Summer 2018 issue of Existence, Czech-Slovak anarchist review

The summer issue of the anarchist review Existence is dedicated to the
50th anniversary of the revolutionary events of 1968. Traditionally, in
the Czech Republic this year is remembered in connection with the
invasion of the Warsaw Pact armies; little attention, however, is given
to what preceded this invasion, what the reform process was all about
and what were the consequences of the fact that it was actually a reform
from above. The year 1968 shook the whole world; therefore, it would be
a pity not to use this round anniversary to take a look at the events of
that period. It is an opportunity to find out what was going on in other
countries and what was the long-term impact of these events, whether
seen from the perspective of social transformation, the development of
social movements and the effect they had on the anarchist theory and
practice.

We introduce the topic by presenting a brief chronological survey of the
main events that occurred in 1968 and before. The piece by V. Damier
deals with the question of how the movement of the 1960s actually came
about and how it changed shape in the following decades. An insight into
what was going on in France is provided by an interview of J.-P. Sartre
with the anarchist D. Cohn-Bendit which was published in May 1968, i.e.
at the very moment of the clashes between radical students and the state
authority. The precarious situation in which the French anarchist
movement was stranded following the quarrels of the 1950s, as well as
its role in the May events of 1968, is the topic of the chapter selected
from a historical work by French anarchist A. Skirda. It also deals with
how the May events affected the movement afterwards. And the members of the Anarchist Federation who made a trip to Paris on this year’s May Day
will tell us about how the French capital remembers these fifty-year old
events these days. Furthermore, you can read an optimistic article by P.
Ryabov about the evolution of the anarchist movement after 1968, a
report about the protests in Poland, then governed by the Polish United
Workers’ Party, and an essay by the historian and political scientist A.
Gilly about the violent suppression of student strifes in Mexico. The
Czechoslovak experience is captured by P. Heumos’s study about the
activities of working people in factories and a contemporary article by
the Situationist International about the Prague Spring 1968.

As the main topic occupies much of the issue, there is only place left
for a retrospective text about the roots of the Makhnovist movement in
Ukraine which, rather than being initiated by Nestor Makhno himself, was
the product of a long-lasting struggle against the Tsarist autocracy and
the power of local landowners. The Anarchist Federation reports about
its Spring congress, the meeting with the representatives of affiliated
federations in Athens and new books prepared by our publishing house for
this year’s Anarchist Book Festival. This event is also covered by a
long reportage; other texts deal with this year’s May Day celebration
and other campaigns of the antiauthoritarian movement, especially the
blockade of the Bílina mine which took place within the purview of
Klimakemp 2018. To conclude, you can read texts published in the wall
newspaper A3, as well as reviews.

Link to above summary on website of Czech-Slovak Anarchistická Federace (AF) https://www.afed.cz/text/6871/existence-2-2018

Link to issue in Czech and download of full paper: Existence č. 2/2018: Rok 1968

Letní číslo anarchistické revue Existence se obsáhle věnuje bouřlivému roku 1968.