The Imaginary Revolution: Parisian Students and Workers in 1968 (International Studies in Social History Book 5)

The events of 1968 have been seen as a decisive turning point in the Western world. The author takes a critical look at "May 1968" and questions whether the events were in fact as "revolutionary" as French and foreign commentators have indicated. He concludes the student movement changed little that had not already been challenged and altered in the late fifties and early sixties. The workers' strikes led to fewer working hours and higher wages, but these reforms reflected the secular demands of the French labor movement. "May 1968" was remarkable not because of the actual transformations it wrought but rather by virtue of the revolutionary power that much of the media and most scholars have attributed to it and which turned it into a symbol of a youthful, renewed, and freer society in France and beyond.

The Paris student and worker uprisings of 1968 have been seen by many since as a fundamental societal rupture that allowed widespread changes manifest in later years. Skeptical of such claims, Seidman (U. of North Carolina- Wilmington) instead suggests that the events of 1968 should be seen in the context of short and long term continuities. He describes cultural change and conflict among the university students throughout the 1960s and looks at how students came into greater conflict with police forces. He then examines workers strikes following student challenges to state power, arguing that they were more about expanding the value of labor and less connected to the concerns of the street protestors than many have suggested. Finally, he examines state responses to these challenges, contending that the state had been weakened only momentarily. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Le Debat

Seidman's work is a solid and detailed piece of research based on the most divers sources and especially on new institutional archives that allow a greatly nuanced assessment, even a refutation of many received ideas about the events of May 1968.

"The events of 1968 have been seen as a decisive turning point in the Western world of even mythical significance. The author takes a critical look at the conclusion that "May 1968" was remarkable not because of the actual transformations it produced but rather by virtue of the revolutionary power that much of the media and most scholars have attributed to it and which turned it into a symbol of a youthful, renewed, and freer society in France and beyond."--Jacket.