The Other Europe’s 1968
Throughout the West, the spring of 1968 was marked by student protests against the Vietnam War and the counterculture's revolt against capitalist consumer societies. But Eastern Europe, too, witnessed a wave of anti-establishment demonstrations, with stakes that were far higher for the participants.
WARSAW – In Paris, West Berlin, London, and Rome, the spring of 1968 was marked by student protests against the Vietnam War. In Warsaw, too, students were protesting, but their cause was not the same as their Western counterparts. Young Poles took to the streets of Warsaw not to chant “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh” in solidarity with the Viet Cong, but rather to defend their own country’s freedom and culture against a smothering Communist rule.
WARSAW – In Paris, West Berlin, London, and Rome, the spring of 1968 was marked by student protests against the Vietnam War. In Warsaw, too, students were protesting, but their cause was not the same as their Western counterparts. Young Poles took to the streets of Warsaw not to chant “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh” in solidarity with the Viet Cong, but rather to defend their own country’s freedom and culture against a smothering Communist rule.