The bad days will end
Optimistic text from the Situationist International that suggests whilst previous revolts have failed, future ones may not.
As the world of the spectacle extends its reign it approaches the climax of its offensive, provoking new resistances everywhere. These resistances are very little known precisely because the reigning spectacle is designed to present an omnipresent hypnotic image of unanimous submission. But they do exist and are spreading.
Situationists - reading guide
Libcom.org's reading guide to the Situationists, a revolutionary Marxist group who wrote extensively on culture and were highly influential on the events of May 1968 in France.
Key texts
- Situationists - an introduction - Short and clearly-written introduction to the Situationists.
Theoretical anarchism and anarchist ideology - Miguel Amorós
An essay on post-1939 Spanish anarchism and its ideological fossilization, with special emphasis on the CNT and the role it played in Spain during the1970s, during the Spanish “Transition”, when it attracted large numbers of workers who sympathized with anarchism—it had over 250,000 members in 1978—but soon lost most of them when it became a trade union indistinguishable from the others except for its revolutionary rhetoric, having been founded by a disparate assortment of people who, according to the author, had only one thing in common: “the desire to build a trade union federation that could contend with the Workers Commissions for preeminence in separate class representation.”
Theoretical Anarchism and Anarchist Ideology – Miguel Amorós
“When reflection, feeling or whatever other form the subjective consciousness may assume, regards the present as vanity, and thinks itself to be beyond it and wiser, it finds itself in emptiness, and, as it has actuality only in the present, it is vanity throughout.” (Hegel, Philosophy of Right)
At dusk: The Situationist movement in historical perspective
Published by the Berkley based group Perspectives in 1975 At Dusk was the first extensive critical text released on the Situationist International after its dissolution in 1972. Although there is much to critique in the arguments put forward in the text, it is an important historical document in terms of understanding the critical reception of the Situationists in the United States.
The use of free time
A 1960 text from the Situationist International on leisure time in capitalist society.
The most superficial and constantly reiterated platitude of leftish sociologists during recent years is that leisure has become a major factor in advanced capitalist society.
Notes on the SI's direction - Raoul Vaneigem
Written by Raoul Vaneigem in March 1970 this text critiqued the movement of the SI towards pure councilism and sought to reaffirm the group's connection with the working class by applying the tactics of the Strasbourg scandal to the workplace.
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What's Free is the Absolute Weapon - An Interview with Raoul Vaneigem
An interview with Raoul Vaneigem, author of the Revolution of Everyday Life, in the Winter of 2011 by Siné Mensuel.
An interview with the former situationist by one of his old buddies
When capitalism goes green - Miguel Amoros
A former member of the Encyclopedie des Nuisances discusses the current reformist environmentalism of capitalism, the fashionable support for "curtailing economic growth", and the growing role of the State and NGOs in enforcing a new framework for the continued survival of capitalist social relations, and concludes that "a libertarian society can only be created by way of a libertarian revolution".
When Capitalism Goes Green – Miguel Amorós
Presentation delivered at La Mistelera (Dènia) and Casa els Flares (Alcoy) on December 28 and 29, 2007.
A user's guide to détournement
“Mode d’emploi du détournement” originally appeared in the Belgian surrealist journal Les Lèvres Nues #8 (May 1956). This translation by Ken Knabb is from the Situationist International Anthology (Revised and Expanded Edition, 2006).
A User's Guide to Détournement (1)
Enragés and Situationists in the Occupations Movement
This work was written collectively by the Situationist International in the immediate aftermath of May 1968. It comprises their own account of the Situationists' contribution to the Movement of Occupations that took place throughout France during the largest wildcat strike in history.
Enragés et situationnistes dans le mouvement des occupations (Paris: Gallimard, 1968)
Translated by Loren Goldner and Paul Sieveking (New York: Autonomedia, 1992)
Foreword
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