Il Sessantotto

The year 1968 was the culmination of a crescendo that began in the late 1950s and spread across much of society, particularly in Western societies. It was a long wave that attempted to undermine institutions, culture, and customs, in the spirit of radical change. Among a multiplicity of causes, some factors appear preeminent: the Vietnam War with the refusal of thousands of American students to serve in the military (and the songs that expressed its essence), the anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist struggles in Latin America, with the victorious example of Cuba, the assassination of Ernesto Che Guevara, the pontificate of John XXIII and the launch of the Second Vatican Council, the Chinese Cultural Revolution (although often misunderstood on the basis of scant information), the resurgence of proletarian struggles in the major industrial centers, the success of the ideas of "global protest" derived from the philosophers of the Frankfurt School who emigrated to the USA (Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, Fromm...), the moderate involution of workers' parties and unions. Although France was the epicenter of the most sensational movement (the famous "French May"), in Italy the 1968 movement lasted longer, lasting two years (1968-69), with a fusion, albeit imperfect, of student protests and workers' struggles. The seeds of the great advances of the 1970s were sown (new family law, workers' statute, national health system, and so on); there also arose, in an extremely minority form, instances of radical rejection that included clandestinity and armed struggle, which had negative effects on the movement itself, hastening its demise. #1968 #cuba #ernestochegevara