Letter

From Guy Debord To Andre Frankin[1] 19 February 1961

It seems to me that, since 1956, what has happened in H[ungary], Fr[ance] and Belgium has rung the bell on the post-Leninist conception of the workers' movement, with all of its problematics, including progressive anti-St[alinist] "fellow travelers" and Trotskyism. It is the merit of S[ocialisme] ou B[arbarie] to have developed a profound critique of the bureaucracy. And to have maintained a militant tradition that [Edgar] Morin has sold off to Editions du Seuil and other p[ublishers]. I am surprised that V.[2] is surprised that I am in touch with [S. ou B.] -- Am I in touch with V.? (...) I think that he is a Trotskyist, orthodox (plus careerist). As for [S. ou B.], I was extremely hostile (and especially during the events of May [19]58) to the Lefortist tendency.[3] When it split off [from S. ou B.], I wrote to you that this was a very fortunate confirmation. Later on, I met the c[omrades] of this group. The text "P[reliminaries]," written by C[anjuers] and I (C[anjuers] wrote at least two-thirds of it), expresses quite well, I think, the point of contact between the S[ituationist] I[nternational] and [S. ou B.] (although it isn't strongly approved of by all the sit[uationist]s or others). To the extent that I cannot conceive that the SI is outside of the political rev[olutionary] m[ovement] (and that the peril of artists' lamentable arriveism always re-creates itself by the nature of our activity, and despite the artificial necessity of the SI's discipline); and to the extent that one can't always remain pure, isolated intellectuals, critiquing or having illusions concerning parties judged from the outside; I believe that it is

necessary to participate in a regrouping of revolutionaries, within and outside of B[elgium], on the basis of a critique without illusions, and so an accord can perhaps be realized on fundamental perspectives. I believe that this accord can be reached on the platform constituted on the initiative of S. [ou B.] and I will try to bring to it the entirety of the sit[uationist] m[ovement]. Cordially yours, Guy [1] Summary of a letter to Andre Frankin. [2] Henri Vaume. [3] Claude Lefort, an existentialist at first, an ex-Trotskyist, the co-founder of S. ou B. (under the pseudonym of Cl[aude] Montal), which he left in 1958 to form Information et Correspondence Ouvriere (ICO) before joining Arguments on the French intellectual scene.

(Published in Guy Debord, Correspondance, Volume 2, 19601964. Footnotes by Alice Debord. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! April 2005.)