L'Internationale Situationniste, Socialisme ou Barbarie, and the Crisis of the Marxist

Imaginary
Author(s): Stephen Hastings-King
Source: SubStance, Vol. 28, No. 3, Issue 90: Special Issue: Guy Debord (1999), pp. 26-54
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L'Internationale
Situationniste,
ou Barbarie,
Socialisme and theCrisis
oftheMarxistImaginary

StephenHastings-King

The Situationniste Internationale was a small transnationalgroup of

artist-revolutionaries thatcameoutoftheneo-DadaistLettriste movement.'
In Paris,Guy Debord and a small,changingcastoffriendsand supporting
characters2 trackedthroughtheParisianculturaland politicalunderground
along pathlaidearlierbytheSurrealists.3
the Skilledas provocateurs,anxious
to abandon theconstraints of artisticproductionand to acquire legitimacy
as revolutionaries, Debordand hisfriendsalmostimmediately begantolook
to thejournalSocialisme ou Barbarie,editedby thegroupofthe same name
led by CorneliusCastoriadis.4
SB is a crucial,thoughlittlediscussed,referent in theevolutionofGuy
Debord. The relationshipwas centralforDebord, and worked on several
levels.AftermonthsofdiscussionwithSB militants, Debordjoinedthegroup
for a few monthsduring 1960-1961.The mergerwas inconclusive and
strained.However,in thepages ofthejournalL'Internationale Situationniste,
SB played an importantrole as the symbol of the "new revolutionary
movement"with which Debord increasinglyidentified.Initially,SB was
simplypartofthepoliticallandscape.However,once Debordbecamemore
involved,SB becamemuchmorecentral,and the"Situ"journalmuchmore
deferential towardtheoldergroup.Debord was a sympathetic observerof
SB, and his accountsformone ofthefewviews ofthegroupfroman outside
perspective.SB functionsas an ArchimedeanpointaroundwhichtheSitus
triedtopivotfromartand culturaldissentintorevolutionary politics.When
SB explodedin 1963and Castoriadisbegantopublishhislongtext"Marxisme
et la th6orier6volutionnaire"-inwhichhe arguesthat"it has come to the
pointwhereone can eitherbe Marxistor a revolutionary"-Debord began
a sustainedattemptto excludeSB fromtherevolutionary movementand to
usurp its role in a new revolutionary vanguard. Elements of SB's

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CrisisoftheMarxist
Imaginary 27

revolutionaryprojectwerecentralcomponentsinDebord'scollageapproach
toMarxismand culturalcritiqueas deployedinthe1967Society oftheSpectacle
and as dismantledin the1975filmofthesame name.Debord's use ofSB is
curiousforitsexternalviewpoint.He maps SB's notionsofthehistoryofthe
workers' movement,bureaucratic capitalism and socialism as direct
democracyontoa Marxistframework closerto Lukacs and Althusserin its
abstractrelationto theworkingclass and revolution.In thispaper,I argue
thatDebord's reversiontodialecticalMarxismis a responsetotheimplosion
of SB. Debord's collage approach to revolutionarypolitics makes him
interestingas an actorwithinand symptomof the crisis of the Marxist
Imaginary.

SB and the MarxistImaginary

When the SituationisteInternationale began to publish its journal in

1958and topositionitselfon thefringesoftheParisianculturaland political
underground, Socialismeou Barbariewas regardedas themost"proletarian"
and sophisticatedof revolutionary Marxistorganizations.The groupwas
founded by Castoriadis,Claude Lefortand a circleof less well-known
militants as an oppositionaltendency withintheTrotskyist PartiCommuniste
Internationaliste (PCI) in1946. The Chaulieu-Montal Tendency,as it was
known, broke with the PCI in 1948 over the problemof interpreting the
SovietUnion. Between1948 and 1956,SB developed a variantof Marxist
revolutionary theorynotableforitssweep and attentionto thesituationof
the working class, then undergoing radical change through the
implementationof Fordism and the crisis of Stalinism. By 1958, SB's
revolutionary projecthad becomea primaryreference-point fornew radical
organizations that were emerging in the space created by the intensification
oftheAlgerianWarand theretreat intoself-isolation ofthePartiCommuniste
Franqais.SB's projectwas builtaroundextendedinterpretations ofworking-
class actionssince1953and seemedconfirmed bytheHungarianRevolution
of October-November,1956. SB defined the termsin which these new
organizations understoodtheirsituation. Thefollowing is a cursoryoverview
ofthenotionoftheMarxistImaginary, thesocial-imaginary formationthat
shaped how SB articulateditselfand its object,its entryinto a protracted
crisisand theroleplayed in thisby theHungarianRevolution.
The centralelementsofrevolutionary theory, or ofanyvisionofsociety
in
(and this,revolutionary theory is no more or less a fantasythananyother),
arewhatCorneliusCastoriadishas called "social-imaginary significations."
These are the productof intellectuallabor expended upon social spaces,
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28 Hastings-King
Stephen

shapingdefinitions oftheworld,itshistory, thepossibilitiesofchangeand

modes available forpoliticalentitiesto shape or participatein thatchange.
Social-imaginary significationsstructure representational, intentionaland
affectiverelationsto thesocial-historical.5
The post-warFrenchLeftwas dominatedby the Parti Communiste
Frangaisand itstrade-unionally,theConf6deration G6neraledu Travail.It
and was, in turn,shaped by it.The PCF-CGTsystemagitatedwithprimary
reference to a working-class constituency: italso exertedan enormouspull
overthepara-academicurbanculturewithinwhichcirculatedmostdissident
Parisianstudentsand intellectualworkers(Badie, 1977). The systemwas
opposed to itsLeftby a seriesofsmallmilitantorganizationsthatoperated
in a nebulous culturalenvironmentthatPierreBourdieu has called the
"delimited field of ideological production."6 These organizationswere
comprisedof"specialistsinideologicalproduction" who,lackingthematerial
resourcesofthePCF-CGTsystem,workedtofashionpositionswithspecific
reference to thetextualtraditionat thecoreoftheMarxistImaginary.
All hereticalprojectshad to work throughMarxistsignifications as
shaped by the dominant PCF-CGT position. They also had to position
themselveshorizontally-withrespectto each other-and vertically-with
respecttoan imaginedversionoftherevolutionary workingclass.In postwar
Marxism,theparadigmforsuchheresywas Trotsky, who arguedthatStalin
represented the bureaucratization of the Russian Revolution and was
therefore notLenin'slegitimate heir.ForTrotsky, theultimatedemonstration
ofhis claimswould come witha second proletarianrevolution.Led by the
"real" revolutionaryvanguard and mobilizingthe "real" proletariat,the
second revolutionwould sweep away Stalinismand institutein itsplace a
moreradical socialism.Most revolutionary groupsappropriatedversions
of thisnarrativeto emplotthemselvesand theirvision of the Imaginary.
Centralto all versionswas a relationto theworkingclass. The construction
of a representation of the "real" proletariat was a fundamentalelementin
collectiveself-fashioningforrevolutionary organizations:thisrepresentation
gave coherence to intentionalrelations-to-the-world, which in turnenabled
individualmilitants and workerstomap affect ontoa visionofrevolutionary
social change.7
PCF-CGTdominanceoverthedelimitedfieldand itsimaginedworking
class made itselfevident in the fashioningof historiesof the workers'
movementin general.ThePCF-CGTsystemlegitimated itselfand itspolitical
actionsin the presentwithreference to a narrativeof the past. Therefore,
anycounter-claim necessarilyinvolvedtheproductionofa counter-history.
These counter-histories were oftenfashionedthroughthelens ofdogmatic
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CrisisoftheMarxist
Imaginary 29

Marxism,which caused themto reproducethe same self-referential, self-

legitimatingcharacteras could be seen in thePCF-CGT.The effectwas to
rendertranscendent categories,whichin turn
Marx'shistorical-materialist
led to conceptualand politicalclosureand stasis. By the mid-1950s,this
conceptualstasiswas generalizedamongthefragments oftherevolutionary
opposition.
Socialismeou Barbariewas an exception.Turningthe same heretical
patternon the hereticsthemselves,SB announceditselfin 1948 with the
slogan: "Withoutdevelopmentof revolutionary theory,[therecan be] no
developmentofrevolutionary action."The groupbet thaticonoclasmwith
respect to institutedMarxism could be justified by their analysis of
contemporary capitalism.From1948to1957,thisgamblepaid offinisolation.
SB's situationchangedquicklyand dramatically as a resultoftheHungarian
Revolution.In a mediacontextdominatedbyparalysis,SB publishedClaude
Lefort'spamphlet"L'insurrection hongroise"withinweeks of the events.
Written quickly and publishedalong witha highlypolemicalattackon the
PCF, it was the first
coherent readingto appear on theParisianscene.'
The pamphlet'sgeneralline is thatHungaryexperienceda real social
revolution.Thisrevolutionalreadyrequireda totalsocialcrisis.Such a crisis
was simplerto thinkabout in theEasterncontextthanit was in theWest,
because thestatesin eachwerequitedifferent. Lefortarguedthecentraland
mostrevolutionary featureoftherevoltwas theroleofthefactory workers,
who began almost immediatelyto set up direct-democratic councils to
administereverydaylife.Hungarybecamea direct-democratic societyfora
couple ofweeks: thiswas, forSB,proof thatitsvision ofsocialism was viable
and an occasionto extendand refinethinking about thatvision.
Lefort'sanalysisdrewuponSB's broaderanalyticframework. Thegroup
its
developed revolutionary theoryalong negative/ critical
and positive/
revolutionaryaxes. The formerwas built around a sweeping critiqueof
contemporary social,economicand politicalorganizationsand ideologies.
Modern capitalism,SB argued, should be seen as a new type of socio-
economicformation, thedefining featuresofwhichcouldbe seeninindustry
in the separationof ownershipfrommanagementand the rise of mass
production. Thisnew formwas bureaucratic capitalism,whichwas instituted
in "centralized" and "fragmented" forms in the East and the West
respectively. Followingthe"stringofbureaucracy," SB extendedtheircritique
to encompassmostaspectsofFordistculture.'
SB saw the HungarianRevolutionas the culminationof a mounting
wave ofautonomousworkeractionsthathad begunsoon afterStalin'sdeath

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30 Stephen
Hastings-King

in 1953.In themonthsfollowingHungary,buildingoffof Lefort'sreading

oftherevolt,Castoriadistriedtoformalizetheimplications ofthisrevolution
by an extendedconsiderationofdirect-democratic society("Sur le contenu
du socialismeII") and itslinksto everydayconflictin thefactories("Sur le
contenudu socialismeIII").
This optimisticnarrativewas centralto the pamphlet and to the
theorizingaboutrevolutionin thepages ofSB during1957-1958.Itwas not,
however,theonlyway thatthejournalnarratedeventsin Hungary.Daniel
Moth6'sautobiographicalaccountstolda ratherdifferent storyofthecrisis
as it played out at Renault'sBillancourtfactory. Ratherthan a period of
increasedrevolutionary Mothedescribeda collapseofMarxism
possibilities,
as social-imaginary significationthathad enabled individualworkersto
articulatethemselves, butas partofa classwitha revolutionary telos,and to
act upon thatidentification.10
Thedoublenarrative mirrored boththepoliticalsituationand thenature
oftheSB readership.SB constructed itselfand itsjournalaroundan ongoing
(thoughlargelyimaginary/problematic)dialogue withtheworkeravant-
garde.The journalis a kindof textualcollage.At its centerwere textslike
thoseby Moth6,writtenby workersabout theirown experience.Around
thisimage was constructedanother,of the workeravant-gardein action
throughstrikereportsand analyses. Situatingthese was a broad critical
theorypredicated on a close engagementwith Marxism and with the
conditionsparticularto bureaucraticcapitalism.These ringsof textwere
supplemented with more self-criticalwritings about the nature of
revolutionary organization and theory.Verylittleinformation appearedabout
the actual lifeof SB as a group.Readerswere invitedto engage withthe
elementsofthiscollage,whichresolvedthroughtheprocessofreadinginto
a compleximage oftherevolutionary workingclass.
The relationofthesignifiersthatmade up thiscollagetotheirempirical
referent was problematic.SB collectivelymisrecognizedthespecificity and
complexity of thenarrative viewpointaroundwhichtheyhoped would be
elaborated accounts of worker experience." SB readershipwas, more
a reflection
logically, ofthegroupitself:educated,urbanand Marxist,whose
relationto the workingclass was a combinationof fascination(following
fromtheaxiomsofMarxistrevolutionary theory)and distance(as a function
ofthenatureofFrenchsocial geography).SB's workingclass was therefore
a text-generated signifiedand the centralsocial-imaginarysignification
aroundwhichSB and itsjournalwereordered.Definitions ofpoliticalaction
and roles were predicatedon a relationto thissignifiedand its practical

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CrisisoftheMarxist
Imaginary 31

activity.Broaderoppositionalattitudeswerestructured and legitimated with

reference to it.The imageofproletariat was thecentralmaterialupon which
the revolutionarymovementexpended intellectuallabor. If Moth'-the
"Worker"in SB's internalworld-described a situationnot particularto
Billancourt, butone thatcouldbe generalizedtotheworkingclassas a whole,
thenthecrisisoftheMarxistImaginaryhad alreadyentereditsfirstphase.
In the period after1956, the pages of SB were dominated by the
optimisticreading of Hungary and the possibilities for revolution it
presented. This reading was important for the newly constituted
revolutionary Leftbecause it enabled themto extractthe centralMarxist
categoriesout fromunderStalinism,and use themto constructa general
orientationfortheiranti-waractivities.The politicalsituationgrewmore
ambiguousafterMay 1958.Charlesde Gaulle effectively stageda coupd'etat
in May 1958to end a near-civilwar in Francethatwas drivenby a cadreof
ultra-right-wing paratroopersinAlgeria.Accordingto theTrotskyist theory
ofhow revolutionshappen,socialcrisisresultedin dual powerthatbecame
civilwar and thenrevolution(ifpoliticalconditionswereripe,ofcourse.)
TheeventsofMay shouldhavebeenthe signalforworking-class action.
But the workers did not act: they even supported the FifthRepublic
Constitution when itwas placed beforetheelectoratein September.At this
point, various people in theLeftOppositionbegan to ask whethertherehad
been some kindofbasic changein thesituationoftheworkingclass,and if
thischangerequireda reconsideration oftraditional Marxistcategoriesand
politics. In the past, this kind of issue had often led militantsto thinktheir
way out of politics- which leftthe general situation unchanged.Thistime,
the
however, question would not go away and the debate around it is the
firstroundin a longseriesthatmarkthehistoryofthecollapseoftheMarxist
Imaginaryat thelevel ofpoliticalorganization.
ThiscrisisoftheMarxistImaginaryshouldnotbe understoodin overly
teleological terms.Because of the intensityand complexityof affective
investments, itwas confronted onlygradually.Whenthecrisiswas engaged
directly, the result was usuallytraumatic. SB was amongthefewgroupsto
try to confront it but
directly, notuntil 1963.During1957and 1958,thegroup
had feverishly triedtopublishthejournalon a regularbasis in ordertotake
advantage of theirnewfoundvisibility.These effortsexacerbatedlong-
runningfinancialand organizationalproblems.By thesummerof 1958,SB
collapsed intoitself,as a disputeoverhow to reorganizethegroupin order
to rationalizetheproductionof thejournalbecame a fightover theroleof
bureaucracyin the revolutionary movement.This dispute promptedthe

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32 StephenHastings-King

departureof the moreanarchistmembersof SB, includingClaude Lefort

and Henri Simon.It was clear to all, however,thatthisdisputecoincided
withtheemergenceofquestionsaboutthepoliticalroleoftheworkingclass.
As a result,everybodyinvolvedunderstoodthemselvesin symptomatic
termsas indicativeoftheneed fora new typeofrevolutionary politicsand
a new typeofrevolutionary organization.

PublicationWars: IS and SB

During the fall of 1959,Debord and his comrades were filmingthe

"psychogeographical experiments" in Les Halles thatbecame thebasis for
"Sur le passage de quelques personnesa traversune assez courteunitdde
temps"(Debord 1978).The thirdissue of L'Internationale Situationniste
had
a
just appeared; copy of it reachedDaniel a
Blanchard, university student
and memberofSB since1957:

Therearemoments in one'sexistence thatstandout,as ifofa moresolid

texture,drawninstronger lines[that]contrastwiththefuzzinessand [...]
ambiguity oftherestoflife.And theyreallyarechargedwithobjective
meaning, impartedbya movement ofa sortofhistoricoverdetermination.
Often,thatspecialqualityonlyrevealsitself butsometimes,
retrospectively,
too,itis perceivedimmediately. Thatis whatI experienced on theday,in
theautumn1959,whenI firstglancedthroughan issue-number3, I
think-oftheIS. At thetime,I participated in the Socialisme
ou Barbarie
group[...]Thatday,as a fewofus weregoingthrough theweeklymail,
myeyewasattracted bythatsleek,elegant withitsscintillating
publication,
coverandincredible I tookholdofitandimmediately
title. begantoexplore
whatI graduallycameto see as a newfoundland ofmodernity, bizarre
butfascinating.12

Blanchard'srelationshipwithDebord holds a particularplace in the

former's affective
world,as a kindofsustainedbrushwithstardom.Moments
in the relationshipseem etchedon his mind:the packagingof the IS, for
example,and theimpressionitmade on him.Everything about thejournal
markeditas different frommostrevolutionary publications.The cover,title,
typeset and paper were all unusual. The layoutwas brokenup by untitled
photographsofpeople, clippedadvertisements forautomobilesor fall-out
shelters,examplesofditournement doneon "Terryand thePirates"and other
comics.Thejournalpresenteditselfas a kindofpoliticizedPop Artartifact.
Socialismeou Barbarieopted fora verytraditionalprintedself-presentation.
Tractsand PouvoirOuvrier weredesignedtoreacha working-class audience,
and retainedthe traditionallook of militantpublications:cheap paper,
typescripttextreproducedon mimeographorroneotype, primitive orhand-

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Crisisof theMarxistImaginary 33

drawngraphics,whenanywereused. Themainjournal,SB,was also austere,

withitsred,whiteand blackcovers,simpletypesets, moderate-grade paper,
and lack ofillustrations. Two differentnotionsofhow to presenttheavant-
garde:one as proletarian,"authentic,"tied to workertraditions;theother
self-consciously breakingwiththesesame audiencesand traditions.
WhileIS looked likenothingelse,mostofthearticleswere attemptsto
work throughways of framingproblemsof culture,art and revolution
inherited fromSurrealism. Situationistpolitics were, and remained,
predicatedon subjectiveexperienceelevated to a trans-subjective level
through variations on the traditionalnotion of the Artist.This was
complicatedby Debord's suspicionofrepresentation and itsfunctionin the
contextof the spectacle,which promptedhim to fashionforhimselfan
inversionofthisartistrole.Subjectivismwas consistentwithDebord's use
ofeverydayexperienceas a pointofdepartureforthinking aboutalienation.
This approach both opened up and limitedhis access to the terrainof
revolutionary politics.In 1959,however,thejournal'spackagingand concerns
suggested that the IS was "new" and "radical," and convinced Daniel
Blanchardthatitwas developingin parallelto SB.
In principle,SB and Debord/ISwerekindredgroups,and thetimingof
theirencounterfortuitous.However,the timingwas off.As the IS was
workingto articulatea positionforitselfat theedge ofa new culturaland
politicalavant-garde,SB was grapplingwitha majorinternalchallengeto
the premisesupon which its revolutionary projecthad been constructed.
Castoriadis'stext"Modern Capitalismand Revolution"'3argued thatthe
Gaullisttransformation of Franceintoa Fordiststatehad eliminatedmost
non-manageablestructural contradictions.The changesin theorganization
of the State and its relationto European financialstructuresbuilt on the
effectsfortheworkingclass oftheFordistassimilationofthetrade-unions
intotheindustrialstatusquo, theweightofStalinismon Marxistdiscourse,
and theimportation ofmass-consumer culture.Implyingthattherehad been
a suddenextensionofassembly-line productiontechniquesintosemi-skilled
industrialsectors(whichis notempirically thecase) Castoriadischaracterized
theoutcomeof thiscombinationof factorsas a politicaldestructuration of
theproletariat.In Marxistterminology, theworkingclasshad regressedfrom
being a class foritselfto a class in itself.As such, it was not capable of
producingthepatternsof socializationupon whichrestedSB's notionsof
revolutionand socialism, and theirself-conceptionas a revolutionary
organization.

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34 Hastings-King
Stephen

Castoriadis arguedthatthecrisisoftheproletariatdid not mean that

had beeneliminatedforrevolutionary
all possibilities action.Fordistattempts
to disempower politics in general and manage the population through
consumption norms, paradoxically generalized the strugglebetween
dirigeantsand exdcutants, which had been most evident at the point of
production.The result was a multiplicationof sources forpotentially
significant conflict.This combinationofargumentsenabled SB to continue
to use schematadeveloped throughthe analysis of the workingclass to
comprehendthese conflicts.However,the challengeto thismostbasic of
signifiersmade thegroup'srelationship to itmorerigid.
Destructuration posed moreproblemsforSB. Theyhad to be able to
theorizesocial conflictsoriginating fromany numberof potentialsources,
and devise ways forthe revolutionary movementto assume a role in the
of
production significations of
(types hierarchy, modes ofself-organization,
ways of thinkingabout thesepatternsin a self-conscious manner)-a role
SB had assigned to theworkeravant-garde.It was not clear exactlywhat
thiswould entail.At thelevel oftheory, however,thispositionshouldhave
opened theway forsocial critique.Revolutionarytheorycould no longer
simplydismissthe dominantcultureas radicallyfalse;instead,it had to
workout linksto social,politicaland artisticmovementsand actionsthat
originatedfromwithin,and in oppositionto,thedominantculture.14This
was alreadytheSituationist bailiwick.In practice,
however,mostSB militants
continuedto act as before.Most stillconsideredrevolutionary politicsto
centeron interaction withtheworkingclass.'5

SB-IS Liaison: "Preliminariesto Define the Unityof the

RevolutionaryAgenda"

In principle,therefore,theinteraction ofSB and theSituationists

could
have been usefulforbothgroups.Blanchardhad long talkswithDebord in
bistros,and duringendlessroamingthroughthecity.The main resultwas
Blanchard'sparticipationin the filmingof On thePassageofa Few People
througha RatherBriefUnit of Time,and a jointly-written tractentitled
"Preliminaire pour une d6finitionde l'unite du programme r6volu-
tionnaire."16This documentis interesting in thedevelopmentofthenotion
of the spectacle as the translationinto culturaltermsof the division of
intellectual
laborcharacteristic
ofbureaucratic capitalism(betweendirigeants
and exdcutants).The dominant culture is also racked by the central
contradiction ofthatsystem:

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CrisisoftheMarxist
Imaginary 35

The mechanismof culturalconstitutionthus relies upon a

reification
ofhumanactivities, whichassuresthefixing ofthelivingand
itstransmissionalongthemodelofthetransmission ofmerchandise, and
whichenforces thedomination ofthepastoverthefuture.
Such a culturalfunctioning entersintocontradiction withthe
constantimperative of capitalism,whichis to obtaintheadherenceof
peopleand to constantly solicittheircreativeactivity
withinthenarrow
confinesin whichtheyareimprisoned. In sum,thecapitalist orderonly
liveson thecondition thatitceaselessly
projectsbeforeitselfa newpast.
("Prenliminaires"
? 2).17

The firstparagraphoutlinesa definition ofthespectacleas a systemof

socialorganization rootedin a generalizedcommodity fetishism.
Thesecond
connectsthisto a generalizationof the dirigeant/executant distinction.
The
effectis a disempowermentof desire, crucial to the maintenanceand
reinforcement ofthespectacle:"Capitalistconsumption imposesa movement
ofthereductionof desiresby theregularity withwhichartificial needs are
satisfied,whichremainneeds withouteverhavingbeen desires;authentic
desires are constrained to remain at the level of non-realization (or
compensatedin theformofspectacles)."("Preliminaires"? 6)
"Prdliminaires..." is in twoparts.The first,
"Le capitalisme:socidtdsans
culture"appears to have been written by Debord; thesecond,"La politique
rdvolutionnaire et la culture,"by Blanchard.In such a documentproduced
throughdialogue,one would expectsome migrationof rhetoric.Debord's
sectionrevealsa tentativeassimilationof key SB concepts,particularlyin
thereworkingofthenotionofthespectacle.ThatofBlanchard,on theother
hand, is moreclosed-off, and is a resumeof SB's pre-1959position.'8The
juxtaposition indicates the complementarityof the projects, and the
incommensurability of their respective theoretical languages and
assumptions.
Debord assumed controloverthetract'slayoutand theexpenseof its
publication. AfteritappearedonJuly20,1960,itcirculated aroundSB without
arousingmuch interest.By thispoint,Blanchardhad leftto do volunteer
serviceas a teacherinGuinea.19The taskofliaisonwithDebord fellto Pierre
Guillaume,a 19-year-oldprotge'ofJean-Franqois Lyotardat the Sorbonne
and in SB. In 1995,he publisheda problematicaccountof his relationship
withDebord.The texttriesto establisha parallelbetweentherevolutionary
Debordofthe1960sand therevisionist Guillaumeofthe1990s.Thisgeneral
is
project recapitulated in his accountofDebord's relationship withSB: just
as Debord became an objectofscandal and rumorupon leavingSB simply
by tellingthetruthand beingpolite,so Guillaume-the-revisionist imagines

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36 Hastings-King
Stephen

himselfto be victimized.Extendedinto25 pages, thetextis an exercisein

literaryabjection.20

Debord in SB

Debord joined SB sometimein the fall of 1960. He attendedregular

meetingsas well as thoseof thejournal'seditorialcommitteeand thatof
PouvoirOuvrier.He traveledto Belgiumin February, 1961 as partof an SB
"team" thatwentto surveythesituationthathad resultedfromtherecent
(December-January)general strike.21While in Belgium,the "team" met
RobertDehoux, who became thecore-or theonlymember-of "Pouvoir
OuvrierBelge,"whichput out Alternatif, a journalthathad an SB/PO line
An assemblageof politicaltracesmake the
and a Situ graphicssensibility.
tripsound quite important:Guillaumedescribesit as havingbeen "quite
loony"and "disappointing."22
Debord made one attemptto influenceSB's generalframework. Using
a reviewof Godard's A boutde souffle writtenby SB memberSebastiende
Diesbach (Chatel) and publishedin SB no. 31, Debord triedto outlinea
"revolutionary judgmentof art."The limitationsofSB's engagementwith
thedominantor popular cultureswere evidentfromthe start.Reviews of
booksand filmswereusuallywritten bythestudentswhojoinedSB starting
in 1957(Blanchard,Chatel).The filmpiecesinparticularreliedon a reductive
versionof thetheoryof artarticulatedin "Hamlet."Filmwas treatedas a
mirror. Filmsthatmightservethepurposesofrevolutionary theoryprovide
an image of lifein comparisonto whichthatof the spectatormightseem
impoverished(ComeBackAfrica), or revealtheimpoverishednatureofthe
everydayby performing it (A boutdesouffle).
Debord attackedthisrelationto filmat severallevels. It acceptedas
naturalthedivisionbetweenspectatorand workbyusinga traditional form
of critique,whichDebord definedas:

An interpretationamongothersofa workoverwhichone has no hold.

One claimsthatoneknowsbetter thantheauthorwhathe is trying tosay.
Thisapparentprideis in facta radicalhumility,
becauseone completely
acceptstheseparatenessofthespecialistinquestion,
onedespairsofever
actingupon himor withhim(modalities thatwould obviouslyrequire
thatoneconcernoneselfwithwhathe was explicitly todo.) ("Pour
trying
unjugement" ? 4)

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CrisisoftheMarxist
Imaginary 37

places art outside his or her purview,

The role of the critictherefore
beyond his reach and in so doingproducesa critiquethatis littlemorethan
a "second-orderspectacle."

Critiqueis thatwhichwritesintospectacleitsstateofspectatorship.
[The]
andtherefore
specializedspectator, theidealspectator,
elaborateshisideas
beforea workinwhichhehasnorealparticipation. He rehearses,
re-situates
(remeten scene)hisownnon-intervention inthespectacle.Theweakness
offragmentary judgments, haphazardandlargelyarbitrary, on spectacles
thatdo notconcern us is ourfateinmanybanaldiscussions inprivatelife.
Butthecritiqueofartmakesa showofsuchweakness,madeexemplary.
("Pourunjugement" ? 5)

The role of thecriticin thiscase is like thatof a designengineerwho

worksat patternsofculturalpassivityand transmits themto thegeneralist
spectator.The criticis unlikea Fordistdirigeant in thatthisroleis rehearsed
in a moreor less unconsciousmanner.The critichas no positionoutsidethe
spectacle, but possesses specialized instruments(training,ability to
manipulatewords) thatenable him to articulatehis own passivity.One is
invitedto participatein thespectacle-to watchand be inspiredby a film,
say-but such engagementmust come with a manual. This notion of
spectatorshipis built around alienation in everyday experience. The
exemplary instance for thinking the phenomenon of alienation is
consumption.This scenariodeterminesthepossibilitiesforthinkingabout
how to overcomeit,and theculturaldivisionoflaborupon whichitis built.
ForDebord,whatis requiredis a new "revolutionary art."The elucidation
ofthisidea is a centraltaskfortheory:"we need a revolutionary critiqueof
all art,nota critiqueofrevolutionary art":

The revolutionary modification offormspresented by culturecan be

nothingotherthantheovercoming/transcendence of all
(dipassement)
aspectsofaesthetic
andtechnical instrumentalitiesthattogether constitute
thespectacleas separatedfromlife.It is notin thesurfacesignifications
thatonemustseektherelation ofthespectacletotheproblems ofsociety,
but at a deeperlevel,at thelevelofitsfunction as spectacle.
("Pourun
jugement..", ? 4)

Revolutionary artwould be producedthroughthedeploymentof free

creativeactivityin a contextwheretheseparationofperformer/artist and
spectatorhad been brokendown. WhileDebordoffersno idea ofwhatthis
mightentail,he is clearaboutitsgoal,whichis: "notto show people how to
live,but to makethemlive." Whatis curiousaboutthisformulation is how
itbacksaway fromthemoreimbricated positionoccupiedby thecritic,who

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38 Hastings-King
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is socializedintopatternsofinteraction withcultureinwaysthatonlypermit
theirrecapitulation.Here,Debordmakesa cleardistinction betweenspectacle
and "life,"butthelattercategoryseemsempty, likea purelyformalnegation
oftheformer.
This proposal would expand the purview of the revolutionary
movement,particularlywith respectto the dominantcultureand to the
definitionof who were militantsand what militantsdid. A new kind of
politicalorganizationwould seek "somethingpositivein modernculture,
which appears in its self-liquidation, its movementof disappearance,its
testimony againstitself"("Pour un jugement ..." ? 2). Militantsin existing
revolutionary organizationswould have to overcomethetendency

...toopposeallinterventionincultural forfearofnotappearing
questions
tobe serious.On thecontrary,therevolutionarymovement shouldaccord
a centralplaceto thecritiquesofcultureand everyday life.Butitis first
necessary thatall visionofthesefactsbe disabusedandnotrespectful of
givenmodesofcommunication. Theverybasesofexisting cultural
relations
mustbe challenged bythecritiquethattherevolutionarymovement must
bringtobearonallaspectsofhumanlifeandrelations. ("Pourunjugement
..."? 8)

Debord's piece failed as an attemptto shape basic aspects of SB's

revolutionary program. Three reasons might explain this: the
incommensurability of theories;Debord's underestimationof what was
impliedin a switchingofthepremisesofsocial critique;theextentto which
SB was articulatedas a group throughfairlyrigid internalhierarchies
developed aroundMarxistanalyticcategories.
The most visible incommensurability is thatDebord and SB did not
elaboratetheproblemof alienationin thesame way.Fromthisdivergence,
however, emerged fundamentallydifferentnotions of social change,
revolutionand socialism.ForDebord,theparadigmsituationthroughwhich
one imaginedtheproblemwas therelationofspectatorto spectacle.Radical
changeentailsa changein therelationof spectatorto event,whichin turn
requiresa redefinition of artand how it is createdand consumed.An art-
event, and anypoliticsrootedin such,would necessarilybe performative.
Debord's relativeoptimismofforded hima broadercanvas forthinking
about theperformative dimensionat thecoreofrevolutionary artthrough
experimentsin "drift"and/or "unitaryurbanism."Following Lefebvre,
Debord used the cityas a way to generalizethe subversionof situation
relationsthatDada had explored in more restrictedand traditionalart
contexts.Psychogeography was an Art-event withinwhichhe triedto blur

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CrisisoftheMarxistImaginary 39

thelinebetweenorganizersand participants, artistsand spectators,simply

by calling all actors "situationists."
The appropriationof urbanspace that
Debord considered central to unitary urbanism-the paradigmatic
contructed situation-was subjectively ordered.Subjectivitywas therefusal
ofrepresentation, a space offreedomforDebord,as itwas forVirginiaWoolf
in ThreeGuineasand would be laterforRoland Barthesin CameraLucida.
WhereforWoolfand Barthes,thispositioncould be outlinedor hinted
for
at, Debord theproblemwas makingthissubjectivity publicand thereby
politically useful. Resolution of thisproblem ran in two directions:making
and refusingto show filmslike "Sur le passage.. " and the transferinto
revolutionary politics.Filmwas an unsatisfactory option:even in heavily
mediated,self-consciousand montage-filled form,it still presentedthe
viewer a reassuring(and therefore false)image. Translatingperformative
strategiesonto revolutionarypoliticsresultedin a position thatplaced
extraordinary emphasison affect, and thatused the traditionalnotionsof
artand artiststo givesignificance toisolatedactsofunauthorizedactivity. It
also underestimatedthe regionalityof culture:once a situationist-based
performative politicsgets confinedto a particularsubculture,it can offer
some people limitlesspotentialforperformance-doubtlessfullof irony
and skill-while relationsin thelargersocietycontinueunchanged.
Situationistcriticaltheorywas based on a desire forrevolution,but
was boxed in by its strengths.Because it took culturalconsumptionas
paradigmatic-especially the division of spectator/spectacle-it
foregrounded subjectiveexperienceas shaped by the social and cognitive
of
parameters thedominantorder.The furthest thistypeof critiquecould
go is the inversion of the dominant order.Debord mapped negationonto
thesurrealist notionofshock,toarguethattheexperienceofdemystification
was fundamentalforany revoltagainstthe dominantculture.At its most
consistent,this could be linked byanalogyto a broader notion of social
revolution.When Debord triedto assume forhimselfthe whole of the
revolutionary project,thesesame assumptionsaboutthecentrality ofshock
as negationplaced theoriginofrevolutionoutsideexistingsocial relations.
Thisinturnsetup Debord'sreversiontoLukacsiantranscendental Marxism
in TheSociety the
of Spectacle. Siturevolution would be cataclysmic,itsmodel
thereturnofthemessiah.Thiswithpredictableresultson Debord's notion
oftheVanguardParty.
Despitetheoutcomeofthisbroaderjuxtaposition, affinities
nevertheless
existedbetween the projects.Debord's theorizingof culturalrevolution
supplemented SB's productivism.If one were to assign a theoretical

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40 Hastings-King
Stephen

explanationto SB's awkwardnesswithrespectto matterscultural,itwould

be the lingeringeffectof the Marxistbase-superstructuredistinction.
Debord's main virtuewould be in breakingit down and in forcingto the
foreconsiderationsabout culturalcomportment leftimplicitin SB thinking
about social crisisand itsrelation to and
revolution socialism.
Thequestionof"fit"betweenthesetheoretical approacheswas notraised
as a functionof more mundane problems.An indicationof these can be
foundin transcripts of SB meetings.Debord was generallyquiet at these
sessions.23The one exceptionwas themorningsessionofSB's "International
Meeting"ofMay22,1961.24 Duringthemorningsession,whichwas devoted
toyetanotherinstallment ofSB's interminableinternaldiscussionaboutthe
"workerbase," Debord began to talkas ifhe had been watchingthesame
televisiontunedto a different channel:

Moth&:In thepresent andinthatwhichwillpresentitselfinthe

situation
future, willadvancedemandsthattheunionswillnot
workerstruggles
be abletodefendbecausetheygo againsttheirexistence
as unions-anti-
hierarchical
[demands]andconflict ofproduction.
againsttheorganization

Guy:Weareunrealisticbecause,notbeingpartoftheworkingclass,we
comeup withsolutionsforworking withtheworkersas iftheproblem
was resolved.Therevue(SB) is good,buttheorganization
shouldexistin
accordwiththeprinciplesthatitexpresses,whichis notthecase.

Mothe:How to recruit
theworkers? continueas in thepast
Practically
whilesimplymodifying ofourwork(...)25
certainelements

Guillaume[afteroutlining at theGareSt. Lazaire,

thepoliticalsituation
wherehe had takena job as a mail-handler], duringvacation,
Proposition:
thestudents
canworkfora monthas mail-handlers at thePTT.

Guy:TheideasofSBaremisunderstood. I havehadmorethan200students
withwhomI have directeddiscussions. Theywantto breakeverything
and succeedat nothing. Wedo notcarrytheworkers' movement.Pouvoir
Ouvrieris inaccessibleandindirect.
Concreteactionsarewhatareneeded.
In conclusion:crisis.

[Thecell from]Lyonis forimplanting

theorganization
in theworking-
class milieu. (...)25

Debord was rehearsingthe grounds forhis resignationspeech by

insertingfragmentsof a critiquesof SB's basic modusoperandibetween
statementsmade by some of the group's centralactors 26 He brokeinto
interventionsby people who representedthetwo mainaxes ofthegroup's
history: their relation to the working class and to the traditions of

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Crisisof theMarxistImaginary 41

revolutionary Marxism.The lack of responseindicatesthe older group's

internalhierarchy.
Morebroadly,SB operatedwithgeneralagreementas to thelegitimacy
of theiranalyticpremisesand definitionsof politics.27This crossingof
structure and affectwas heldtogether bythecentralsignifiersthatSB retained
fromitsjourneythroughtheinstituted MarxistImaginaryand indicatesthe
group'svulnerability should any real questionariseaboutthisunderpinning.
Debord's positionrepresenteda basic challengeto thesehierarchiesand to
thenotionsof politicsaroundwhichtheywere built.The resultwas that,
whenthecategoryof"theeveryday"came up in debate,itwas understood
thattheeverydayexperiencethatmatteredwas thatof theworkingclass.
Debord was expectedto submit.
Debord's interruptions leveled some basic chargesat the group. He
arguedthattheorganization'sactuallife,withitsfixedinternalhierarchies,
did notcorrespondto SB's ideas in generalor to theimageelaboratedin the
textsthathad appeared on revolutionary organizationin thejournal.This
was linkedto anotherproblemof self-conception: SB did not have a clear
idea ofhow theirpublicationscirculated. SB journalwas fine,Debordargued,
but it did not address itspurported(working-class) audience.Ratherthan
reaching workers, SB an
presented image of the group thatframedand
mediatedan interiorimage of "the workers"to an audience of students,
whose relationshipto theseimages,and to theideas thatexpressedthem,
was informedby theirdesireto "breakeverything." They did not really
understandSB. The group had a blind spot: it dealt with the problemof
self-reflexivityonlyin the abstract.The othertackdeveloped in Debord's
remarkscriticizedSB's intellectualized notionofrevolutionary politics:the
groupoffered no feedbackforanyonebeyonditslimits,no affect or senseof
identification or involvement. This combinedwithwhatDebord described
as thewholesalemisapprehension ofSB's ideas,to raisethepossibilitythat
thegroupwas talkingto itself.However,he onlyproposed"directactions"
thatwere themselvesabstract,and theirtimingbizarre.
Debord resignedfromSB thatnight.Accordingto PierreGuillaume:

Then,in theend,he announcedcalmlyand firmly toCastoriadis,thento

Lyotard,andthentoall,hisintentiontoresign.AllattemptsbyCastoriadis
to makehim reconsiderhis decision,thateveningand thenextday,
remainedin vain.Castoriadisdisplayedall thetreasuresofseductionhe
could:he outlinedgreatperspectives:"ifonlythegroup'sbureaucratic
and retrogradedefectsweretransformed etc.etc."Debordwas listening
withouta word.WhenCastoriadis hadfinished, he onlysaid "Yes...but...I
don'tfeelup tothetask,"andalso "Itmustbe veryexhausting [tobuilda

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42 Hastings-King
Stephen

organization]."
revolutionary at le
AndDebordcametothenextmeeting
Tambour gavehisofficial
cafM, paidhisduesfortheearlier
resignation,
monthand thecurrent, and said in a fewwordsthathe appreciated that
butthat,forhimself,
thegroupexisted, he hadno willtobe involvedinit.
He thankedus forall he had learned.Anddisappeared.(Guillaume3)

The sceneis centralfortheauthor:Debord was politeand did nothing

provocative,whichitselfcaused a scandal because it violated "the small-
group ethos of departureas divorce." (Guillaume 3). Given the overall
objectiveofthistext,itis difficulttoknowifthisdescription reflects
anything
accuratelyapartfromPierreGuillaume'ssense of his own martyrdom. In
otheraccounts,Debord is supposed to have triedto starta revoltwithinSB
and/or to have led away some of theyoungerstudents,onlyto abandon
themlater.28 Blanchardmentionsthisas a rumorheard fromGuinea, the
finalodd note of Debord's relationshipwithSB, whichhe had foundodd
fromtheoutset:"[H]is membership, I felt,exceeded theclosenesswe had
actuallyachieved:above all itseemed useless,and in fact,in ourdiscussions
Debord expressedtheopinionthateach groupshouldcontinue,in practice,
to followitsown path" (Blanchard2).

FromArtto Politics
Retracingthe Trajectory:

If SB was silentabout theIS, thingswere quite otherwisein Debord's

journalL'Internationale
Situationniste.
Here,SB signifiedthenew revolutionary
movement,and was the pivot around which Debord triedto effecthis
transitionfromartisttorevolutionary,and thatoftheSituationistsfrompost-
Surrealistart-gangto conspiracyon theleadingedge of a vast negationof
the dominantorder.The writersof IS were consistentand sympathetic
observersofSB until1963-1964,when thelatterbegan to straybeyondthe
confinesof Marxism.The relationshipbetweenthe two groupshad three
phases. The firstthreeissues ofIS mentionSB in thecontextofthejournal's
attemptto defineitsown contexts.Thesecondphase occurredbetween1960
and 1963.In IS numbers4 through8, SB was theembodimentof thenew
revolutionary movementtowhichtheSituationists linkedand subordinated
themselves.In thefirstphase,thesituationist critiqueofeverydaylifewas
moreor less freestanding: in thesecond phase, Debord repeatedlyargued
thatthecritiqueoftheeverydaywas legitimated and made coherentbecause
itwas elaboratedwithreference tothemorerevolutionary frameofreference.
Therewas also a migrationofrhetoric fromSB intoIS positions,particularly
in the writingsof Debord and Vaneigem. If the relation to SB can be

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CrisisoftheMarxist
Imaginary 43

understoodas abject,thenthethirdperiodis itsinverse.Once SB began to

breakoutofitsMarxistframeofreference, Debordconsideredthemexcluded
fromtheLeftand begantobothheap ridiculeon SB (Castoriadisinparticular)
and to take over largepartsof SB's earliertheoreticalframework. Debord
triedto transform himself intothe inheritor ofthe "good" SB. He wanted to
be Castoriadis.
The firstthreeissues of IS can be understoodas the organization's
attemptto fashionitsown contextsand anticipate/shape itsreception.This
strategicoperation was carried out on two relative
fronts: to theartcontexts
fromwhichtheSituationists emerged,and relativeto thesocial space from
which theyhoped to speak or act. Linkingthe two was the repertoireof
properlysituationist conceptsand tactics.
The art referentswere Dada and Surrealism.Debord and the other
writerswho contributed to theseearlyissueswereinformed bytheseearlier
avant-gardemovements,even as theytriedto distinguishthemselvesfrom
themon generationaland tacticalgrounds.In the generationalconflict,
Debord's "Les souvenirs au-dessous de tout," a shortpolemic against
BenjaminPeret,played an important role.29
Of theSurrealistswho made theslide fromartto politics,Peretalone
remainedcommittedto a revolutionary position.He had been among the
foundersofthesurrealistmovementwho earlyon had runafoulofBreton.
Like many of the Catalans who emigratedto Paris afterthe massacresat
Barcelonain 1937,Peretwas a fierceopponentofStalinism.Untilhis death
in 1959,Peretwas activein(oratleastinclosecontactwith)Trotskyist political
organizations, along with his close friendGrandizo Munis, and was
inevitablyintroducedon radio or in the newspapers as the authentic
revolutionary amongtheSurrealists.30 Thisgave himthechanceto operate
in two public registers-artistand militant-thatwould oftenconvergein
pieces likehis 1945book Le Dishonneur despoedtes.
In it,Peretmapped Vico
ontoMarxto argue(a) thatcreativeactivitywas byitsnaturerevolutionary,
and (b) thatpoetrywas creationin an ontologicalsense.
Fromthisposition,PeretproceededtoattackthoseSurrealistpoetswho
joined the PCF, remainedin it and used poetryto further the ends of the
Party: Louis Aragon, Elsa Paul
Triolet, Eluard, Tristan Tzara. The structure
oftheargumentis essentiallyTrotskyist. The StalinistPartyrepresentedin
itselfthecorruptionoftherevolution and thecreativeenergyreleasedthrough
it.Real creation(realpoetry)is stillpossible,but onlyifit firsttakesaim at
those who evoke its language and practicesin a false context.Peret's
argumentagainsttheSituationists was essentiallythesame.Ironically, Peret

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44 Stephen
Hastings-King

was also associatedwithSB through hisfriendship withV6ga (AlbertoMaso)

and Munis. The intentand strategiesused in thispiece were the same as
thoseDebord would lateruse to excludeSB fromtheLeft."3
At thelevel of symbolicconflict, some accounthad to be settledwith
Peret. Little separates Peret's notions of praxis and poetry fromthe
generalizednotionsoffreecreativeactivity thatweretobe releasedthrough
the construction of situations. Debord thereforeattacked Peret on
generationalgrounds: Peret was old, the Surrealismto which he was
committedwas largelya cliche. The Situationistswere unknown;their
worldviewnotyethardenedintoformalizedterms.Theyalso claimedto go
beyond Surrealism,thoughtheirefforts to do so-like Peret's--wereand
remaineddeeply markedby theiroriginin artisticpractice.Situationist
positionswentbeyondSurrealism on twocounts,and used thesame strategy
in each. Surrealistpaintingwas theorizedas subversivein thesense thatit
disrupted the authorityof the rational subject by presentingit with
"unconsciousmaterial."Theviewerwould recognizethismaterialindirectly.
To thematizethismomentofrecognition, Surrealistssubstituteda notionof
shockfortheFreudian"unheimlich." Situationistsgeneralizedthisnotionof
"shock."Thisgeneralization presupposeda similarexpansionoftheDadaist
critiqueoftraditional, essentialistdefinitionsofartdevelopedprimarily by
Duchamp and made explicitthrough his exhibitionof "ready-mades."If
meaningswere context-dependent in thespecificcase of an artwork,then
meaningsin generalcould be so viewed.
Earlysituationist practiceswereaimed at shifting thesetacticsoutinto
thedomain of thecityas a space withinwhichcoexistedthepre-arranged
spectacle and spaces of play. They conceived of themselves as art-
revolutionarieswho driftedabout cities engaging in "experimental"
reappropriationof urban space and operatingin public to "construct
situations"thatwould disruptthe"normal"flowof experience.This flow
was thematizedas context-dependent, and therelevantcontexts wereobjects
and eventsconstituted throughsociallyconditionedaffect and expectations.
Disruption of theseframes ofreferencethrough thecreationofconstructed
situationsdemonstrated the
directly contingent nature ofthe"normal" order.
This demonstration was itselfframedas a negationofthatorder.
Withoutthe creationof a social space fromwhich to operate, the
fashioningof a tacticalrepertoireand relationto Surrealismwould have
been useless.Therefore, manyarticlesthatappearedin thefirstthreeissue
of IS are littlemorethanextendedlistsofwhat Situationists were not:not
not
Surrealist, Dada, not not not
modernist, Arguments, HenriLefebvre.The

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CrisisoftheMarxist
Imaginary 45

combinationof references adduced in thesearticlesgives a good idea of

wheretheSitus hoped to end up: in thecomplexintersection of academic,
political
public-intellectual, and art contexts
thathad been shaken up bythe
passivityof theworking class and of
intensification theAlgerianWar.

DiscreditingSB

SB appearsinlS no.2'ssurveyofLeftist Debordimagined

organizations.
SB as paralyzed beforethe rapidlychangingsituation.He analyzed the
situation:"The principallesson thatmustbe drawn is thatrevolutionary
thoughtmust develop a critique of everyday life," requiringa "new
revolutionaryorganization"capable of locating,thinking, theorizingand
empowering new centers/typesof social (IS 10-11)SB was one of
conflict. 2,
theolderorganizationsincapableofmeasuringup to thetask:

forwhichtheproletariat
Socialismeou Barbarie, is a sortofHiddenGod
ofHistory, itselfwithclosedeyesforitsowndisarmament,
congratulates
whichcan onlycorrespond to a pinnacleofclassconsciousness,to a too-
lateliberation
fromthenefarious influenceofpartiesandtradeunions.(IS
2, 10)32

This is a well-informed dig. It makes indirect referenceto the

organizationaldisputethatsplitthegroupduringthesummerof1958,and
ridiculesSB's attemptsto positionthemselvesat the forefront of thenew
revolutionary movement.
The relationshipchangedquite abruptlyonce Blanchardand Debord
began to meetand talk.The lead articlein IS no.4,"Sur l'emploidu temps
libre,"beginsby takingoverthepositionthatDaniel Blanchard(Canjeurs)
had developed in his critiqueof Alain Tourainein SB no. 27. The referent
was Touraine'sarticle"Situationdu mouvementouvrier"in Arguments no.
12-13,early in 1959.33The journal had invitedsociologistsand political
militantsto address the futureof the revolutionarymovementand the
meaningofMay 1958.Tourainestatedthattheunderlyingthesissharedby
the sociologistswho contributedto the journal34was thatthe traditional
workingclasshad ceasedtoexistTouraineadvancedan "embourgeoisement"
thesis,accordingto whichtheworkingclass onlyoccupied its traditional
social place while in thefactories:outside,theyhad been assimilatedinto
the bourgeoisie throughconsumption.This thesis was attackedby the
politicalmilitantswho publishedin theissue35and again in SB no. 27. The
thrustofBlanchard'sargumentwas thatMalletand Tourainewerewrong,
because theirframesofreference weretiedtobourgeoisformalism/science.

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46 Hastings-King
Stephen

Theyhad no realcontactwithworkingpeople; theyneeded go toa working-

and look around.36
class quartier
Debord's position in "Sur l'emploi..." begins as a variation on
Blanchard's,and thenslidestoa theoretical positionclose tothatarticulated
by the American worker newspaper Correspondence, one of SB's most
consistentinterlocutors throughthe 1950s.For Debord, theworkingclass
continuesto functionas a class for-itself
in a negativemanner,throughits
rejectionofthe invested
spectacle.Sociologists, by theirprofessionalnature
inthepositive/extant as normative,couldnotbe expectedtorecognizemodes
of being thatthreatenedthe existingorderwith negation.By positinga
negativeclass consciousnessthatmanifesteditselfthroughthe wholesale
rejectionofthedominantculture,Debordwas able to superimposesome of
his main concerns/categories. Debord argues that,if the workerssimply
the
reject spectacle, then theproblemforradicalpoliticsis "freetime,empty
time."Presumably, theworkersexperienceonlyculturaldead air because
theyrejectthepatternsofacceptablesocial interaction, withoutfashioning
culturalor politicalinstruments to give contentto a different time.The
problem would be resolved throughrevolutionary art:

Thereis nofreedomintheusageoftimewithout possessionofthemodem

instruments forthe construction of everydaylife.The use of such
instrumentswill marktheleap froma utopianrevolutionary artto an
experimental art.("Surl'emploi..."IS No. 4)
revolutionary

In thisposition,one cansee theoutlineofwhatwillfollow.Thetransition

froma visionofrevolutionary artto itsactualizationwould resultfromits
"fulfillment" by the revolutionary workingclass. In this,Debord follows
Lukacs,whose History andClassConsciousness had onlyappeared in French
translationin 1960 (over the strenuousobjectionsof Lukacs himself).In
strategicterms,Lukacs had theadvantageof treatingthephenomenonof
alienation, and of providing an extended gloss on Marxist historical
materialismthatparadoxicallyended up by recastingas transcendent the
centralcategoriesin Marx's analysisofcapitalistpoliticaleconomy.Justas
forLukacs,orthodoxMarxismis an attitudetowardhistorythatwould be
unchangedeven if all the thesesassociatedwithMarx should be proven
wrong,so the workingclass is an epiphenomenonof the working-outof
objectivehistoricallaws.37 It is thereforea kindofeternallypresentdeus-ex-
machinathatwill swing onto the stage of historywhen the hapless hero
capitalismis done in by dialecticalforces.Lukacs becomes,forDebord,a
fundamentaltextin his rejectionofSB's claimthattherewas a crisisofthe

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CrisisoftheMarxist
Imaginary 47

MarxistImaginary,in favorof conceptualclosure.Debord uses Lukacs to

combinehis theoriesabout revolutionary art with a rigidMarxism.This
was a positionin theinternaldebateswithinSB aboutthestatusofMarxism,
should the positions outlinedin Castoriadis's "Modern Capitalism and
Revolution"provecorrect.

Precedingavant-gardeshave introduced themselvesby affirmingthe

oftheir
excellence methodsandprinciples,
onthebasisofwhichoneshould
pass immediatejudgmenton the works.TheI.S. is the firstartistic
organizationto founditselfon theradicalinadequacyof all permitted
works,thesignification,
thesuccessorfailureofwhichwillonlybejudged
withtherevolutionarypracticeofitstime.

The patternremainsthesame throughIS no. 8. The lead articleforIS

no. 5, "L'aventure,"is a more extensivemapping the SB version of the
revolutionary projectontoinstruments ofSituationist culturalwarfare.One
can also see themoregradualimportation ofthenotionofsocialismas direct
democracy--which would be reducedby May,1968to a simplecall forthe
establishment ofcouncils-in thejuxtaposition ofa quotefromCastoriadis's
texton directdemocracy,"Sur le contenudu socialisme II" and a Jorn
painting."A fairsummaryoftherelationshipappears in IS no. 6. Debord's
"Instructionspour une prise d'armes" writes IS into SB's umbrella
organization fora new,international
revolutionary movement, countingitself
along with the UK Solidarity
group, theAmerican Correspondence collective
and theItalianProletarian Unity.A few pages later,one finds spelledout the
relationbetween Situationistand revolutionarymodes of critique.The
revolutionary movementprovidesa necessarycounter-perspective, relative
to whicha radicalizedcritiqueoftheeverydayis possible.(IS 6, 26-27)The
Situationists weretherefore theinadequateartorganizationwhose projects
were at once subordinatedto and made coherentby the "revolutionary
practiceofour time"channeledthroughSB.
This relationshipchanged again in 1964. During 1963,SB had been
consumedby an internalconflict mostlyby Castoriadis'sattempt
triggered
to push to theirlogicalconclusiontheimplicationsofhis 1959-1961text.If
theworkingclass reallyhad been destructured as a class foritself,and if
one plottedthisdevelopmentontotheextendedcritiqueofMarxism(politics,
economics,theoryof history)thatSB had pursued since 1946,thenthere
reallywas notmuchreasonto continuetohold ontoMarxismas a frameof
reference forthinkingabout revolution.Revolutionary theorywould have
tobe rethought fromthemostbasic assumptionsoutward.One would have
to work out a core normativetheorythatwas sufficiently abstractto be

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48 Hastings-King
Stephen

emergingfromvariousdirections.One would
applicableto social conflicts
also need tomultiplytheanalysesofsocialconflicts: theworkingclass could
no longerprovidemilitantswitha templatethattheycould use as a sortof
overlaytobreaka new socialmovementintoitscomponentstages.And one
would have to rethinkthewhole notionofthemilitantas a functionofthe
definitionsof the political arrived at through the reconstructionof
revolutionary theory.ThedebateabouttheseissuessplitSB downthemiddle.
It revealed the affectwithwhichmanySB membersinvestedthe idea of
being-Marxist, and theirrelianceon proletarianstrugglesas a kindofmagic
key for understandingall social conflict.It also revealed the material
limitationsfora small group like SB, whichfounditselfconfrontedwith
whatmusthave seemedlikethecall fora 1:1 map ofthesocial world.39
ForDebord,thiswas heresy.Withthelead articleinlS no.9, "Maintenant
L'I.S." Debord announcedthattheSituationist International had assumed
SB's mantleas therevolutionary vanguard(despiteSB's sustainedcritique
of thenotionof a "VanguardParty").He coupled thiswitha campaignto
throw SB out of the Left.From the outset,Debord had surveyed and
resurveyedtheParisianscene,drawinglinesthatseparatedwhathe thought
acceptablefromwhatwas not.ThejournalArguments had longbeenDebord's
preferred of
example empty revisionism:special ridicule was reservedfor
Edgar Morin and Kostas Axelos. "Argumentiste" was a epithethurledat
formerMarxistswho gave in to thelure of incoherenceonce theypassed
beyondthebordersof theImaginary, patrolledby Guy Debord. In posing
thealternative-onecan either"be Marxistor be revolutionary"-SB slid
fromleaderoftherevolutionary movement into"Argumentiste" revisionism.
Despite thisbanishment, Debord continued his close observation of the
group.The IS reproduced(withnear-audibleglee) an editorialdisclaimer
thataccompanieda reviewof Christianisme et revolution by Maximillienne
Gautrat,as proofofSB's slide intodilettantism:40

Editorialnote:It is perhapsusefultonotethat,forthevastmajority
of
Socialismeou Barbariemembers,the Kingdomof God is essentially
meaningless,andalso thattheydo notsee anyreasonwhysomeonewho
thinksotherwise shouldbe prevented fromself-expression.

Debord's fiercersarcasmswere directedspecificallyat Castoriadis:

The revolutionary
critiqueofall existing
conditions does not
certainly
havea monopoly on intelligence,
butdoeson itsuse.In thepresentcrisis
ofcultureandofsociety,
thosewhodo nothavethisusagedo not,in fact,
have any discernible Stoptalkingto us aboutintelligence
intelligence.

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CrisisoftheMarxist
Imaginary 49

without[correct] usage,itwouldmakeus happy.PoorHeidegger!Poor

Lukacs! Poor Sartre!Poor Barthes!Poor Lefebvre!Poor Cardan
[Castoriadis]!Tic,ticand tic.Without theproperuse ofintelligence, one
has onlythecaricatural fragments ofinnovative ideas,thosethatcould
understand thetotalityofourtimeand themovement thatcontests it as
well.It is notevenclearhow to plagiarizetheseideas in a harmonious
way whenone encounters themwheretheyalreadyare. (...)Theformer
specialist of ultra-leftpolitics is dazzled to discover,along with
structuralismandpsychosociology, anethnologicalideology[thatis]entirely
newtohim:thefactthattheZuniIndiansdo nothavea history seemsto
hima luminousexplanation forhisownincapacity to acton ourhistory
(go laughat thefirst25 pages ofno. 36 of Socialisme ou Barbarie).The
specialistsofthoughtcan onlybe thinkers ofspecialization.We do not
pretend tohavea monopoly onthedialecticthateveryone istalking about;
we onlyclaimtohavea provisional monopoly onitsusage.

The changein theintellectual scenethatDebordoutlineshas a complex

conjecturalexplanation:theend oftheAlgerianWarand thecollapse ofthe
radical scene thathad developed withinthe oppositionalmovement,the
returnto "normal"everydaylifecombinedwithAlthusser'sintertwining
of structuralism and thedialecticalto give theimpressionthattherewas a
"refreeze"in the Cold War.Debord's polemicalresponseto thissituation,
and SB's rolein it,is in parta powerplay:he was tryingto supplantSartre
as theculturalarbiteroftheLeft.
Thisculture-broker rolewas secondarytohisdesiretopersonallysalvage
revolutionary politics.Thisintentionwas signaledbydirectpronouncement.
The strategyamountedto a wholesaleincorporation of olderSB positions
intothoseof the IS. At the graphicslevel, IS took the formatof SB's "Le
Monde en Question,"whichsurveyedthepress forindicationsof conflict
and/orincoherence withinthedominantorder("echoes"as thegroupcalled
them).Fromthe contentsof SB Debord tookthe call forthe formationof
councils.Ifthiswas thegoal-Debord's politicswere,as I haveargued,rooted
in a subjectivistposition-then to salvage revolutionary politicswould be
to fullyexternalizethetextualcollagethroughwhichhe (Debord) imagined
revolution.In trying tobecomeCastoriadisand therevolutionary vanguard,
and in his effortto excludeSB fromtheLeftas ifthegrouphad been partof
the IS, Debord blurredthe organizationaldistinctionbetweeninside and
outside and the individualdistinctionbetweenpsycheand social world.
Debordhimselfwas theoppositionalmovement:he was whatthebourgeois
orderfeared.He was thespecterhauntingEurope.Thissetsup a readingof
his 1967book,SocietyoftheSpectacle, as Debord's attemptto stage,through
collage, his of
subjectiveorganization the textualmaterialthatcirculated
withintheMarxistImaginary.The book is Debord's refusalof thecrisisof

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50 Hastings-King
Stephen

theImaginarythrougha retreatintonarcissismand a positingoftraditional

revolutionary Marxismas transcendental.The recourseto the authorized
sources of theorywas a traditionalhereticalmove withinthis instituted
Imaginary, whichpresupposedit stilloperationaland capable of renewal.
Debord triesto map his voice onto thatof
By fashioningthistext-collage,
the RevolutionaryProphet,and in so doing,to mimethatrole. Withthis,
Debordbeganhisperiodof"megalomaniac"ambitiontobetherevolutionary
vanguard,whichhe would laterattributeto the Situationistsas a group,
and whichwas thebasis,in 1972, forhis dissolvingtheorganization.41

Conclusion

Socialismeou Barbarieplayeda fundamental roleinDebord'sevolution

fromartistto revolutionary to defenderofMarxistorthodoxyfromheresy.
Thisrelationshipunfoldedattwolevels:throughdirectpersonalrelationship
and throughthepositionsSB occupiedin thepages oftheIS. We have seen
thepointsofcompatibility and ofdissonancebetweenthetwo groups,and
how Debord's and SB's notionsofalienationas a conflict betweenanalytic
premisesled toverydifferent notionsofrevolutionand socialism.Debord's
consumption-based radicalism is similarto argumentsmade by people in
culturalstudiestoday.In mappingtherelationship ofSB toIS ontoa broader
crisisoftheMarxistImaginary, I haveattempted toshowhow Debordbecame
a monitorof conceptual closure,unable and unwillingto consider the
implicationsofFordismand Stalinismin thedestruction ofthetraditional
workers'movement.When SB disintegrated over the problemsraised by
anyeffort tocrossoutoftheMarxistImaginary, Debordreactedbyconsigning
SB to thetrash-heapof"Argumentisme" and by makingSB categoriesover
intoa transcendent of
theory history in theimageofLukacs.In the1975film
versionofSociety the
of Spectacle, Debord cut up thetextand hisownnarrative
voiceand interspersedfootage of battles.He couldonlydeal withthecollapse
oftheImaginaryas a strategicdefeat.
Stanford
University

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CrisisoftheMarxist
Imaginary 51

NOTES

1. Thereis an extensivebibliography on theSituationists and GuyDebord.Berreby's

Documents is fullof reproductions of material(paintings,installations, journals,
ephemera)producedby theLettristes in theirvariouscombinations and guises.The
standardEnglish-language references includeMarcus,1989,whichbuildson earlier
worklikeHebdige,1995in itslinkageofSituationist practicestopunk.See also Sadie
Plant,1992.Thisarticlereliesprimarily on thejournalL'Internationale Situationnisteand
on otherworksby DebordincludingOeuvres Cinimatographiques Completes 1952-1978,
Commentaires surla Societd
du Spectacle,Pandgyrique,SocietyoftheSpectacle.
2. TheSituationiste Internationalewas involvedinseveraldifferent politicalcontexts and
itsreceptionwas different in eachofthem:itwas notexclusively Parisiangroup,nor
synonymous withGuyDebord.
3. See "Interview withHenriLefebvre" on NOT BORED!website.Thebibliography on
politicsin the1920s-1930s
Surrealist is extensive:see Thirion,1975.
4. The organization was nota unitary bloc ofpeople:one ofthemaindivisionsamong
themwas thebreakwithart.FromAsgerJorn toConstant tothe"evilNashites,"most
who leftdid so becausetheywantedto continue producing somekindofart.Debord
abandonedfilmmaking from1961to 1975.
5. ThankstoDavid AmesCurtisforthisformulation.
6. Foran explanation ofthisterm, see myIntroduction to Hastings-King 1998.
7. Thetermsrepresentation, intentionand affectaretakenfromCastoriadis, Philosophy, 33-
46.
8. See thesurveyarticleby PierreBrou6in Arguments. Sartre's"Le fant6me de Staline"
appearedin theJanuary, 1957issueofLesTemps Modernes and arguedthatPoland,not
Hungary,revealedthe "essentialnature"of thecrisistriggered by theXXthParty
CongressbecausePoland,and Gomulkism inparticular,represented thepossibility of
reform fromwithintheParty. politicalpositionofthetimewouldnotallowfor
Sartre's
anyradicalchallengetothenotionofthePartyitself, whichwas onedimension ofSB's
readingof theHungarianRevolt.Much inkwas spentin the "progressiste" press
FranceObservateur,
(L'Express, LesTemps Modernes) during1957-1958 searching forthe
reformistfactions withinthePCF.
9. Castoriadis's
notionthatSBsimply"followed thebureaucraticstring" iscitedinHoward
1988.
10.Moth6was thepseudonym forJacquesGautrat, a machinist at theRenaultfactory at
Billancourt, an important writerforSB, and of enormoussymbolicand political
importance forthegroupinhisroleas TheWorker. Seemy"ReadingMoth","inHastings-
King1998.
11.ThesetensionsareexploredatlengthinHastings-King, 1998,ch.2-5.
12. Blanchard, forthcoming. Unpaginated emailprintout, citedwithpermission. In SB,
Blanchard actedand wroteunderthepseudonym Canjuers,whichwas a placenotfar
fromwherehe grewup. He was partofSB from1957untilitsdissolution in 1966and
struggledtocometoterms withwhatSB meantwhenhewas initandafterward. Ofthe
SB members I interviewed in 1991-1992, he was probably themostdeeplyaffected by
thegroup'sdissolution. Blanchard'sarticleis interesting bothforitspersonaldetail
aboutbothhimself andDebordandforwhattheauthorhasconstructed betweenhimself
inthepresent andhispast.Thesenseofdistance isindicatedbythepersistent underwater
imagery, whichreadsas thoughthewholescenewerenowsomekindofdrownedcity
orAtlantis, oras iftheclandestine worldofrevolutionary politicswerelikethedeepest
trenches oftheoceanwheretheintense waterpressures enablebizarrecreatestosurvive
thatcouldnotdo so undermorenormalcircumstances. Thesceneis alsoregarded with

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52 Stephen
Hastings-King

greatfondness, and remembered withprecision. ("Thestrangeness was notuncanny,

butratherattractive, incredibly enticing.")
13. This texthas a complexgenealogy.The finalversionis publishedin Englishin
Castoriadis, 1988,vol. 2.
14. Justas SB wouldtryto do withtheAmerican CivilRightsand studentmovements
duringtheearly1960s.
15.WhenCastoriadis presented theimplicationsofhispositionexplicitly tothegroupin
1963,thisprecipitatedthebreakdownof SB as a group.See "Pour une nouvelle
orientation" and "R6commencer la revolution."The former circulatedinternally;the
latterwas publishedinSB no. 35,1-36.Botharetranslated in Castoriadis,vol.3, 1993.I
willreturn tothispointbelow.
16.Originally publishedinanexpensive andstriking-looking versiondesignedbyDebord
inJuly, 1960.Itspublication was announced inIS no.5 (decembre, 1960)p. 11.Reprinted
by "Notes et Critiques,"a grouplooselyassociatedwithSB in Bordeauxas "Le
capitalisme:societesans culture,"along withan unpublished2/61 text"Pour un
jugement revolutionnaire de l'art"(anextended critique on a reviewofGodard'sA bout
desouffle thatappearedin SB no. 31.It appearswitha noteas to origin.)My thanksto
Daniel Blanchardfora copyoftheoriginaltract,and to Alain Guillerm(byway of
David AmesCurtis)forthe"NotesetCritiques" version.
17.Thetranslation ofthisquoteand thefollowing aremine.
18. Blanchardwas notalonein nottakingCastoriadis's arguments immediately as the
basis forhis politicsat thistime.In 1963,he sidedwithCastoriadisin thesplitwith
Lyotard, Souyriand Maso overthecentrality ofMarxismto revolutionary theory,and
stayedin SB untiltheend.
19.As an alternative tomandatory service,
military whichwouldhavemeantAlgeria.
20.Pierre Guillaume, "Debord"onNOTBORED!website. Translation ofanarticleoriginally
publishedin Guillaume'sjournalLa VieilleTaupeno. 1 (Spring1995).He provides
information onDebord'sresignation fromSBnotavailablefrom othersources.However,
hisglosson theinformation is highlyparticular,conditioned byhisanalysisofhisown
experience.It shouldbe notedthatanyuse Guillaume'stextis complicatedby his
revisionism (denialoftheHolocaust).He turnshisrelationship toDebordtoitsservice:
he appropriates the"publicenemynumberone" personaand uses it to legitimate his
politics,andspendsmuchofthelatter partofthearticleintimating thatatleastsomeof
theoldSituationists approveofthisappropriation, as iftosaythatsuchapprovalmakes
Guillaumea legitimate heirtoDebord.
21. Summaryof Castoriadis,"Rapportd'activitede l'organisation" in Socialismeou
Barbarie,BulletinIntdrieur no. 25 (avril-mai,1961),16. The reportnotestwo new
organizations, inBrusselsandLiege.BIno.24 contains a verybriefnoteofwhowentto
Belgium. Guillaume stressestheimportance thatDebord'sconnection toRaoulVaneigem
playedinproviding SB withinformation.
22. See Guillaume,"Debord"and Alternatif fromCastoriadis papers,SB 16:10.
23. In theinternal documents thatI havegathered fromSB,Debordonlyspeakstwoor
threetimes,mostofthemat the"NationaleMeeting" justbeforehe resigned.
24. "A bignamefora littlething"according toGuillaume.
25. BI no. 25,12.See Hastings-King, 1998Ch.4 and 5. Guyis Debord.
26. On Moth6see note8. PhilippeGuillaumewas CyrilleRousseaude Beauplan,who
joinedwhilethegroupwas stillan oppositional tendency inthePCI.A veteranmilitant
witha complexfamily history,Guillaumehaddecidedafter May1958toquithispostas
an economist at theOECD and to takefactory jobsin ordertobe "withtheworkers."
Fortheseand otherreasons,he was considered bymanyto be thegroup'sheartand
conscience

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CrisisoftheMarxist
Imaginary 53

27.On thisand otherquestionsofdefinition withrespecttoMarxism, see "Marxism and

Revolutionary Theory"PartI, inCastoriadis 1998,and,especially, "On theQuestionof
theHistoryoftheWorkers' Movement," in Castoriadis1993,181ff.
28.ThisfromDavid AmesCurtisas a paraphraseofPhilippeGottraux.
29.Pdretwrotea dismissive articleinthesmallsurrealist periodicalBiefthatprompted an
equallydismissiveresponse.He was in failinghealthby thispoint,buthis symbolic
positionwas stillcentral. Debord's"Les souvenirsau-dessousde tout"is in IS no.2,3-
4 (1997,34-35).
30. Forinterviews see P ret,1995,vol.7,206-271.
31. It is interesting in thisregardto note thatwhen Peretdied, SB published"Le
dishonneur" withan introduction byJean-Jacques Lebel.
32. Thereference is to theCastoriadis-Lefort/ILO splitoverthequestionoforganization
in September 1958.
33. See thesection,"Qu'est-ceque la classeouvrie're franqaise?"in Arguments no. 12-13
(Janvier-Mars, 1959).Completere-edition ofthejournalwas done by Privatin 1983
underthesupervision ofOlivierCorpetandMariateresa Padova.Touraine's"Situation
de la classeouvriere" is on pages5-15.
34.ThesewereSergeMalletand MichelCrozier.
35.IncludingSB's DanielMoth6and thesyndicalist MichelCollinet.
36.See Canjuers, P.,"Sociologiefiction pourgauchefiction (a proposde SergeMallet)"in
SBno.27(avril-mai, 1959)pp. 13-32andDelvaux,J.:"LesclassessocialesetM. Touraine,"
33-52.
37.See "Whatis Orthodox Marxism"and "ClassConsciousness" in Lukacs,1968.
38.See bottomofIS no. 5,47.
39. See VWga and Lyotard responsestoCC.
40.Jacques, Maximillienne: reviewofGerbe,J:Christianisme etrivolutionin SB 36 p.84.
41. "L'Intemationale Situationniste estconstitutenominalement, maiscelane signifie rien
que le debutd'unetentative pourconstruire au-delade la d6composition, danslaquelle
noussommesentierement compris, commetoutle monde[...].Ce n'estpas grand-chose
d'etreactuel:on n'estque plus ou moinsd6compose.La nouveaut6est maintenant
entierement dependanted'un saut a un niveau superieur[...]. Nos ambitionssont
nettement megalomanes, maispeut-trepas misurablesaux criteres dominants de la
reussite."From"Encoreuneffort sivousvoulez tresituationnistes-L'I.S. dansetcontre
la d6composition" inPotlach 29(November 5,1957),quotedin"Enguised'introduction"
to the1997re-edition ofIS.,ix.

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