The May Events of 1968
By Andrew Feenberg and Jim Freedman
GRAFFITI FROM THE WALLS OF PARIS:
1968
It is forbidden to forbid. Freedom begins by forbidding something: interference with the freedom of others.
Run comrade, the old world is behind you.
The Revolution must take place in men before occurring in things.
The walls have ears. Your ears have walls.
The act institutes the consciousness.
To desire reality is good! To realize one's desires is better.
The thought of tomorrow's enjoyment will never console me for today's boredom.
A single non-revolutionary weekend is infinitely bloodier than a month of permanent revolution.
Beneath the cobblestones is the beach.
We are all German Jews.
Be salted, not sugared.
I am in the service of no one, the people will serve themselves.
The barricade blocks the street but opens the way.
Art is dead, liberate our daily life.
Life is elsewhere.
The restraints imposed on pleasure excite the pleasure of living without restraints.
The more I make love, the more I want to make the Revolution, the more I make the Revolution, the more I want to make love.
All power to the imagination!
GRAFFITI FROM THE WALLS OF PARIS: 1968
FOREWORD by Douglas Kellner
PREFACE
ONE. WHAT HAPPENED IN MAY: A CHRONICLE
PART I: STUDENTS VS. SOCIETY
La Phase Nanterroise
Friday Red I
The Concept of Cobblestones
The Long Trek and a Short Truce
The Grand Deception
Friday Red II
Monday, May 13
PART II: SOCIETY VS. THE STATE
From the Sorbonne to Renault–Students and Workers
A La Sorbonne
Au Théâtre de l'Odéon
A la Télévision
The Government
Triangle of Contention
Friday Red III
De Gaulle or Not de Gaulle
PART III: THE LAST ACT
Workers Versus Negotiations
The Gaullist Gap
CGT and Communists Re-Revolutionize
The Return of Cohn-Bendit
The End of May
The Aftermath
TWO. DOCUMENTS OF THE MAY MOVEMENT
Introduction
I. TECHNOCRACY AND STUDENT REVOLT
The Amnesty of Blinded Eyes
Address to All Workers
The Revolutionary Commune of the Imagination
II. IN THE SERVICE OF THE PEOPLE
Strike at the Ministry of Urban Affairs
Research Bureaus: Wall-to-Wall Carpeting and Revolution
Journal of a Neighborhood Action Committee
III. THE WORKER-STUDENT ALLIANCE
The Students at Flins
The People's Studio
IV. SELF-MANAGEMENT: STRATEGY AND GOAL
Revolutionary Action Committee of the Sorbonne
The University as a Red base
Nantes: A Whole Town Discovers the Power of the People
From Roadblocks to Self-Defense
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Cover Illustration: Mai 68 Début d'une Lutte
Prolongé (May 68 Beginning of a Long Term Struggle)
2. Frontispiece: Students in front of the Renault
factory at Boulogne-Billancourt in the south of Paris in 1968. Andrew Feenberg
is visible in the background on the left reading a leaflet.
3. Map of Paris
4. Une Jeunesse que l'Avenir Inquiète Trop Souvent
(A Youth Too Often Worried about the Future)
5. Université Populaire Oui (People's University Yes)
6. Nous Sommes Tous Indésirable (We Are All Undesirable)
7. Retour à la Normale... (Return to Normal...)
8. La Lutte Continue (The Sruggle Continues)
9. L'Intox Vient à Domicile (Propaganda Comes to Your Home)
10. Image of a policeman striking
11. Maine Montparnasse / La Lutte Continue! (Maine-Montparnasse / The Struggle
continues!)
12. Travailleurs Français Immigré Tous Unis / A Travail Egal
Salaire Egal (French and Immigrant Workers United / For Equal Work Equal
Salary)
13. Renault Flins / Manifestation Gare de l'Est Mardi 11 à 19h (Renault
Flins / Demonstration East Station Tuesday 11th at 7 pm)
14. La Police S'Affiche Aux Beaux Arts / Les Beaux Arts Affichent dans la
Rue (The Police are Posted to the Art School / The Art School Posts in the
Street)
15. A Bas les Cadences Infernales (Down With Speed-Up)
16. Pouvoir Populaire (People Power)
