Difference between revisions of "Anarchy 89/Overtaken by events: a Paris journal"

From Anarchy
Jump to navigation Jump to search
imported>Ivanhoe
(Created page with "{{header | title = ANARCHY 89 (Vol 8 No. 7) JULY 1968<br>Overtaken by events: a Paris journal | author = Roy Prior | section = | previous = ../Ref...")
 
imported>Ivanhoe
Line 17: Line 17:
  
 
'''Wednesday-Thursday, May 15th-May 16th.'''&emsp;The {{w|Paris dis&shy;turb&shy;ances|May_1968_events_in_France}} have been very poorly re&shy;ported in the {{w|English|England}} press. First, the dis&shy;turb&shy;ance may have arisen out of com&shy;plaints about the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity sys&shy;tem, but it has gone far beyond that now. It started with a row at {{w|Nan&shy;terre|Paris_Nanterre_University}}, a uni&shy;vers&shy;ity out&shy;side {{w|Paris}}, when the uni&shy;vers&shy;ity was close for an in&shy;defin&shy;ite period, and seven stu&shy;dents were sum&shy;moned to ap&shy;pear before a uni&shy;vers&shy;ity board. The {{w|Sor&shy;bonne|Sorbonne_University}} started to get active, in the big main court&shy;yard; the ''{{w|recteur|Rector_(academia)}}'' called in the police to clear out the stu&shy;dents who had gathered to dis&shy;cuss mat&shy;ters. The police carted the stu&shy;dents off and there were demon&shy;stra&shy;tions against this action, and against the police. The Sor&shy;bonne was closed, and the uni&shy;vers&shy;ities pro&shy;posed to strike on Monday, May 6th, demon&shy;stra&shy;tions all day long, fin&shy;ish&shy;ing with 20,000 march&shy;ing. The police charged the march at {{w|St. Germain des Pr&eacute;s|Saint-Germain-des-Prés}}, and the bar&shy;ri&shy;cades started to go up. The police use {{w|gas|Tear_gas}}. It fin&shy;ishes up with police hunt&shy;ing stu&shy;dents through the streets, beat&shy;ing them with {{w|trun&shy;cheons|Baton_(law_enforcement)}}. On Tuesday, another long march, about 40,000-50,000 people, stu&shy;dents and work&shy;ers. The {{w|red flags|Red_flag_(politics)}} lead the march and the {{w|Inter&shy;na&shy;tion&shy;ale|The_Internationale}} is sung at the {{w|Arc de Triomphe|Arc_de_Triomphe}}. More demon&shy;stra&shy;tions on Wednes&shy;day, when the left wing parties, hostile hitherto, jump on the band&shy;wagon. Thurs&shy;day, the Sor&shy;bonne is to be re&shy;opened: the police are on the scene, and the stu&shy;dents de&shy;mand with&shy;drawal of police, open&shy;ing of all the col&shy;leges again, and the free&shy;ing of the ar&shy;rested stu&shy;dents. The {{w|Trotsky&shy;ists|Trotskyism}} hold a meet&shy;ing where the whole af&shy;fair begins to open out into a re&shy;volu&shy;tion&shy;ary move&shy;ment. On Friday comes the ex&shy;plo&shy;sion: thou&shy;sands of stu&shy;dents on a demon&shy;stra&shy;tion march are stopped by a dam of police: the stu&shy;dents re&shy;tire into the {{w|Latin Quarter|Latin_Quarter,_Paris}}, filling the {{w|Bou&shy;levard St. Michel|Boulevard_Saint-Michel}} up to the {{w|Luxem&shy;bourg|Jardin_du_Luxembourg}}. They spread out and start erect&shy;ing bar&shy;ri&shy;cades to fight the police if they charge. At 2 in the morn&shy;ing, the police at&shy;tack, using gas {{p|201}}gren&shy;ades, tear gas, trun&shy;cheons &hellip; fight&shy;ing goes on until 5:30, around about 60 bar&shy;ri&shy;cades: many stu&shy;dents are in&shy;jured and seven are still miss&shy;ing, no one knows where. On Satur&shy;day, tension: the {{w|trade unions|Trade_union}} call for a {{w|gen&shy;eral strike|General_strike}}. The stu&shy;dent milit&shy;ants oc&shy;cupy an annex of the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity, and use the premises for dis&shy;cus&shy;sions and de&shy;bates. On Sunday, the unions dis&shy;cuss and pre&shy;pare their demon&shy;stra&shy;tion. On Monday the strike takes place, and work&shy;ers and stu&shy;dents march to&shy;gether to demon&shy;strate against the police and the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment. On Tues&shy;day the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment gives in, and says that the stu&shy;dent de&shy;mands for as&shy;soci&shy;a&shy;tion in the organ&shy;isa&shy;tion of the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity will be met: and the news&shy;papers give the im&shy;pres&shy;sion that this is what it is all about.
 
'''Wednesday-Thursday, May 15th-May 16th.'''&emsp;The {{w|Paris dis&shy;turb&shy;ances|May_1968_events_in_France}} have been very poorly re&shy;ported in the {{w|English|England}} press. First, the dis&shy;turb&shy;ance may have arisen out of com&shy;plaints about the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity sys&shy;tem, but it has gone far beyond that now. It started with a row at {{w|Nan&shy;terre|Paris_Nanterre_University}}, a uni&shy;vers&shy;ity out&shy;side {{w|Paris}}, when the uni&shy;vers&shy;ity was close for an in&shy;defin&shy;ite period, and seven stu&shy;dents were sum&shy;moned to ap&shy;pear before a uni&shy;vers&shy;ity board. The {{w|Sor&shy;bonne|Sorbonne_University}} started to get active, in the big main court&shy;yard; the ''{{w|recteur|Rector_(academia)}}'' called in the police to clear out the stu&shy;dents who had gathered to dis&shy;cuss mat&shy;ters. The police carted the stu&shy;dents off and there were demon&shy;stra&shy;tions against this action, and against the police. The Sor&shy;bonne was closed, and the uni&shy;vers&shy;ities pro&shy;posed to strike on Monday, May 6th, demon&shy;stra&shy;tions all day long, fin&shy;ish&shy;ing with 20,000 march&shy;ing. The police charged the march at {{w|St. Germain des Pr&eacute;s|Saint-Germain-des-Prés}}, and the bar&shy;ri&shy;cades started to go up. The police use {{w|gas|Tear_gas}}. It fin&shy;ishes up with police hunt&shy;ing stu&shy;dents through the streets, beat&shy;ing them with {{w|trun&shy;cheons|Baton_(law_enforcement)}}. On Tuesday, another long march, about 40,000-50,000 people, stu&shy;dents and work&shy;ers. The {{w|red flags|Red_flag_(politics)}} lead the march and the {{w|Inter&shy;na&shy;tion&shy;ale|The_Internationale}} is sung at the {{w|Arc de Triomphe|Arc_de_Triomphe}}. More demon&shy;stra&shy;tions on Wednes&shy;day, when the left wing parties, hostile hitherto, jump on the band&shy;wagon. Thurs&shy;day, the Sor&shy;bonne is to be re&shy;opened: the police are on the scene, and the stu&shy;dents de&shy;mand with&shy;drawal of police, open&shy;ing of all the col&shy;leges again, and the free&shy;ing of the ar&shy;rested stu&shy;dents. The {{w|Trotsky&shy;ists|Trotskyism}} hold a meet&shy;ing where the whole af&shy;fair begins to open out into a re&shy;volu&shy;tion&shy;ary move&shy;ment. On Friday comes the ex&shy;plo&shy;sion: thou&shy;sands of stu&shy;dents on a demon&shy;stra&shy;tion march are stopped by a dam of police: the stu&shy;dents re&shy;tire into the {{w|Latin Quarter|Latin_Quarter,_Paris}}, filling the {{w|Bou&shy;levard St. Michel|Boulevard_Saint-Michel}} up to the {{w|Luxem&shy;bourg|Jardin_du_Luxembourg}}. They spread out and start erect&shy;ing bar&shy;ri&shy;cades to fight the police if they charge. At 2 in the morn&shy;ing, the police at&shy;tack, using gas {{p|201}}gren&shy;ades, tear gas, trun&shy;cheons &hellip; fight&shy;ing goes on until 5:30, around about 60 bar&shy;ri&shy;cades: many stu&shy;dents are in&shy;jured and seven are still miss&shy;ing, no one knows where. On Satur&shy;day, tension: the {{w|trade unions|Trade_union}} call for a {{w|gen&shy;eral strike|General_strike}}. The stu&shy;dent milit&shy;ants oc&shy;cupy an annex of the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity, and use the premises for dis&shy;cus&shy;sions and de&shy;bates. On Sunday, the unions dis&shy;cuss and pre&shy;pare their demon&shy;stra&shy;tion. On Monday the strike takes place, and work&shy;ers and stu&shy;dents march to&shy;gether to demon&shy;strate against the police and the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment. On Tues&shy;day the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment gives in, and says that the stu&shy;dent de&shy;mands for as&shy;soci&shy;a&shy;tion in the organ&shy;isa&shy;tion of the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity will be met: and the news&shy;papers give the im&shy;pres&shy;sion that this is what it is all about.
 +
{{tab}}So it was, per&shy;haps, in the first in&shy;stance, but things have changed. The stu&shy;dents have taken over the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity com&shy;pletely. The lec&shy;ture rooms are crowded with com&shy;mit&shy;tees dis&shy;cuss&shy;ing the whole move&shy;ment{{dash}}for it is a movement: the whole struc&shy;ture of western so&shy;ciety is being called into ques&shy;tion. The groups of the left are of course very pro&shy;min&shy;ent in this ques&shy;tion&shy;ing: {{w|Mao&shy;ists|Maoism}}, {{w|Trotsky&shy;ists|Trotskyism}}, {{w|Com&shy;mun&shy;ists|Marxism–Leninism}} and Anarch&shy;ists have plas&shy;tered the Sor&shy;bonne with posters, de&shy;clar&shy;a&shy;tions, ex&shy;hort&shy;a&shy;tions; a flood of bro&shy;chures, leaf&shy;lets, pamph&shy;lets and broad&shy;sheets, as well as im&shy;pro&shy;vised news&shy;papers, pours out. The great court&shy;yard of the Sor&shy;bonne is crowded with people: stu&shy;dents and work&shy;ers, and some bour&shy;geois, argu&shy;ing, form&shy;ing groups where people stand and dis&shy;cuss, dis&shy;pute, bellow, dis&shy;agree, create an atmo&shy;sphere where one feels that they are awake! This goes on twenty-<wbr>four hours a day, while people pass in and out of the build&shy;ing, the lec&shy;ture halls wit&shy;ness con&shy;tinu&shy;ous meet&shy;ings and com&shy;mit&shy;tees and in the court&shy;yard people go on argu&shy;ing. Around the court&shy;yard are the pla&shy;cards and pro&shy;clam&shy;a&shy;tions, people sell the news&shy;papers and hand out the sheets: {{w|trestle tables|Trestle_table}} along the walls are oco&shy;cu&shy;pied by vari&shy;ous groups selling their lit&shy;er&shy;ature{{dash}}Trotsky&shy;ists, Com&shy;mun&shy;ists, Mao&shy;ists: I haven{{t}} run across the Anarch&shy;ists yet but I know they are there: their posters are edged in black. Walking out across the {{l|Place de la Sorbonne|https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_la_Sorbonne}}, you can see the same thing{{dash}}groups, dis&shy;cus&shy;sions, every&shy;where per&shy;fect strangers join&shy;ing argu&shy;ments, ex&shy;chan&shy;ging views, in an atmo&shy;sphere of charged ex&shy;cite&shy;ment which is im&shy;pos&shy;sible for me to com&shy;mun&shy;icate. The level of dis&shy;cus&shy;sion is re&shy;mark&shy;ably high, on the whole, and if you can imagine the sort of energy the French put into an argu&shy;ment be&shy;tween two drivers whose cars have col&shy;lided, trans&shy;ferred to an argu&shy;ment about the organ&shy;isa&shy;tion of the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity, the class strug&shy;gle, the whole organ&shy;isa&shy;tion of our so&shy;ciety, the pos&shy;sibil&shy;ity of re&shy;volu&shy;tion: all this con&shy;ducted by a free-<wbr>float&shy;ing crowd of liter&shy;ally thou&shy;sands of people, in the Sor&shy;bonne, in the street, in the cafes{{dash|this all going on day and night}}then you may get some idea of the Quartier Latin at the moment.
 +
 +
{{tab}}The moment being 2.15 in the morn&shy;ing (Thurs&shy;day), and the place being a crowded (at this hour!) cafe in the Place de la Sorbonne. If I were rather younger and a great many il&shy;lu&shy;sions richer, I might be tempted to be&shy;lieve in the re&shy;volu&shy;tion&shy;ary atmo&shy;sphere all around me. For {{p|202}}the atmo&shy;sphere, if not the situ&shy;a&shy;tion, is cer&shy;tainly one of re&shy;volu&shy;tion{{dash}}it reminds me a little of ac&shy;counts I have read of the so&shy;ciety in {{w|Spain}} in the first days of the {{w|re&shy;volu&shy;tion|Spanish_Revolution_of_1936}}, feel&shy;ing of ex&shy;cite&shy;ment, of ten&shy;sion, of all sorts of pos&shy;sibil&shy;ities for the future, the il&shy;lu&shy;sion that these people might, just might, put a really big crack in the struc&shy;ture of the so&shy;ciety which they are ques&shy;tion&shy;ing so fiercely. In the spec&shy;trum of opin&shy;ion you can re&shy;cog&shy;nise the pos&shy;sible chrono&shy;lo&shy;gical pat&shy;tern of hypo&shy;thet&shy;ical re&shy;volu&shy;tion, from re&shy;form&shy;ists whose ideas are lim&shy;ited to the grant&shy;ing of cer&shy;tain con&shy;ces&shy;sions within{{dash|well within}}the format of the set-<wbr>up as it is, through others who advo&shy;cate a far greater degree of change in the status of the stu&shy;dent, those who look for the fall of the pres&shy;ent govern&shy;ment without think&shy;ing much further (even those who would be satis&shy;fied with the resig&shy;na&shy;tion of a few min&shy;is&shy;ters), those who want to see the stu&shy;dents de&shy;clare their solid&shy;ar&shy;ity with the work&shy;ers, aban&shy;don&shy;ing their pres&shy;ent privi&shy;leged posi&shy;tion as those who are des&shy;tined to be the bas&shy;tions of cap&shy;it&shy;al&shy;ism, through to those who look to a total de&shy;struc&shy;tion of cap&shy;it&shy;al&shy;ist so&shy;ciety and the estab&shy;lish&shy;ment of a so&shy;cial&shy;ist so&shy;ciety of one sort or another, and those who talk as if the re&shy;volu&shy;tion were sched&shy;uled for to&shy;morrow, or the day after at the very latest. Here it all is, in words at least.
 +
 +
{{tab}}And what will come out of it? Not much perhaps: in fact, my guess would be, con&shy;ces&shy;sions in words from the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment, soothing noises, a few re&shy;forms, a scape&shy;goat or two{{dash|the {{w|Pr&eacute;fet|Prefect_(France)}} {{w|of Paris|Paul_Delouvrier}}, for in&shy;stance, who did not want to send the police in to the Sor&shy;bonne in the first pace}}and then, nothing. For a while, the ques&shy;tion is: is the feel&shy;ing under&shy;ly&shy;ing this re&shy;volt so strong that it will break out again? I be&shy;lieve it is: this is abso&shy;lutely not a ques&shy;tion of mild stu&shy;dent dis&shy;con&shy;tent within the frame&shy;work of the edu&shy;ca&shy;tion sys&shy;tem, although it may ap&shy;pear that way, and may have started that way. It looks to me like a deep-<wbr>rooted dis&shy;con&shy;tent and dis&shy;like of the whole struc&shy;ture of so&shy;ciety together with a total dis&shy;trust of the dis&shy;cred&shy;ited lead&shy;ers of the left. Those of the right are scarcely men&shy;tioned, even {{w|de Gaulle|Charles_de_Gaulle}} and {{w|Pompi&shy;dou|Georges_Pompidou}} are not names one hears often, and when one does it is in tones of dis&shy;missal. There is no need to at&shy;tack them in words: they are there, that{{s}} all. In fact, there is a very re&shy;mark&shy;able lack of names{{dash}}plenty of ini&shy;tials of left wing parties, but no names. No {{qq|Leaders}} in the old sense: no&shy;body{{s}} lead&shy;ing.
 +
 +
{{tab}}4.10 a.m.&emsp;{{w|Les Halles|Les_Halles}}, always a sight worth seeing{{dash}}Paris{{s}} belly, {{w|Zola|Émile_Zola}} called it, with its almost blocked streets, its furi&shy;ous activ&shy;ity, its enor&shy;mous {{w|arti&shy;cu&shy;lated lorries|Semi-trailer_truck}} bring&shy;ing in fish from {{w|Brittany}} and the {{w|south-<wbr>west|South_West_France_(wine_region)}}, cheese from {{w|Normandy}}, milk from all over the place. How very far from the atmo&shy;sphere of the Sor&shy;bonne: the stu&shy;dents may ex&shy;press solid&shy;ar&shy;ity with the work&shy;ers, but how much solid&shy;ar&shy;ity do these work&shy;ers feel for the stu&shy;dents? A cer&shy;tain amount, per&shy;haps, since one of the stu&shy;dent griev&shy;ances{{dash|not one that is well pub&shy;li&shy;cised however}}is that so few chil&shy;dren of the work&shy;ing class get to uni&shy;vers&shy;ity.
 +
 +
{{tab}}9.20 a.m.&emsp;This morn&shy;ing I have been with Sor&shy;bonne stu&shy;dents ef&shy;fect&shy;ing li&shy;aison with the med&shy;ical stu&shy;dents, who are not so enthu&shy;si&shy;astic or so {{p|203}}well organ&shy;ised. In fact, the Sor&shy;bonne people were on picket duty, per&shy;suad&shy;ing the med&shy;ical stu&shy;dents to keep up the strike and not enter into dis&shy;cus&shy;sions with the teach&shy;ing staff. It is re&shy;mark&shy;able to see: dis&shy;pute, argu&shy;ment, per&shy;sua&shy;sion, but never the faint&shy;est sug&shy;ges&shy;tion of a fist raised in anger. If in normal times Sor&shy;bonne stu&shy;dents went to the Fac&shy;ulty of Medi&shy;cine and dared to try to tell them what to do, they would be thrown out, but now the stu&shy;dents must above all stay to&shy;gether, other&shy;wise the move&shy;ment is done for.
 +
 +
{{tab}}I am writ&shy;ing this in the court&shy;yard of the Sor&shy;bonne. I look up to the roof, and there flying in the wind is a sight I have never seen before: a flag with no dec&shy;or&shy;a&shy;tion, no ad&shy;di&shy;tion, no na&shy;tional symbol: a plain {{w|red flag|Red_flag_(politics)}}. And I can{{t}} stop myself from shed&shy;ding tears.
 
</div>
 
</div>
  

Revision as of 16:59, 6 April 2018


200
Overtaken by events:
a Paris journal

ROY PRIOR


Wednesday-Thursday, May 15th-May 16th. The Paris dis­turb­ances have been very poorly re­ported in the English press. First, the dis­turb­ance may have arisen out of com­plaints about the Uni­vers­ity sys­tem, but it has gone far beyond that now. It started with a row at Nan­terre, a uni­vers­ity out­side Paris, when the uni­vers­ity was close for an in­defin­ite period, and seven stu­dents were sum­moned to ap­pear before a uni­vers­ity board. The Sor­bonne started to get active, in the big main court­yard; the recteur called in the police to clear out the stu­dents who had gathered to dis­cuss mat­ters. The police carted the stu­dents off and there were demon­stra­tions against this action, and against the police. The Sor­bonne was closed, and the uni­vers­ities pro­posed to strike on Monday, May 6th, demon­stra­tions all day long, fin­ish­ing with 20,000 march­ing. The police charged the march at St. Germain des Prés, and the bar­ri­cades started to go up. The police use gas. It fin­ishes up with police hunt­ing stu­dents through the streets, beat­ing them with trun­cheons. On Tuesday, another long march, about 40,000-50,000 people, stu­dents and work­ers. The red flags lead the march and the Inter­na­tion­ale is sung at the Arc de Triomphe. More demon­stra­tions on Wednes­day, when the left wing parties, hostile hitherto, jump on the band­wagon. Thurs­day, the Sor­bonne is to be re­opened: the police are on the scene, and the stu­dents de­mand with­drawal of police, open­ing of all the col­leges again, and the free­ing of the ar­rested stu­dents. The Trotsky­ists hold a meet­ing where the whole af­fair begins to open out into a re­volu­tion­ary move­ment. On Friday comes the ex­plo­sion: thou­sands of stu­dents on a demon­stra­tion march are stopped by a dam of police: the stu­dents re­tire into the Latin Quarter, filling the Bou­levard St. Michel up to the Luxem­bourg. They spread out and start erect­ing bar­ri­cades to fight the police if they charge. At 2 in the morn­ing, the police at­tack, using gas
201
gren­ades, tear gas, trun­cheons … fight­ing goes on until 5:30, around about 60 bar­ri­cades: many stu­dents are in­jured and seven are still miss­ing, no one knows where. On Satur­day, tension: the trade unions call for a gen­eral strike. The stu­dent milit­ants oc­cupy an annex of the Uni­vers­ity, and use the premises for dis­cus­sions and de­bates. On Sunday, the unions dis­cuss and pre­pare their demon­stra­tion. On Monday the strike takes place, and work­ers and stu­dents march to­gether to demon­strate against the police and the gov­ern­ment. On Tues­day the gov­ern­ment gives in, and says that the stu­dent de­mands for as­soci­a­tion in the organ­isa­tion of the Uni­vers­ity will be met: and the news­papers give the im­pres­sion that this is what it is all about.

  So it was, per­haps, in the first in­stance, but things have changed. The stu­dents have taken over the Uni­vers­ity com­pletely. The lec­ture rooms are crowded with com­mit­tees dis­cuss­ing the whole move­ment—for it is a movement: the whole struc­ture of western so­ciety is being called into ques­tion. The groups of the left are of course very pro­min­ent in this ques­tion­ing: Mao­ists, Trotsky­ists, Com­mun­ists and Anarch­ists have plas­tered the Sor­bonne with posters, de­clar­a­tions, ex­hort­a­tions; a flood of bro­chures, leaf­lets, pamph­lets and broad­sheets, as well as im­pro­vised news­papers, pours out. The great court­yard of the Sor­bonne is crowded with people: stu­dents and work­ers, and some bour­geois, argu­ing, form­ing groups where people stand and dis­cuss, dis­pute, bellow, dis­agree, create an atmo­sphere where one feels that they are awake! This goes on twenty-four hours a day, while people pass in and out of the build­ing, the lec­ture halls wit­ness con­tinu­ous meet­ings and com­mit­tees and in the court­yard people go on argu­ing. Around the court­yard are the pla­cards and pro­clam­a­tions, people sell the news­papers and hand out the sheets: trestle tables along the walls are oco­cu­pied by vari­ous groups selling their lit­er­ature—Trotsky­ists, Com­mun­ists, Mao­ists: I haven’t run across the Anarch­ists yet but I know they are there: their posters are edged in black. Walking out across the Place de la Sorbonne, you can see the same thing—groups, dis­cus­sions, every­where per­fect strangers join­ing argu­ments, ex­chan­ging views, in an atmo­sphere of charged ex­cite­ment which is im­pos­sible for me to com­mun­icate. The level of dis­cus­sion is re­mark­ably high, on the whole, and if you can imagine the sort of energy the French put into an argu­ment be­tween two drivers whose cars have col­lided, trans­ferred to an argu­ment about the organ­isa­tion of the Uni­vers­ity, the class strug­gle, the whole organ­isa­tion of our so­ciety, the pos­sibil­ity of re­volu­tion: all this con­ducted by a free-float­ing crowd of liter­ally thou­sands of people, in the Sor­bonne, in the street, in the cafes—this all going on day and night—then you may get some idea of the Quartier Latin at the moment.

  The moment being 2.15 in the morn­ing (Thurs­day), and the place being a crowded (at this hour!) cafe in the Place de la Sorbonne. If I were rather younger and a great many il­lu­sions richer, I might be tempted to be­lieve in the re­volu­tion­ary atmo­sphere all around me. For
202
the atmo­sphere, if not the situ­a­tion, is cer­tainly one of re­volu­tion—it reminds me a little of ac­counts I have read of the so­ciety in Spain in the first days of the re­volu­tion, feel­ing of ex­cite­ment, of ten­sion, of all sorts of pos­sibil­ities for the future, the il­lu­sion that these people might, just might, put a really big crack in the struc­ture of the so­ciety which they are ques­tion­ing so fiercely. In the spec­trum of opin­ion you can re­cog­nise the pos­sible chrono­lo­gical pat­tern of hypo­thet­ical re­volu­tion, from re­form­ists whose ideas are lim­ited to the grant­ing of cer­tain con­ces­sions within—well within—the format of the set-up as it is, through others who advo­cate a far greater degree of change in the status of the stu­dent, those who look for the fall of the pres­ent govern­ment without think­ing much further (even those who would be satis­fied with the resig­na­tion of a few min­is­ters), those who want to see the stu­dents de­clare their solid­ar­ity with the work­ers, aban­don­ing their pres­ent privi­leged posi­tion as those who are des­tined to be the bas­tions of cap­it­al­ism, through to those who look to a total de­struc­tion of cap­it­al­ist so­ciety and the estab­lish­ment of a so­cial­ist so­ciety of one sort or another, and those who talk as if the re­volu­tion were sched­uled for to­morrow, or the day after at the very latest. Here it all is, in words at least.

  And what will come out of it? Not much perhaps: in fact, my guess would be, con­ces­sions in words from the gov­ern­ment, soothing noises, a few re­forms, a scape­goat or two—the Préfet of Paris, for in­stance, who did not want to send the police in to the Sor­bonne in the first pace—and then, nothing. For a while, the ques­tion is: is the feel­ing under­ly­ing this re­volt so strong that it will break out again? I be­lieve it is: this is abso­lutely not a ques­tion of mild stu­dent dis­con­tent within the frame­work of the edu­ca­tion sys­tem, although it may ap­pear that way, and may have started that way. It looks to me like a deep-rooted dis­con­tent and dis­like of the whole struc­ture of so­ciety together with a total dis­trust of the dis­cred­ited lead­ers of the left. Those of the right are scarcely men­tioned, even de Gaulle and Pompi­dou are not names one hears often, and when one does it is in tones of dis­missal. There is no need to at­tack them in words: they are there, that’s all. In fact, there is a very re­mark­able lack of names—plenty of ini­tials of left wing parties, but no names. No “Leaders” in the old sense: no­body’s lead­ing.

  4.10 a.m. Les Halles, always a sight worth seeing—Paris’s belly, Zola called it, with its almost blocked streets, its furi­ous activ­ity, its enor­mous arti­cu­lated lorries bring­ing in fish from Brittany and the <span data-html="true" class="plainlinks" title="Wikipedia: south-west">south-west, cheese from Normandy, milk from all over the place. How very far from the atmo­sphere of the Sor­bonne: the stu­dents may ex­press solid­ar­ity with the work­ers, but how much solid­ar­ity do these work­ers feel for the stu­dents? A cer­tain amount, per­haps, since one of the stu­dent griev­ances—not one that is well pub­li­cised however—is that so few chil­dren of the work­ing class get to uni­vers­ity.

  9.20 a.m. This morn­ing I have been with Sor­bonne stu­dents ef­fect­ing li­aison with the med­ical stu­dents, who are not so enthu­si­astic or so
203
well organ­ised. In fact, the Sor­bonne people were on picket duty, per­suad­ing the med­ical stu­dents to keep up the strike and not enter into dis­cus­sions with the teach­ing staff. It is re­mark­able to see: dis­pute, argu­ment, per­sua­sion, but never the faint­est sug­ges­tion of a fist raised in anger. If in normal times Sor­bonne stu­dents went to the Fac­ulty of Medi­cine and dared to try to tell them what to do, they would be thrown out, but now the stu­dents must above all stay to­gether, other­wise the move­ment is done for.

  I am writ­ing this in the court­yard of the Sor­bonne. I look up to the roof, and there flying in the wind is a sight I have never seen before: a flag with no dec­or­a­tion, no ad­di­tion, no na­tional symbol: a plain red flag. And I can’t stop myself from shed­ding tears.