It's going to be a mess and I can only see Sarkozy and Le Pen as winners. After all, the only winner of May'68 was De Gaulle when all was said an done.
May 1968
On 29 May several hundred thousand protesters led by the CGT marched through Paris, chanting, "Adieu, de Gaulle!" While the government appeared to be close to collapse, de Gaulle chose not to say adieu. Instead, after ensuring that he had sufficient loyal military units mobilized to back him if push came to shove, he went on the radio the following day (the national television service was on strike) to announce the dissolution of the National Assembly, with elections to follow on 23 June. He ordered workers to return to work, threatening to institute a state of emergency if they did not. The Events of June From that point the revolutionary feeling of the students and workers faded away. Workers gradually returned to work or were ousted from their plants by the police. The national student union called off street demonstrations. The government banned a number of left organizations. The police retook the Sorbonne on 16 June. De Gaulle triumphed in the elections held in June and the crisis had ended.
While the government appeared to be close to collapse, de Gaulle chose not to say adieu. Instead, after ensuring that he had sufficient loyal military units mobilized to back him if push came to shove, he went on the radio the following day (the national television service was on strike) to announce the dissolution of the National Assembly, with elections to follow on 23 June. He ordered workers to return to work, threatening to institute a state of emergency if they did not.
The Events of June
From that point the revolutionary feeling of the students and workers faded away. Workers gradually returned to work or were ousted from their plants by the police. The national student union called off street demonstrations. The government banned a number of left organizations. The police retook the Sorbonne on 16 June. De Gaulle triumphed in the elections held in June and the crisis had ended.
Notice how quiet Le Pen is being? You know he's enjoying every minute of this and waiting to cash in. For the next presidential elections, expect something like "you tried Le Pen "light" and got 11(15, 20... ?) days of intifada, it's time to vote for the real thing".
The socialists need to get their act together yesterday. Get a game plan, and more importantly get a good candidate. Leave Jospin in the mothballs where he belongs, he had his chance and got whipped...twice, didn't make to the second round last time. He can't convince the, admittedly unruly, French left to vote for him, end of story (he probably couldn't convince a drunk to have another whisky, that's the kind of charisma we're talking about). Get someone quickly (Royal? Strauss-Kahn? Hollande?...), back them fully and give them good exposure. Can it happen? Don't hold your breath.
