Espana 69 Lutte des Classes

Paris: [Atelier Populaire], 1969. Multi-color screenprint in red, purple and black. 19 x 30 in. Very good. Paper is unevenly torn at top edge, resulting in a portion chipping, not obstructing text or image, and lines from folding. Otherwise a remarkably clean copy. Item #6906

A scarce multi-colored screenprint by French students in solidarity with Spanish anarchists. Calling viewers to a meeting with the Spanish anarchist formation CNT, the graphic declares the movement’s aim to further radicalize the struggle.

The May 1968 uprising was a mass movement that mobilized vast swaths of French society, provoking a national crisis that paralyzed the government and nearly toppled the De Gaulle administration. The most famed uprising of late-60s student radicalism, over 10 million workers took the movement from the fragile hands of the students, resulting in a widespread general strike that the trade unions had thought impossible, the Communist Party absurd, and the De Gaulle government unthinkable.

Atelier Populaire, a workshop of students and teachers from the Ecole des Beaux Arts, clandestinely produced and distributed hundreds of posters to propagandize the movement’s politics and goals. The graphics they produced and covered the streets with created a people’s counternarrative to the disinformation pushed by the reactionary government and media. They are iconic in the canons of protest art and 1960s radicalism.

This particular poster is an important piece and record of international solidarity amongst the radical left. At the time of this poster’s printing, the CNT was in a period of growth as the power of Spain’s fascist regime was in decline.

Price: $500.00