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Abstract. The events of May-June 1968 in France caused an outburst of popularity of revolutionary theories and slogans among contemporaries. This process partly touched on the big political discussions. Shortly after the May events, however, supporters of radical left-wing ideas disappeared from the political scene. This article considers the process of the decline in the relevance of revolutionary slogans after 1968 on the example of a major French politician Michel Rocard. A few years after the May events, the future French Prime Minister switched from a “revolutionary” to a “social democratic” position. Shortly Rocar went from the leader of the left-wing radical organization to the activist of the reformist parliamentary party. Most of the research on this turnaround in Rocar’s career was built around deciphering “real” personal views, as well as personal circumstances and hidden career ambitions. The author of this article, on the contrary, remains within the substantive framework of Rokar’s statements and tries to reconstruct the sequence of political-theoretical constructions, which one of the future leaders of the French left-wing forces used to publicly justify the departure from the May slogans. The author demonstrates that the gradual rejection of revolutionary rhetoric was preceded by sharp changes in the assessment of the country’s political institutions.
Keywords: Michel Rocard, May 68, The events of May 1968 in France, Revolution, Social Democracy, Socialist Party, Unified Socialist Party.