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Interview with Olivier Rolin

Version 2 2021-03-11, 09:45
Version 1 2021-02-09, 14:00
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posted on 2021-03-11, 09:45 authored by Robert GildeaRobert Gildea
Rolin, Olivier
Vietnam War/ Union des Jeunesses Communistes (marxistes-léninistes)/Flins/ Gauche Prolétarienne/Nouvelle Résistance Populaire/Solidarity

Family
Born 17 May 1947, Boulogne-Billancourt. Father military doctor, joined De Gaulle’s Free French, postwar colonial civil servant and diplomat, but rather anti-militaristic/colonialist.

Education
Lycée Louis le Grand, Paris and École Normale Supérieure (1967)

Political Apprenticeship
Through opposition to the Vietnam War. Joined Union des Jeunesses Communistes (marxistes-léninistes), UJC (ml) 1966, while at Lycée.

1968
Active defending workers on strike at Flins June 1968.

Post 1968
Joined Gauche Prolétarienne and ran its military wing, the Nouvelle Résistance Populaire. Lived with ‘Chloe’ (Eve) while in GP.
Casual work in 1970s – translating for Mellon foundation, driving lorries, till found job at Le Seuil 1979. Published novels with Seuil from 1983.
Took supplies to Poland at time of Solidarity.

Publications
self-criticism for use of violence under pseudonym Antoine Liniers, ‘Objections contre une prise d'armes’ in François Furet, Antoine Liniers & Philippe Raynaud, Terrorisme et démocratie (Fayard, 1986).

Funding

Around 1968: Activism, Networks, Trajectories

Arts and Humanities Research Council

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History

Date of interview

2007-05-04

Place of interview

Paris

Name of activist

Olivier Rolin

Activist date of birth

1947-05-17

Activist Gender

  • Male

Activist nationality

French

Name of interviewer

Robert Gildea

Name of transcriber

Alice Moscaritolo