Today I received your letter of the 3rd along with the cachet from Florence of the 4th.
The saddest news awaited us in Paris: Boujoum is dead! He was hit by a car in the country when he ran through the deserted spaces and went to cross (with his customary imprudence) a small road over which only four cars pass per day. In the same way that one says "the leopard dies with his spots," one can also say that the Afghans die with their speed. The fatal event took place at the beginning of our trip, when we were in Venice. You can imagine the distress of our Asian.[1] Mine is also great.
I come from seeing [Gerard] Lebovici, who is better and better. He demanded the immediate resignation of the four bureaucratic directors of Champ Libre,[2] as I had urgently advised him. At the first meeting, the four declared that "it would not be a question" of them giving their resignations. Lebovici soon thereafter responded, "Well then, you are fired!" Thus, forgetting all of their requirements and glorious demands, they "crossed him out" as their patron and boss. Since the death of Alexander, one has not seen such a sudden collapse of an empire! Thus, they are now unemployed workers. All of the Parisian intelligentsia is talking about it. As you might think, it is to me that one generally attributes this kind of "coup de Sinigaglia,"[3] to which "their naivete" led them.
In brief, more than ever we have this publishing house at our disposition. Finish Censor[4] quickly.
When you have news from Milan, permitting one to anticipate the passage of the Hungarian,[5] telephone me.
Best wishes,P.S. Still no news from Lisbon.
[1] Translator's note: Alice Becker-Ho, also known as Alice Debord.
[2] Translator's note: In Considerations on the Assassination of Gerard Lebovici (1985), Debord wrote: "After several disagreements whose details I do not know, these four 'intellectuals workers,' as they called themselves, presented Gerard Lebovici with a two-week ultimatum. They wanted to overcome the differences of opinion in the most direct way: namely, that 'the control of production and the management of Champ Libre' be given over to a committee of six people, of which they held four of the positions. The publisher responded to this absurd putsch with a lengthy refutation of their allegations, and arranged for a meeting. During this meeting, he told them that since he had refused their demands, he was waiting for their resignations. They all replied 'that there could be no question' of resigning. At that point the publisher made it clear that they were all immediately fired."
[3] Reference to Cesar Borgia, who killed his enemies after having invited them to Sinigaglia.
[4] Translator's note: The Veritable Report on the Last Chance to Save Capitalism in Italy, written by Gianfranco Sanguinetti and signed "Censor."
[5] Gianfranco Sanguinetti.
(Published in Guy Debord Correspondance, Vol 5: Janvier 1973-Decembre 1978 by Librairie Artheme Fayard, 2005. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! March 2007. Footnotes by Alice Debord, except where noted.)