When Poetry Ruled the Streets
The French May Events of 1968
Published on 16. May 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
220 pages
978-0-7914-4966-0 (ISBN)
Description
Offers a complete survey of the French May Events of 1968 through narrative, analysis, and documents.
More than a history, this book is a passionate reliving of the French May Events of 1968. The authors, ardent participants in the movement in Paris, documented the unfolding events as they pelted the police and ran from the tear gas grenades. Their account is imbued with the impassioned efforts of the students to ignite political awareness throughout society. Feenberg and Freedman select documents, graffiti, brochures, and posters from the movement and use them as testaments to a very different and exciting time. Their commentary, informed by the subsequent development of French culture and politics, offers useful background information and historical context for what may be the last great revolutionary challenge to the capitalist system.
More than a history, this book is a passionate reliving of the French May Events of 1968. The authors, ardent participants in the movement in Paris, documented the unfolding events as they pelted the police and ran from the tear gas grenades. Their account is imbued with the impassioned efforts of the students to ignite political awareness throughout society. Feenberg and Freedman select documents, graffiti, brochures, and posters from the movement and use them as testaments to a very different and exciting time. Their commentary, informed by the subsequent development of French culture and politics, offers useful background information and historical context for what may be the last great revolutionary challenge to the capitalist system.
Reviews / Votes
"This book is fascinating to read. The May events in France are very important. They are open to numerous interpretations but certainly they provide the only example of a government of an advanced industrial society brought to its feet, if only for a couple of weeks. They resonate backwards with the history of revolutions and forward to 'the new social movements' and the upheavals and reorganizations in Europe that continue to this day." - Mark Poster, author of Existential Marxism in Postwar France: From Sartre to Althusser"I know of no other book quite like it. It authoritatively captures an important moment in twentieth-century history, and does so with real verve and flair. I could not imagine teaching the sixties without recourse to it." - Paul Thomas, University of California, Berkeley
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Albany, NY
United States
Target group
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
345 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7914-4966-0 (9780791449660)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2010
State University of New York Press
€35.99
Available for download
Persons
Andrew Feenberg is Professor of Philosophy at San Diego State University. He is the author of Lukacs, Marx and the Sources of Critical Theory; Critical Theory of Technology; and Alternative Modernity: The Technical Turn in Philosophy and Social Theory. He is the coeditor of Marcuse: Critical Theory and the Promise of Utopia (with Robert Pippin and Charles P. Webel) and Technology and the Politics of Knowledge (with Alastair Hannay). Jim Freedman is Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Western Ontario. He has authored or edited many books, the most recent of which is Transforming Development: Foreign Aid for a Changing World.
Content
List of Illustrations
Foreword by Douglas Kellner
Preface
Abbreviations
ONE. WHAT HAPPENED IN MAY: A CHRONICLE
Andrew Feenberg and Jim Freedman
Part I: Students versus Society
La Phase Nanterroise
Friday Red I
The Concept of Cobblestones
The Long Trek and a Short Truce
The Grand Deception
Friday Red II
Monday, May 13
Part II: Society versus the State
From the Sorbonne to Renault-Students and Workers
A La Sorbonne
Au Th?e?atre de l'Od?eon
A la T?el?evision
The Government
Triangle of Contention
Friday Red III
De Gaulle or Not de Gaulle
Part III: The Last Act
Workers versus Negotiations
The Gaullist Gap
CGT and Communists Re-Revolutionize
The Return of Cohn-Bendit
The End of May
The Aftermath
TWO. DOCUMENTS OF THE MAY MOVEMENT
Commentary and translation by Andrew Feenberg
Introduction
Essay I. Technocracy and Student Revolt
The Texts
THE AMNESTY OF BLINDED EYES
ADDRESS TO ALL WORKERS
JOIN THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNE OF THE IMAGINATION
Essay II. In the Service of the People
The Texts
THE "IN-HOUSE" STRIKE AT THE MINISTRY OF URBAN AFFAIRS
RESEARCH BUREAUS: WALL-TO-WALL CARPETING AND REVOLUTION
JOURNAL OF A NEIGHBORHOOD ACTION COMMITTEE
Essay III. The Worker-Student Alliance
The Texts
THE STUDENTS AT FLINS
THE PEOPLE'S STUDIO
Essay IV. Self-Management: Strategy and Goal
The Texts
THE REVOLUTIONARY ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE SORBONNE
THE UNIVERSITY AS A RED BASE
NANTES: A WHOLE TOWN DISCOVERS THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE
FROM ROADBLOCKS TO SELF-DEFENSE
Bibliography
Index
Foreword by Douglas Kellner
Preface
Abbreviations
ONE. WHAT HAPPENED IN MAY: A CHRONICLE
Andrew Feenberg and Jim Freedman
Part I: Students versus Society
La Phase Nanterroise
Friday Red I
The Concept of Cobblestones
The Long Trek and a Short Truce
The Grand Deception
Friday Red II
Monday, May 13
Part II: Society versus the State
From the Sorbonne to Renault-Students and Workers
A La Sorbonne
Au Th?e?atre de l'Od?eon
A la T?el?evision
The Government
Triangle of Contention
Friday Red III
De Gaulle or Not de Gaulle
Part III: The Last Act
Workers versus Negotiations
The Gaullist Gap
CGT and Communists Re-Revolutionize
The Return of Cohn-Bendit
The End of May
The Aftermath
TWO. DOCUMENTS OF THE MAY MOVEMENT
Commentary and translation by Andrew Feenberg
Introduction
Essay I. Technocracy and Student Revolt
The Texts
THE AMNESTY OF BLINDED EYES
ADDRESS TO ALL WORKERS
JOIN THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNE OF THE IMAGINATION
Essay II. In the Service of the People
The Texts
THE "IN-HOUSE" STRIKE AT THE MINISTRY OF URBAN AFFAIRS
RESEARCH BUREAUS: WALL-TO-WALL CARPETING AND REVOLUTION
JOURNAL OF A NEIGHBORHOOD ACTION COMMITTEE
Essay III. The Worker-Student Alliance
The Texts
THE STUDENTS AT FLINS
THE PEOPLE'S STUDIO
Essay IV. Self-Management: Strategy and Goal
The Texts
THE REVOLUTIONARY ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE SORBONNE
THE UNIVERSITY AS A RED BASE
NANTES: A WHOLE TOWN DISCOVERS THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE
FROM ROADBLOCKS TO SELF-DEFENSE
Bibliography
Index