How can we explain that "revolutionary" ideas became so influential in the years opened by the crisis of May-June 1968 in France? And how do we explain their collapse? Who were the "Marxist intellectuals" in France during the years 1968-1981? And what became of them during the 1980s, traditionally described as the years of "crisis" and the great turnaround? This thesis, which claims to be the social history of political ideas, intends to provide answers to these questions through an investigation based on interviews, archives (of intellectuals, publishers, institutions, and private individuals), the analysis of numerous books, and statistical analysis. More precisely, the choice made was to study mainly three "Marxist" publishers of the period: Maspero, Anthropos, and Éditions Sociales. Taking this as its point of entry to grasp the reality of "revolutionary" intellectual life between the years 1968 and its evolution up to the 1990s, this thesis is interested in the reality of the production of 1700 "Marxist" works, the circulation and reception of "revolutionary" ideas in the years 1968-1981, the sociology of 813 "revolutionary" intellectuals and their modes of engagement. At the same time, by studying the "destiny" of this population of intellectuals during the 1980s, this work provides itself with the means to study in detail the revolutionary futures and "later lives" of the 1968s, that is, the ways in which these ideas and commitments are transformed in the post-1981 period. By holding together these two decades from the same population of 813 "revolutionary" intellectuals, this work contributes to writing a social history of French Marxism.