A note on the date
These events took place in 1968, not 1967. They belong on this site because they grew out of student unrest that was already visible across Europe in 1967 and because they are often discussed alongside it. The French protests of May 1968 became one of the most studied episodes of the decade.
Unrest before May
France in the mid-1960s was prosperous by its own standards, with strong growth and rising employment. Yet the university system had expanded quickly and was crowded and rigid. Students complained about poor facilities, strict rules and the distance between teachers and learners. A wider mood of dissatisfaction was shaped by news of the Vietnam War and by the example of student movements in West Berlin and the United States, the kind of student movement that spread through many countries in 1967 and 1968.
At the new University of Paris campus at Nanterre, on the edge of the city, tensions rose in early 1968. Protests over rules limiting contact between male and female dormitories drew in a young sociology student, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, and others. On 22 March, a group occupied an administrative building, which gave rise to the name “22 March Movement”. The authorities closed Nanterre in early May.
The Sorbonne and the barricades
On 3 May, protesters gathered at the Sorbonne in central Paris. The rector asked the police to clear the courtyard, and the arrests that followed prompted larger demonstrations in the Latin Quarter. Violent clashes continued over the following days.
On the night of 10 to 11 May, students built barricades in the streets and fought riot police for hours. Many were injured on both sides, and hundreds were arrested. Reports of police behaviour, widely carried on radio, shifted public sympathy toward the students. Prime Minister Georges Pompidou, who had been abroad, returned and promised to reopen the Sorbonne and release prisoners.
The strike spreads
The trade unions called a one-day general strike and march on 13 May. Over the next days, factory occupations began, starting with an aircraft plant near Nantes and then spreading to others, including the Renault works. By late May, strikes involved millions of workers, and figures of around ten million are commonly cited, though counts of strikers are approximate. The country was affected by interruptions to transport, fuel, post and broadcasting.
The students’ movement and the workers’ movement did not share identical goals. Students and some intellectuals spoke of a revolt against authority and consumer society, drawing on ideas associated with the Situationists, including those in the Society of the Spectacle, as well as on Marxist and anarchist traditions. Workers focused on wages, working hours and conditions, and the large unions, especially the CGT, were wary of student leadership. The Communist Party also kept its distance from the most radical groups.
The government responds
Negotiations between the government, employers and unions took place at the labour ministry on the rue de Grenelle on 25 and 26 May. They produced a package that included a sizeable rise in the minimum wage, commonly given as about 35 per cent, and increases in wages overall, along with promises on union rights. Many workers at first rejected the agreement, and the strikes continued.
De Gaulle was in a weak position. On 29 May he left Paris without announcing where he was going, and he travelled to meet General Jacques Massu, the commander of French forces in West Germany, in Baden-Baden. Accounts differ on what was said, though he returned having been assured of army loyalty. On 30 May, he spoke on the radio, announcing that he would not resign, that he was dissolving the National Assembly and that elections would take place. He also warned against what he called a communist threat. A large pro-government demonstration filled the Champs-Élysées that evening.
The elections and after
The strikes gradually ended in June as employers conceded and the unions reached sector-level agreements. The police cleared the occupied universities and factories. In the elections on 23 and 30 June, the Gaullists won a large majority, which was a clear reversal of the mood of May. The result showed that many French voters wanted order.
The political victory was still not a complete one. De Gaulle replaced Pompidou with Maurice Couve de Murville as prime minister in July, and the leader’s authority never fully recovered. In April 1969 he proposed a referendum on regional reform and a reform of the Senate, saying he would resign if it failed. It did fail on 27 April, and he stepped down. Pompidou succeeded him.
What it changed
The long-term effects are debated. The events led to a reform of the university system, including the splitting of the University of Paris into several institutions. They contributed to changes in attitudes to authority, family life and gender roles. Some historians argue that the underlying economic and political system remained largely intact, while others emphasise cultural change. Both views have supporters, and the memory of May 1968 remains a reference point in French political debate.