In France, a one-day general strike was called on May 13th, 1968 by the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) and the Force Ouvrière (CGT-FO) as organized labor groups walked off of their jobs as a show of support to striking students. On that day, students occupied the Sorbonne buildings, converting it into a commune, and striking workers and students protested in the Paris streets. Prime Minister Georges Pompidou announced the release of prisoners and the reopening of the Sorbonne, but protests continued.
The general strike of May 13 marked a qualitative turning point. Hundreds of thousands of students and workers poured onto the streets of Paris. Some idea of this is conveyed by the following description:
"Endlessly they filed past. There were whole sections of hospital personnel in white coats, some carrying posters saying ‘Où sont les disparus des hôpitaux?' (‘Where are the missing injured?'). Every factory, every major workplace seemed to be represented. There were numerous groups of railwaymen, postmen, printers, Metro personnel, metal workers, airport workers, market men, electricians, lawyers, sewermen, bank employees, building workers, glass and chemical workers, waiters, municipal employees, painters and decorators, gas workers, shop girls, insurance clerks, road sweepers, film studio operators, busmen, teachers, workers from the new plastic industries, row upon row upon row of them, the flesh and blood of modern capitalist society, an unending mass, a power that could sweep everything before it, if it but decided to do so." (Quoted in Revolutionary Rehearsals, p. 12.)
Sources:
The French Revolution of May 1968, by Alan Woods, May 2nd, 2008.
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