Imaginary Revolution

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Imaginary Revolution

Parisian Students and Workers in 1968

History European history

Author: Michael Seidman

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Collection: International Studies in Social History

Language: English

Published by: Berghahn Books

Published on: 1st August 2004

Format: LCP-protected ePub

Size: 1 Mb

ISBN: 9780857456830


Introduction

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.

Analysis

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.

Significance

"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.

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