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CREATED:20080919T204300Z
DESCRIPTION:Red & Black and Mouvement Communiste present this first-hand account of the 
 ’68 events in France.\n\nThis account will be based on two testimonies 
 that will be available at the event in pamphlet form (in English 
 translation; see link below). One of the writers will be present in-person 
 in Oakland to give his first-hand account of his actions as an organizer of 
 the Action Committee of Montreuil, his experiences during the actions with 
 the immigrant workers at his workplace, and with students in street 
 fighting which occurred under never-ending clouds of tear gas -- to which 
 the insurgents returned Molotov cocktails. He will give his critique of the 
 strengths, weaknesses and the seriously limited revolutionary potential of 
 the actions in May and June.\n\nHe and the other Mouvement Communiste 
 presenter will recount the other testimonial account in the pamphlet, which 
 is from a worker who took part in launching the strike at Alsthom Works in 
 Saint-Ouen that went up not only against the bosses and the police, but the 
 union bureaucrats and Stalinists who tried to stop it as well. With each 
 celebration of the uprising of May ’68, the myths around these events 
 take on a life of their own. The event in France remains beyond these 
 myths: the general strike involved 10 million strikers. But that is also a 
 myth which should be challenged: if, between May 20th and June 4th, there 
 were around 9 to 10 million wage earners who did not work, that does not 
 mean there were 9 to 10 million active strikers. With some exceptions, the 
 strikers were passive spectators of their own strikes by staying at home, 
 leaving the trade-union bureaucracy and its supporters to occupy the 
 factories and to organize the “strike.”\n\nThis presentation will 
 dispel the romantic myths and give first-hand, detailed accounts about a 
 few of those exceptions where workers rose up with near insurrectionary 
 intensity and fought to overthrow capital. These historical lessons, 
 critiquing the strengths and weaknesses of '68, are crucial for any future 
 struggles we might be engaged in. To be followed by a question and answer 
 session and discussion.\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/19/18539943.php
SUMMARY:May-June 1968: An occasion lacking in workers’ autonomy
LOCATION: Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library\n6501 Telegraph Avenue (at 65th Street), 
 Oakland\n(510) 595-7417\nhttp://www.marxistlibr.org/\n\nWheelchair 
 accessible
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/19/18539943.php
DTSTART:20081109T210000Z
DTEND:20081110T000000Z
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