Long live the revolution (, VLR) was a French

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

group which appeared in 1968, led by

Roland Castro Roland Castro (16 October 1940 – 9 March 2023) was a French architect and political activist. Biography Roland Castro was born in Limoges on 16 October 1940. By the end of 1966 he was a member of the editorial committee of ''Melp!'', the Éc ...

and Tiennot Grumbach and founded by 40 people, mostly from the Maoist UJC (ml) and the 22 March Movement of

Nanterre Nanterre (; ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, b ...

. Unlike many revolutionary Marxist-Leninist groups, VLR was distinguished by its festive and libertarian aspect.

History

Founded by Maoist dissidents from the Union of Marxist-Leninist Communist Youth (UJC (ml)) and the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of France (PCMLF), Vive le Communisme (VLC) appeared in October 1968 in the University of Nanterre. In the 1969 French presidential election, VLC called for votes for the candidate of the Revolutionary Communist League, Alain Krivine. In July 1969, VLC changed its name to Vive la révolution (VLR). VLR dissolved itself in April 1971 but ''Tout!'' continued to appear until the July issue.

''Tout!''

In 1970-1971, VLR published ''Tout!'' (), a

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

newspaper with a spontaneist Maoist or even libertarian tendency, under the caption "Ce que nous voulons: tout", ). With 50,000 copies printed, in 1971 the monthly was the most read and the most widely distributed in France among far-left journals.

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

was mentioned on the last page as being the publication director. With a few exceptions, no article was signed, except by initials or first names. The 17 issues published were distinguished by a dominant iconographic part and the abundant use of flat-bottomed "psychedelic" color inks - adopted from the British underground press such as Oz, which, along with '' Actuel'', was a unique case in the anti-commercial press of the time. Editorially, it had a very free and virulent tone. In particular, controversial themes for the time were discussed, including

radical feminism Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other ...

and

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

, as well as many references to the

Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxist–Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, California ...

Notable members

Among its leaders, there was the architect

, the gay militant writer Guy Hocquenghem, the feminist sociologists Nadja Ringart and Françoise Picq (who would participate in the creation of the MLF in 1970), the future diplomat François Bujon de l'Estang, Marc Hatzfeld, the co-author of the '' Black Book of Communism'', Stéphane Courtois, and Jean-Paul Ribes, journalist and future president of the Support Committee for the Tibetan People. Among the occasional cartoonists, there are Georges Wolinski and Siné. In 1971, during the crackdown on a demonstration banned by the prefecture, one of the young VLR activists, Richard Deshayes, who was rescuing a demonstrator on the ground, was blinded and disfigured by a tear gas grenade fired by the special brigades of intervention. The photo of his bloodied face made the headlines of ''Tout!'' and was displayed around France on a poster.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{1968 protests 1968 establishments in France 1971 disestablishments in France Libertarian socialist parties Maoist organizations in France Political parties established in 1968 Political parties disestablished in 1971