DBWI: The defeat of the Paris Spring.

Good day dear friends.
As you probably know, on May 3, 1968 students of the Sorbonne staged a mass strike. On the 14th of May the workers joined the students. In early June, the Communists arrested De Gaulle. But what if the revolution failed, that if the demonstration could be dispersed, or if the Gaullists won the elections?
 
Well, considering that the PCF government was deposed in a CIA-backed neo-Fascist coup, maybe a Gaullist France would've been a stabler France.

And, the events of 1968 in Italy and France had the same effect on the reputation of the USA abroad as the events involving Czechoslovakia and Hungary had on the reputation of the USSR; the Non-Aligned movement got a massive boost in prestige after those facts, especially in the Third World. Maybe today's rising power would be a country other than India.
 
Well, the eventual overthrow would still happen. The youth and workers were just to dissatisfied with the Gaullist government. The May 3. strike was just the trigger for the innevitable revolution.

If you want the old government to stay in power, you have to go way back to the late 50s or early 60s. With a stronger centre left 'Socialist Party' that goes for good old Bismarckian crack down pollicies, you could avoid the rise of the new left and in consequence the revolution. Therefore the CIA backed, Neo-Fascist dictatorship that overthrew the PCF government a year later and stayed in power up untill 1978, would be prevented. France would stay more Gaullist and a burgeoisie democracy during the cold war. Its alliance with the US may be more passive. Todays france would be less left leaning, as the modern left trend resulted directly from the 'Summer of Marseille' (when in june of 1978, a general strike that started in Marseille spread to all of france and the military refused to shoot on the worker, which forced the fascist government to abdicate).

Italy is a different story. The Italian revolution was of course inspired by the french one, but they also acted very independent. Its quite possible that the 'Italian October' would still happen in october 1968, and would still be crushed by the CIA and Italian military.

But it could also be butterflyed away, with a weaker new left and the lack of the 'French example'. The links between the Paris May and the Italian October are still debated by historians today, so we dont know for sure.

I think the Cold war would go down mostly like OTL but with the US having an edge in prestige without their analogues to Hungary and Czechoslowakia.
 
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I always wondered if the two party system in the United States would of been maintained if it were not for the spring.The Democrats were torn apart over the suppresion of the spring,with Humphery and Wallace supporting the "Nesscary action to deal with the Communist threat to freedom in France" while Kennedy and Mcgovern deploring the "The supplanting of a violent mob with a undemomcratic junta whos only claim for our affection is that they claim to be anti Communist..". it would sure make for a interesting election in 1968, regardless.
 
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