Paris May 1968 - Worker and Student Uprising

Radical Poster Pocketbooks - Paris May 1968 - Worker and Student Uprising

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This is our second little pocketbook of posters, produced with Active Distribution. We've reproduced 23 of the posters, and to put the posters into context, the book includes: a brief history of events leading up to and during the uprising, the history of Atelier Populaire (the workshop where many of the posters were produced), and even includes aa brief explanation of Situationism and the history of the Situationist International.

On 2 May 1968, an anti-Vietnam War demonstration at Nanterre was brutally attacked by the police and for several hours there were running battles between the police, with batons and tear gas, and students who were ripping up cobble stones and throwing them.

Over the next few weeks the situation spiralled with more demonstrations, general strikes and factory occupations. By 29 May 1968, France was virtually locked down, with no flights or trains. The Government was in chaos. President De Gaulle left Paris. For six hours nobody knew where he was, and Prime Minister Pompidou exclaimed he had “fled the country”.

The following day, de Gaulle returned – having been at the French military base in West Germany seeking reassurance that the army would intervene should there be a communist coup.

In a televised speech he framed the crisis as a communist plot and ordered workers to return to work. Later that day a demonstration, of up to 800,000 conservatives and military veterans, marched shouting “Vive de Gaulle” – this gave de Gaulle’s Government reassurance that it had enough support and the following day a General Election was announced for 23 June.

In the days and weeks that followed workers were violently evicted from the factory occupations – a student was killed at the Renault factory at Flins during a four-day battle, and two workers were killed at the Peugeot factory at Sochaux. Several left-wing organisations were banned and the police retook the Sorbonne campus and the Odéon Theatre.

De Gaulle won a massive victory in the General Election, and, in a postscript, revolutionary student demonstrations on Bastille Day (14 July) were brutally attacked by the police.

The uprising had come close to removing the Government and challenged the entire organisation and structure of society – without the leadership of political parties or trade unions (the major unions tried to restrict the scope of the uprising to ‘pay and conditions’ demands within the existing system and had agreed pay rises and a shorter working day with the Government) through spontaneous determined action by masses of students and workers.

The posters, alongside a wave of radical graffiti, flooding the streets with their trademark simplicity – quick and easy to produce, but perfectly capturing the spirit of the hour with messages of hope and resistance – have stood the test of time.