1968 and the Return of the Proletariat
"The events now taking place in France foreshadow the return of the proletarian revolutionary movement in all countries… modernized capitalism thought it had finished with class struggle – but it’s started up again! The proletariat supposedly no longer existed – but here it is again!"
These words capture the revolutionary spirit of the Sorbonne Occupation Committee, and the crisis of the French system in May 1968. While students took control of the great university, millions marched through the streets of Paris, a coalition of students and workers demanding the specific resignation of Charles de Gaulle and the general emancipation across all strata of French society. The demonstrations destroyed the idyllic illusion of postwar prosperity and nearly toppled a government. These revolutionary voices were spurred by events taking place at the University of Paris throughout the first half of 1968. A group of leftists and students occupied a university building in March, protesting the bureaucracy and inequality in French society, as well as the authoritarian mismanagement of the school's administration.
On May 2, the Nanterre campus was shut down and the following day students at the Sorbonne University protested the closure. Students clashed with the government for the first time when the national student union organized a march to protest police presence in the university. In the following days the demonstrations grew more radical as the major left-wing unions called a one-day strike in solidarity on May 13. The Sorbonne was reopened and students flooded in, declaring it an autonomous people's university and establishing hundreds of action committees, including the Sorbonne Occupation Committee. By late May, two-thirds of the French workforce were engaged in a strike, though without the support of union leaders. The French economy was crippled, and the growing calls for revolution caused de Gaulle to flee the country on May 29. However, after de Gaulle dissolved the National Assembly and called new elections on May 30, the revolutionary fervor faded away as students returned to the Sorbonne (now back in government control) and workers returned to work.
May 1968 was a lost opportunity, and perhaps the most virile protest against Western capitalism since the Second World War. The power of French unions has not waned in the 21st century, a fact easily shown by the active protests against reactionary labor reforms in 2016. Unfortunately, the decayed French Communist Party would most likely be unable to repeat the successes of 1968 today, but their victories nearly fifty years ago have much to teach us in the modern age. One of these invaluable lessons is the necessity of strong, revolutionary labor unions in the leftist movement. Without the wildcat strikers, what was originally a simple student protest would have remained such. Indeed, the union leaders were content with small concessions, while the workers wanted more, evidenced by the fifty factories occupied by their workers by May 16. The burden of failure lies not on them, but the lack of direction in the political sphere. The successes of the demonstrations and the showcase of the power of labor are overshadowed by their eventual failure. Perhaps the main reason for the failure to bring about real revolution was lack of political will. The Communist Party was not interested in effecting violent revolution, instead following a strategy of parliamentary politics. Even though the time may have been ripe, the will to establish a real socialist state was simply not there. This explains the willingness to break down the barricades and return to the classroom and the shop floor. The result of this policy would be funny if it weren't so sad: the landslide re-election of the Gaullists (though de Gaulle himself had by now unequivocally fallen out of favor).
May 1968 announced the resurgence of the Western proletariat, standing in defiance of capitalism and solidarity with the workers of the world. The actions of French comrades in the Parisian streets will serve as an inspiration to all communists of the 21st century and beyond, reminding us that class struggle is far from over as the new millennium beckons. The proletariat, far from vanishing, raised its mighty hand, a hand that was only stayed by misguided leadership interested solely in bourgeois politics. France is the land of revolt, and there's no doubt their proud tradition will call the world to revolution once more.
