Paris – the heart of the global revolts of 1968 because of the students

1968 was the year that all the tension from the global impact of the American civil rights movement, Third Worldism and the Vietnam War came to a head. Although it was a global revolt, it was different in different countries therefore must be looked at on a national and local scale too. In this post I will focus on the revolt by students in Paris. Gilcher-Holtey highlights why Paris could be argued as being at the heart of the global revolt as although, ‘The May movement in France did not start until international developments had reached their peak. Within a few weeks, it caught up with other movements in terms of mobilization and then surpassed the German and American protest movements in its political explosiveness’.[1]

Firstly, what was going on for young people in the 1960s in Paris? In 1906, Paris had a student population of 15,000 but by 1968 there were 160,000. During this same time period, the average age of menstruation fell from 17 to 12 and the average age of marriage rose because of better food and quality of life but this led people sexually frustration. 

Secondly, what were the reasons the Paris students felt their only option was to revolt? Students had to put up with horrible conditions with packed classrooms and little facilities and the length of time it took to get a degree had increased. Therefore, it would only be worthwhile if they would get a job at the end of it but in 1968, 52 percent of students were afraid of not getting a job after they graduated. This satisfaction and fear led them to take drastic action. 

It first began in Antony before 1968, when the male and female students were not allowed to mingle at night so in 1962 the residents destroyed a lodge that allowed security to control visits to the female halls. The security guards then started to target the African men which sparked a mass occupation in protest. Eventually this led to the directors tolerating men sleeping over in January 1966 and in November 1967 all the halls of residence in Paris followed suit. 

This sparked the students of Nanterre to also take action so in March 1967 male students occupied the female halls of residence. However, the minister of education refused to consider changing the rules. Matters dramatically deteriorated when in the French government proposed cuts to places and make the selection more rigorous for the school year of 67-68 (they wanted to have less working class students, the people they believed to be the trouble makers). This caused the students to launch the largest strike in the history of the university. On 6 May 1968, 20,000 students gathered in the Latin Quarter to protest against the chancellor with each night getting worse. On the night of 10/11 May 1968, the police assaulted the barricades using tear gas. 400 people (including 274 police) were injured and over 521 protestors were arrested. Of the 521 protestors 54 percent were not even students which suggests how important the fight was for ordinary young people not just students. 

What did the students achieve? Of the 160,000 students in Paris at the time over half of them were involved in some way in the May ’68 movement this suggests its importance. It also led to the National Assembly passing the university reform legislation in November 1968. 

Protests are still being used today to help students to get reform. This was evident when students held a march in the streets of London in November 2017 to protest against the funding for university education.[2]

By Alethea Coalwood

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[1]Ingrid Gilcher-Holtey, ‘France’ in Klimke, Martin and Joachim, Scharloth. 1968 in Europe: A History of Protest and Activism, 1956-1977 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), pp. 111-124 (p. 111).

[2] Harrison Jones, ‘London student march calls for rich to be taxed to fund free education’, The Guardian, (15 November 2017), https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/nov/15/london-student-march-calls-for-rich-to-be-taxed-to-fund-free-education (accessed 22 December 2017).