French 1968 Social Change

Topic

Provide an analysis of the events of "May 1968" from a socio-cultural standpoint. What were the origins of this revolutionary movement? Who were the main actors, and what did they demand? What was the impact of these events on the regime of Charles de Gaulle? What were, and are, the long-term impacts on French society of the May '68 movement?

Introduction

In this paper we will examine France during the post war period leading up to the movements of 1968 ,who was France governed by during that period, in what why, and what happened during this period that lead to the biggest general strike in France's history. Therefore to understand the situation better we are going to look at the main characters of the movements, why did they decide to voice their thoughts, what where their demands, and why in this particular time frame did they decide to bring about change through their demands. Finally we will look at what where the results of the 1968 movements and how did it change France and society at that time and in the future up until present time.

Post war period

France involvement in World War 2, left her crippled and on the defeated side, the French people were in great despair for failing at this war, because to the French it's important to be winners and to be the greatest if possible, the losing of the war had a direct effect on society consciences. The French people where in a state of great disappointment and needed to regain faith and the ability to be great again, which was difficult after WW2 as people lost faith in their governess and to an extent in themselves too. France needed encouragement and it came from Charles de Gaulle who was the main character of the war freeing France from the Germans. He is a strong nationalist with great plans for France recovery from this war. De Gaulle's quote to the people was "we may have lost the war but not the battle', this gave some what a comfort feeling to the French society as they were in desperate need to hear that they could again become on top, and regain power. His plan was to make France world leader and to transform her from an agricultural country to a big industrial nation, sovereign from other countries, a big emphasis was put on the fact that France needed to remain sovereign in order to insure her stability in the future. Therefore France began her transform, where many people migrated to the cities, started work in factories and industry abandoning their background of agricultural labor. Cities where expanding and life standards where increasing, therefore the economy was getting stronger, France was becoming a more centralized controlled nation, most of the industry was government controlled, in turn the people of France where under a parental cap, of the state. Although France was begging to show signs of recovery during the 1950's it was in great political unrest among society this was due to the unstable political governess at the time.

The question that remains is at what price France achieved its economic growth. Gaullism had allowed capitalism to accelerate the restructuring of the productive tools. The number of employees had increased rapidly, and the number of industrial workers in medium and large unites reached a record level in the 1960s. Industrial production grew by 50% in ten years. To achieve all this, workers had to accept the disintegration of tasks, shift work and stepped up rhythms, all the charms of Taylorism, with an average of 46 hours work per week also living conditions where poor, one in two French people had no car, and 50% of housing lacked hot water, showers or internal toilets, wages were low comparing to the new emerging economies around the world like the United States and little workers rights. During this transformation in France where population in cities increased, therefore education demands increased as more skilled labor was needed for France improving new industries, like automobiles aircrafts and nuclear power. In other terms this was a class struggle where capitalists could no longer choose their qualified labor, and the management they needed, from their own privileged background and the middle classes they had to integrate society from less humble backgrounds into their "Gaullist society" where people where chosen based on social set and not abilities or educational history.

The educational scene in terms of universities and new coming students was increasing, more and more people from lower class environments started attending universities, between 1962-1966 student numbers almost doubled, and thus it lead to overcrowding in educational facilities, lack of modern equipment as the Gaullist government did nothing to improve and expand universities in order to accommodate the increasing number of students. This created great unrest among students not only for the political bureaucracy that controlled the funds for universities but also they refused to have this class discrimination in French society that was present at that period of time.

The movements of 1968

It is important to understand that during this period of time in 1968 revolt flared in many places across the world and Europe, in France and Italy particularly and in the East, the Prague Spring, in Mexico and the United States. Yet 1968 in Paris remains the iconic image associated with this year. The French students playing the bigger role in this movement wanted change from this Gaullist regime, they wanted a more modern and liberal France in term of it government, therefore demanding no class discrimination, expanding universities and allowing more pupils from lower class backgrounds to attend universities. Higher education is now becoming an important element in the French society, and therefore these students are going to be the future of France, and if change is what they want it needs to start with them.

On 22 of March student and associates invaded an administration building at Nanterre University and held a meeting in the university council room dealing with class discrimination in French society and the political bureaucracy that controlled the school's funding. The school's administration called the police, who surrounded the university. After the students made their demands clear, the students left the building without any trouble.

Following months of conflicts between students and authorities at the University of Paris at Nanterre, the head of the administration shut down that university on 2 May 1968, the action then shifted to the Sorbonne University in Paris itself. The head of the university there, in typical 1960s fashion, called