May 1968 saw France's largest general strike in history, involving ~10 million workers, reshaping labor rights, culture, and politics for decades.
Key Facts
- Workers on strike
- ~10 million (two-thirds of labor force)
- General strike date
- 13 May 1968
- Grenelle agreements
- 27 May 1968 — secured wage increases and concessions
- Election outcome
- De Gaulle's party won resounding victory, 23 June 1968
- De Gaulle resignation
- Resigned the year following the unrest, 1969
- Origin
- Student protests at Paris Nanterre University, late March 1968
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Post-war France experienced rapid modernization but also growing inequality, overcrowded universities, and rigid social norms. By the late 1960s, students frustrated with academic conditions and inspired by Marxist, anarchist, and countercultural ideas increasingly challenged the authority of de Gaulle's Fifth Republic, while workers remained dissatisfied with stagnant wages and poor conditions despite economic growth.
Beginning with student demonstrations at Nanterre in late March 1968, protests escalated after police crackdowns at the Sorbonne. Barricades and street battles culminated on the night of 10 May. By 13 May a general strike had spread nationwide, with approximately 10 million workers halting factories, transport, and public services. De Gaulle briefly fled to a military base in West Germany before returning, dissolving the National Assembly, and calling new elections.
The Grenelle agreements of 27 May delivered wage increases and expanded labor protections. De Gaulle won the June 1968 elections but resigned the following year. The movement spurred greater state investment in education and social policy, strengthened feminist, environmentalist, and LGBTQ activism, and influenced prominent intellectuals including Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard, leaving a durable imprint on French political and cultural discourse.
Political Outcome
General strike ended after Grenelle agreements; de Gaulle's party won June 1968 elections but he resigned in 1969; lasting reforms in labor rights, education, and social policy followed.
De Gaulle's Fifth Republic held firm centralized authority with conservative social order
De Gaulle's authority weakened; he resigned in 1969; progressive social and labor reforms introduced