1968: The Year of Revolt

Events in Czechoslovakia were just one of many upheavals in 1968:

• In Yugoslavia. students marched against authoritarian government.

• In Poland and Northern Ireland, people protested over religious issues.

• In Brazil, marchers demanded improvements in public education and fairer treatment of workers.

• In Japan, students protested both university financial policies and government support for the United States in the war in Vietnam.

In many countries, protests took place on university campuses. Tensions started building up after World War II, when higher education had opened up for more people in Western society and facilities were crowded. As a result, discontent was high among the student population by the 1960s, resulting in a call for university reforms. Student grievances mounted as civil rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights, and the war in Vietnam commanded attention.

France In 1968, the student movement reached epic proportions in Paris, France. Hundreds of thousands of students took to the streets, resulting in violence when police forces moved in. In sympathy, some 10 million French workers went on strike. It was the largest general strike in French history. President Charles de Gaulle called new elections in France and was able to remain in office when his party won.

The United States In the United States, students and others demonstrated for rights for women and African Americans. However, the largest and most heated protests were against the country’s involvement in the war in Vietnam. After members of the Ohio National Guard killed four unarmed students during an antiwar demonstration at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, students and faculty at hundreds of U.S. colleges and universities went on strike.