from Guy Debord

Circular to all the sections
21 December 1967

The Situationist International,

-- considering that, on 19 December [1967], Comrades [Raoul] Vaneigem and [Rene] Vienet carried to London a document that equaled an ultimatum, relative, on the one hand, to the minimum principles of agreement of the SI and, on the other hand, to the serious violation of these principles of agreement committed by Comrades [Christopher] Gray and [Donald] Nicholson-Smith (supported by T. Clarke[1]),

-- considering that this serious mistake consisted of having responded in a fashion undignified for a situationist (and any revolutionary individual) to the cunt [Ben] Morea, the associate of the mystic Hoffmann,[2] after the collective decision of the SI which mandated that, at the maximum, the cunt Morea would simply be informed of the sufficient reasons that Vaneigem had for definitively refusing to meet him [while he was in New York],

-- considering that, despite the attempts of Comrades Vaneigem and Vienet, the comrades concerned refused all self-critique for this indisputable mistake, in the same way that they refused all self-critique for the previous mistake of putting the conduct of Comrade Vaneigem into question without supportable reasons,

-- considering particularly that their supplementary pretext, according to which Comrade Vaneigem was wrong (in the absolute) to declare that Comrades [Robert] Chasse and [Tony] Verlaan (especially Verlaan) were admissible into the SI, is not acceptable according to all the bases of the SI known until now,

declares that Comrades Clarke, Gray and Nicholson-Smith are no longer part of the SI.

For the Situationist International,
Guy Debord, Mutspaha Khayati, Raoul Vaniegem

Naturally, we withdraw our signatures from all of the texts that the comrades in question would still like to publish.

(Written on the letterhead of the Situationist International.)

[1] Thimothy [sic] Clarke, situationist in the English section. [Translator: note that Timothy J. Clarke seems to have subsequently changed the spelling of his last name to "Clark."]

[2] Alan Hoffmann, "totalist" who had given [Vaneigem himself] a very positive, mystical interpretation of Raoul Vaneigem's "Basic Banalities."


(Published in Guy Debord, Correspondance, Volume 3, 1965-1968. Footnotes by Alice Debord, except where noted. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! September 2005.)



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