired face of an old man be seen only a voice calling to France as it did on June 18th 1940 the go is no longer the strong man calling for a pleite but the Democrat calling for elections carefully planned spontaneous demonstrations fill the streets of Paris with flags and venators of the national glories of [Applause] [Music] [Applause] France in the Battle of symbols de go is holding Trump he challenges the revolutionaries to defy the voice of universal suffrage overnight the situation changes on June 1st a final anti-g goist rally is held at mopas on the Left Bank but the demonstration now only represents the ghost of a revolutionary [Applause] threat [Applause] go [Music] for the traditional parties frightened by the new Left accept the traditional electoral game the union leadership reasserts its control the government begins cleaning up the streets and the destruction to remove physical memories of the month-long confrontation Point by point the police reoccupy the sights seized by the students and workers yet there is no apocalyptic ending the tide of defiance ebbed as it had Arisen in successive waves there were no Mass arrests no sudden dispersion of desperate men the movement was to disappear with the erosion of defiance as it had appeared with the erosion of authority the universities continued to experience turmoil but find no Echo beyond their walls the French return to work and begin preparing for their summer vacations the incipient Revolution collapsed or was it an exercise in political education as the student leaders insisted or merely Psycho Drama in retrospect the parameters of the confrontation are clear but its effects are less obvious the explosion was of words and symbols not dynamite and gunshots what destruction occurred was of property not life the original aim was to transform social relations not to replace the government Elite [Applause] [Music] both actions and symbols call to mind the French Revolutionary tradition but the role of the communications media the age and origins of the main actors the university as the Vanguard the importance of words and self-expression the emphasis on open-ended process rather than fixed models mark it distinctly as an event of [Applause] 1968 [Applause] [Applause] in the elections of June 1968 the goist party won the greatest Victory ever won by a single party in French history less than a year later in April 196 9 Deal's constitutional referendum Was Defeated deal resigned and pompo was elected second President of the fifth [Applause] [Applause] Republic [Applause] [Applause] another cycle of Confrontation ended by strengthening the conservative reflex while it s changed some patterns some attitudes and institutions through the shock treatment of Crisis the confrontation of May 1968 has become a living part of French social memory it has revealed new areas of fragility in modern industrial society but at the same time it has made evident the difficulty of rapidly transforming the social values upon Which social relations depend [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] h [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Applause] [Music] he