22 Monday Aug 2016
Posted in Comites d'Action, May 13-19 1968, Tract, Uncategorized
WE SUPPORT THE STRIKERS
AND WE ALSO COMMIT OURSELVES TO THE STRUGGLE
—————————————
The strikers are a family:
1) ORGANISE FUND-RAISING
2) NEGOTIATION STRIKE
3) RENT STRIKE
4) TAX STRIKE
5) OCCUPY VACANT APARTMENTS
6) SEIZE THE STOCK FROM THE SUPERMARKETS
7) ORGANISE OURSELVES INTO AN ACTION COMMITTEE FOR THE QUARTER
THE MASSIVE MOVEMENT ALREADY UNDERWAY OUTFLANKS ALL THE
POSSIBLE REPRESSIONS OF THE STATE
ACTION COMMITTEE CENSIER
15 RUE DE SANTEUIL
Office room 325
22 Monday Aug 2016
(Translation – Fisera 58)
PROGRESSIVE STUDENTS PLAN
FOR A UNIVERSITY TO SERVE THE PEOPLE
The progressive students submit to the working-class masses a programme for the radical transformation of the university, with the aim of placing it under the control and at the service of the people:
2. Universities will be completely open to workers who wish to attend courses there. All university facilities will be available to the people.
3. Higher education will reserve more than 50% of its places to working-class and peasant children.
4. All lecturers and assistants of higher education will devote a certain amount of their time to helping workers study, and especially to improving the literacy of immigrant workers.
5. Education will be reshaped, and useless subjects will be scrapped. Exams will no longer be suddenly sprung on students, who will be allowed to collaborate freely amongst themselves and with their lecturers.
To achieve this plan, the masses must unite, overthrowing Gaullist, conquering and radically transforming society.
This will only be possible if the large mass of progressive students unites closely with the mass of workers and poor peasants. Students must move resolutely towards the people, in order to support their heroic struggle against unemployment and starvation wages, against the monopolising of land and against fascism and repression in the factories.
For a people’s university in a free peoples regime.
LONG LIVE THE UNITY OF WORKERS, OF POUR PEASANTS AND OF STUDENTS.
DOWN WITH GAULLISM, THIS ANTI-POPULAR REGIME OF UNEMPLOYMENT AND POVERTY.
Movement of Support to the People’s Struggle.
22 Monday Aug 2016
Posted in JCR, May 20-26 1968, Tract, Uncategorized
(Translation – Fisera 73)
WORKERS,
STUDENTS
The red flag of the working class flies over the faculties and factories. Millions of workers are occupying their enterprises. The hard-working masses, whom people called “apathetic”, have started to move.
On 13 May 1968, they became aware of their enormous strength, at the same time as they were judging the real weakness of the authorities. During the ten years of Gaullist rule they have experienced the total ineffectiveness of their traditional battle tactics, inherited from the Fourth Republic: parliamentary battles, token strikes, “the days of National Action”, were broken by the strength of the police state, without achieving results.
Only the direct, resolute action of the masses can force the Gaullist state to give way. This is the lesson that millions of workers have learned from the victorious student struggle. They have spontaneously and massively applied this lesson in order to solve their own problems.
Today the centre of gravity of the fight has moved from the faculties to the factories. The challenge to the bourgeois university has changed into the challenge to capitalist society. For let us not be fooled: if the workers are occupying the enterprises in their millions, it is not simply to obtain a satisfactory answer to their wage demands. The question of Power is being posed in the enterprises and in society. The future of the regime is at stake.
The employers and the state are dumbfounded. The panic-stricken Bourgeoise is calling upon the “organisations which are representative of the working class” to take things in hand. It realises that during periods of marked social crisis the reformist leaders of the working class are the best and the last rampart of the capitalist regime: steeped in parliamentarianism, scrupulously respectful of bourgeois legality, these leaders will channel the combativeness of the masses and will direct it towards aims which are in harmony with the survival of the system.
To preserve its authority, the cling class is ready to allow temporary concessions. It knows how to wait for the ebbing of the movement, to take back with one hand what it has had to concede with the other.
The young workers and the students, who are in the thick of the battle, do not want their fight to end in the same way as the 1936 and 1945 movements ended. The movement of unprecedented size which has sprung up in France today must not produce a damp squib.
WE MUST CONTINUE TO THE END!
WE ARE OCCUPYING FACULTIES, ADMINISTRATIONS, FACTORIES
LETS STAY THERE!
– Do not allow the bourgeois or social-democratic “politicians”, the Mitterands, the Guy Mollets, to negotiate a return to order in exchange for a cabinet seat!
– Do not permit the trade-union leaders to negotiate a return to work in exchange for certain advantages, these may be appreciable ones, but they will be rapidly pruned by inflation and by intensification of work rates.
LET US TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF THE BALANCE OF FORCES WE HAVE ESTABLISHED:
The power we want is not that of a left-wing government taking over from a right-wing government.
The power we want has nothing to do with parliamentary combinations of bourgeois and reformist politicians!
The power we want should create the direct democracy of socialism, based on the authority of local committees in the enterprises and in the neighbourhoods.
The power we want should emanate from strike committees and from workers’ and students’ acton committees.
STUDENTS, WORKERS, WE ARE BEING OFFERED A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY: LET US NOT THROW IT AWAY!
REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST YOUTH
(May 21 1968)
22 Monday Aug 2016
Posted in CDR, Gaullist, May 13-19 1968, Tract, Uncategorized
WARNING!
French women,
French men,
A subversive undertaking threatens France.
A minority is attempting to impose its rule.
Today everyone is faced with his duty of opposing this.
Every one of you, men, women, young or less young, must defend his future.
Every one of you must be prepared to defend his most precious possession: freedom.
We are here to help you.
Join the Committees for the Defence of the Republic.
Office – Committee Room
5, rue de Solférino
75 – PARIS 7th
22 Monday Aug 2016
Posted in CAL, May 13-19 1968, Tract, Uncategorized
Facing the situation characterised by:
– The scale of the growth of the movement in the high schools, the faculties and the factories
– The threats of repression from the state and the administration
The CAL summons ALL high school students to an
extraordinary General Assembly on Sunday 19 May
2pm at the Grand Amphi at the Sorbonne
High School Action Committees
11, rue Jean de Beauvais
PARIS 5th
Office at the Sorbonne
Staircase B, Amphi Milne Edwards
22 Monday Aug 2016
Posted in CAET, CAL, May 13-19 1968, Tract, Uncategorized
APPEAL TO YOUNG TEACHERS
LETS JOIN TOGETHER IN STRIKE ACTION FROM 20 MAY
IN OUR INSTITUTIONS
FORM COMMITTEES AND SEND YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TO:
– C A L SORBONNE ESC. B. 2nd FLOOR
– C A E T SORBONNE , ESC. E, 1st FL
DELAMARE ROOM
NO EXAMS ON 6 JUNE
===================
CAL. CAET. SORBONNE
22 Monday Aug 2016
Posted in May 20-26 1968, PSU, Tract, Uncategorized
P.S.U.
11th Section
CALL TO THE RESIDENTS OF THE 11th ARRONDISSEMENT
— 600,000 unemployed ……..
— 600,000 Students who refuse an uncertain future enslaved to capitalism
— Millions of workers exploding and occupy their workplaces
— Millions of peasants who revolt.
WHY?
— The Anger of People everywhere has the same basis:
— The refusal of a centralized capitalist society
— Protesting a scornful and authoritarian government, of the bosses and the big agricultural capital.
WHAT TO DO?
Since 1936 dispute through elections, the parliament or via petitions has never resulted in anything.
In contrast, since first the Students, and then the workers have begun to directly confront the government it shrinks back.
We must therefore increase the pressure of direct action until the defeat of capitalism, and the establishment of a Socialist Society.
To organize this action requires that the Workers, whether they are Factory Workers, Peasants, Office Workers or Students, unite in ACTION COMMITTEES at their places of work and residence.
THE UNIFIED SOCIALIST PARTY
invites you to debate with it the action to be taken during a MEETING to be held on:
TUESDAY, MAY 21
20 H 30 at CINEMA “ARTISTIC VOLTAIRE”
45 bis rue Richard Lenoir
With the participation of:
– Mr. BRIDIER Member of P.S.U Nat. Off.
– J. M. VINCENT. ” ” ” ” ”
-C. BALL Secretary General E.S.U.
-A representative of the Action Committee of the “VOLTAIRE” high-school
-A representative of the National Bureau of UNEF
22 Monday Aug 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
THE QUESTION OF POWER IS POSED
The explosion of the students’ anger against the situation which created them played a role in triggering the current movement. The great day of 13 May, organised by the unions to show their solidarity towards the students and to demand satisfaction of their claims, allowed workers to demonstrate the strength of their unity. The struggle has since widened day by day, and calls into question two policies: that of the business owners and that of the Gaullist government – which are inextricably linked.
The Gaullist regime has been characterised from 1958 to be one of state monopoly capitalism which “combines the power of monopolies and the state into a single mechanism to save the capitalist system, to maximise the profits of the imperialist bourgeoisie, for the exploitation of the working class and the looting of large sections of the nation “(Declaration of 81 Communist and Workers Parties – 1961).
Such a system creates the objective conditions of its own extinction by requiring every strata of the nation, the victims of its policy, to unite to bring it down. The battle must be made on two fronts: in the businesses by a struggle for worker’s claims, and across the whole country by the political struggle of all the democratic forces. The leading role therefore belongs to the working class organised into unions which alone can challenge the foundations of capitalism, that is to say exploitation.
An outcome consistent with the interests of the masses can only be discovered in a profound change in society: the elimination of the power of the huge monopolies and the establishment of a democratic regime. The problem of the unity of the Left is posed: the parties of the Left and the unions that objectively represent the working and middle classes must unite on a common program of government that embodies the claims of different classes of French people currently engage in the struggle. Without this unity, there is no possibility of democracy, only that of a reactionary regime.
This common program of government must give emphasis to nationalisation. Indeed nationalisation is the indispensable means by which democratic power can effectively exercise the control of real economic power, that is to say, modern mass production.
The Communist Party emphatically reiterates its proposals to the F.G.D.S. and other democratic forces for the establishment of a socially progressive joint program. The conquest of the State by democratic forces not only deals a blow to the political domination of monopolies, but also leads to a basic change in the economic relations in society: the monopolies will no longer have access to the intervention of the State, which is currently essential for the maintenance of their profits. This is why the question of power of the State is essential.
This rise to power of the democratic forces can only be achieved by the development of struggles throughout the whole country, in an expansion of the students’ struggle.
Developing these struggles can only be done on substantial bases, that is to say in a programme of protest specific to each class of the French people who suffer under Gaullist policy. The convergence of all these struggles will be powerful enough to force the defeat of the regime of the monopolies. The democratic regime, will thus be established, along with the inevitable revolutionary process of the institution of socialism; that is to say : the end of capitalist exploitation.
Union of Communist Students
May 21
22 Monday Aug 2016
DOWN WITH THE ANTI-POPULAR
GAULLIST REGIME
OF UNEMPLOYMENT AND POVERTY
On Monday 13 May workers and students, en masse, gave proof of their immense strength. 13th May was an great day of struggle against Gaullism. Workers and progressive students DEMONSTRATED AGAINST GAULLISM. It is no longer a question of fighting for small demands – bourgeois irrelevancies. The Gaullist state currently wants TO BREAK THE TIDAL WAVE raised against it and all reactionary forces. The Sorbonne? It is open again. The freedom of our comrades? Workers and students have demanded it.
SO, WHAT NOW? The mass movement against Gaullism, against the regime of unemployment and poverty must intensify.
THE WORKING CLASS DEMAND THAT THE SACRIFICES THEY HAVE AGREED TO, THE GREAT STRIKE THEY HAVE EMBARKED ON, MUST LEAD TO POSITIVE RESULTS. THE WORKERS WON’T FIGHT FOR NOTHING.
Those who protest, those who strike, like those who haven’t yet gone on strike because they’ve been preparing a massive struggle in the factories against the onslaught of big capital – the great mass of workers aspire to continue the popular battle against big capital and its Gaullist state.
The UNEF, the management of the CFT and of the PCF, GIVE NO CONCRETE POSSIBILITY to strengthen the unity of the people in the struggle against Gaullism.
The workers and progressive students ARE WAITING.
Do they want a parliamentary debate? No.
An adjustment of the bourgeois University? No.
Do they want the rotten politicians of the “left”, the assassins of workers, the J. Moches and the Mollets to profit from the situation and sneak into power? No.
POPULAR GOVERNMENT? YES. MITTERAND? NO!
They want a popular government that gives work to everyone, a university at the service of the people, freedom for the people. They want a regime where workers, farmers, all the people are the masters of the country.
They want to develop the popular movement together.
The workers and the progressive students want to support the development of the strike movement, working towards the common association of active workers and the unemployed, working towards the common association of French and immigrant workers, brothers in the struggle against capitalist poverty.
They want the struggle, under the guidance of the working class, to continue.
EVERYONE TO THE RALLY
TO CONTINUE AND DEVELOP THE POPULAR STRUGGLE AGAINST GAULLISM
The workers are in the front line against Gaullism,
LONG LIVE THE UNION OF WORKERS AND PROGRESSIVE STUDENTS.
AT THE APPEAL OF THE COMMUNIST WORK GROUPS, OF THE UNION OF YOUNG COMMUNISTS (Marxist-Leninist), OF THE “TO SERVE THE PEOPLE” GROUP, OF THE SUPPORT MOVEMENT OF THE PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE, and OF THE DEFENCE COMMITTEES AGAINST REPRESSION.
SUNDAY 19 MAY
RALLY at 3:30pm at the MULTUALITE
21 Sunday Aug 2016
Posted in Comites d'Action, May 6-12 1968, Tract, Uncategorized
PARIS, May 12 (AFP)
During a press conference held yesterday evening (Sunday) in an amphitheater of the Faculty of Sciences, Dr. KAHN, professor of medicine, protested against the use of a particularly toxic gas during the demonstrations in the Latin Quarter.
The professor revealed that his observations of many students, together with a personal investigation, had enabled him to identify it absolutely as chlorobenzalmalomonitride, more commonly called C.S. or C.B.
This gas, according to Dr. KAHN, which is used by the police in the United States as well as by American troops in Vietnam, is said to attack the human hepatic and renal centres and, in the laboratory, to have been proved fatal to animals that have been given concentrated doses.
But what is serious, added Professor KAHN, is that they have been able to use such a gas during forty-eight hours in Paris without warning the medical authorities, whereas no known antidotes exist in France at this time against this compound.
AFP, 10:41 P.M.
IT ISN’T POSSIBLE TO TALK
WITH AN ASSASSIN AND A LIAR!
WE ARE CONTINUING STREET ACTION
AND OCCUPATION OF THE FACULTIES,
UNTIL
GRIMAUD
AND
FOUCHET
RESIGN
Monday, 2:00 AM
The May 3 Action Committees
Documents from May 1968 