ABSTRACT
The revolutionary left has always abhorred police, as undisputedly established. However, two fundamental aspects of this phenomenon have been overlooked. First, the revulsion for police was not always related to police ruthless behavior. As Kristin Ross (2002: 27–29) noted with regards to 1968 in Paris, even before the nightsticks started to swing, police often played a “catalytic role.” Just the sight of policemen in the streets engendered visceral reactions and conditioned responses. The mere presence of police, even in the absence of a punitive intervention, served to “politicize situations” and radicalize militants. Second, although the styles of protest policing and the features of the leftist movements varied considerably across different countries, militant descriptions of repression shared many topoi and similar narratives.
