In ‘68,
France faced “ . . . a growing student revolt, the emergence of working-class strikes, and organized opposition from the powerful unions, . . . . . rising Communist Party agitation within Parliament . . . ”
https://www.dhr.history.vt.edu/modules/eu/mod05_1968/evidence_detail_08.html
On May 24,
Charles de Gaulle called for a national referendum.
On May 27, 1968, after the unions turned down a potential deal, he cancelled that referendum and
dissolved Parliament. He “asked citizens to oppose the threat of totalitarian dictatorship posed by the students and the French Communist Party. The address was followed by a large anti-Communist rally in central Paris.”
“Although the strikes continued well into June, they transformed from revolutionary insurrection into negotiated settlements over wages and benefits. The reinvigorated forces of law and order soon crushed all that remained of the student revolt.”
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Philosopher Jeremy Bentham once said, wars and storms are best to read of, but peace and calms are best to actually live through! (my paraphrase)
Yes, a boring 1968 probably would have been better.