Poster - Greve Illimitee, Cliches Union Mai 1968

Unlimited Strikes, Clichés Union May 1968 by Atelier Populaire (Popular Workshop).

Three figures walk arm in arm, representing the students, union members and factory workers who joined together in protest. 

The Atelier Populaire (People’s Workshop) was established on 14 May when a group of art students occupied the Ecole des Beaux Arts (School of Fine Arts) and decided to use their skills to create posters in support of the uprising. They agreed to maintain anonymity – as a rejection of the bourgeois cult of the artist and to reinforce the idea that art served the purpose of the revolution not the personal fame of the artists or the art market.

The first posters were lithographs – which is quite a time-consuming process, but a couple of silk screen printers lent them their equipment and taught them how to use it: how to cut stencils, use photography in the process, and clean the screens after use. They were soon able to knock out 2,000 posters a day. Paper and inks came from striking newspapers and print shops. Posters were put up at night by Action Committees and distributed to striking workers to share on the pickets and in the occupied factories.

Workers and students came to the Atelier with ideas for poster designs and they would be discussed in the context of the day’s events in a General Assembly. Decisions were made based on their political value rather than aesthetic: was the political idea correct?; and did the design communicate the idea well?.

The Atelier was raided by the police on 27 June, but the artists were able to just walk out peacefully, carrying their equipment. For a while they continued creating posters. In the immediate aftermath of the raid, they produced a poster with the words: “La Police s’affiche aux Beaux Arts, Les Beaux Arts affichent dans la rue” (The police post themselves at the School of Fine Arts, the Fine Arts students poster the streets).

This is a digitally cleaned up print. The size is A3 (approx. 11.7" x 16.5") and is printed on good quality 170gm poster paper.

Printed by the Radical Poster Collective, UK

The Radical Poster Collective is dedicated to making good quality classic radical posters available at an affordable price. Posters are either digitally cleaned up to remove tears, stains, etc., or completely recreated to be as close as possible to the original.