The Imaginary Revolution

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.

Michael Seidman received his Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam. He is the author ofWorkers against Work: Labor in Barcelona and Paris during the Popular Fronts, (1991) which has been translated into six languages,Republic of Egos: A Social History of the Spanish Civil War, (2002) (Spanish translation, 2003) andThe Victorious Counterrevolution: The Nationalist Effort in the Spanish Civil War, (2011) (Spanish translation, 2012). His articles have appeared in British, American, Spanish, French, German, and Chinese journals. He has taught at Rutgers University and currently teaches at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations

Introduction:May 1968a Rupture?

Chapter 1. Sex, Drugs, and Revolution
Chapter 2. Making Desires Reality
Chapter 3. Incendiary Occupations
Chapter 4. Workers Respond
Chapter 5. The Spectacle of Order

Conclusion: A Modest or Mythical May?

Chronology
Glossary
Bibliography
Index