Of Mountains and Mice: The French Strikes of 1995

From late November 1995 until a few days before Christmas, the workers of France’s public sector occupied center stage. They brought buses and subways in French cities to a halt, cut rail traffic to a trickle, slowed the flow of cars, of the mails and of electricity, organized monster demonstrations twice or more every week, and finally forced Prime Minister Alain Juppé to call a “Social Summit” to deal with their grievances. For many observers, both in France and abroad, this was May ’68 all over again.

Such nostalgic exaggerations should be avoided. The 1995 strikes affected much less French economic activity than did the great 1968 “events.” The private sector remained entirely untouched. Ev...