May 68

Occupy the Odéon


From: the collection of Wally Rosell;
Translated: for Marxists.org by Mitchell Abidor.


After the events of the past few days.

After the police occupation of the Latin Quarter and Nanterre

After the barricades of the night of May 10 and the savage police repression

After the general strike of May 13 and the occupation of the Sorbonne

Tonight, a group of artists and theater people, of students and workers constituted in a Revolutionary Action Committee, after the performance of the Théâtre des Nations [festival], occupied the Théâtre de France-Odéon, symbol of a bourgeois culture they fundamentally contest in the same way as they do capitalist society.

From the beginning of the occupation theater commissions, open to all, were created in order to undertake a labor of reflection on our refusal of the distribution of the spectacle as merchandise and on the possibilities growing out of the newly established situation for developing an art of combat.

This is obviously only the first stage, and we strongly request all professionals of the spectacle, in liaison with the workers and students, to join us and also to take similar initiatives at their own workplaces.

IN ORDER TO CONTINUE THIS MOVEMENT WE CALL ON YOU TO COME TO THIS EVENING MAY 16 AT MIDIGHT AT THE EX-THEATER OF FRANCE.