The “phenomenon 1968” is usually interpreted as a “social movement.” Until now, workers have only marginally appeared as active subjects in the many publications on “1968” published in the decades following the events. This absence, however, does not match up to the real significance of the “proletarian moment” during this period. Therefore, this article takes different groups of actors into consideration and establishes relations between them: Workers, the New Left and student activists. In so doing, it becomes evident that the worldwide cycle of protest was not limited to the immediate years before and after 1968, but must be considered in a larger time frame lasting from the beginning of the 1960s until around 1976. During this decade many interactions between actors belonging to both the Old as well as the New Left had taken place and a considerable overlap in common points of reference existed.