It is obviously a shame about the collage,[1] but, after this drop of water that overwhelmed the vase, one must cry "Stop!" -- and, to proceed with the formal freedom that the A.I. [Anarchist International] has lacked so much, we must "freeze" our relations with it until all has been clearly exposed.
But we will be happy to meet you next week, so as to know your point of view in this affair.
On the other hand, what is definite is the fact that we will no longer accept any sort of encounter with the current members of the A.I. (or perhaps with certain people, as long as they remain in it).
Contrary to what our letter[2] demanded -- even before having received it -- Pierre [Lepetit] and Nicole [Le Fol] (plus Hubert,[3] completely morose) appeared at a meeting of the SI at Donald [Nicholson-Smith]'s place. They spoke for a certain length of time; we reaffirmed our conclusions to them. It is completely obvious to us that their position is one of pure bad faith. They have profited from blunders -- quite obvious -- made by you (in particular, your efforts at conciliation), so as to make you the number 1 problem of the A.I.; the "guilty Beria"[4] in a certain way! They said that it was because [Guy] Bodson had already been formally and completely excluded that one could reproach you for having abusively continued to "want to kill a corpse." Etc. The joke became manifest in a slightly virtuous atmosphere that added to the derisive filthiness of their attitude: especially in front of us, about whom they have found out on several occasions that it isn't easy to manoeuvre with a pretty song (see F.I.J.L.[5] and other cases). They even let it be understood that, if absolute urgency has unmasked you, this does not mean that they will be "indulgent" with [the group in] Rennes: this debate isn't finished,[6] they will no doubt "remove" them.
We have declared to them that -- as far as the A.I. group is concerned -- we have passed from mistrust (after the Bodson affair) to radical scorn. They departed sadly.
See you soon,[1] Translator: collage of poster-comics announcing the publication of I.S. #11, which were to have been put up at dawn on Sunday 15 October 1967 by members of the Anarchist International and the SI.
[2] Translator: see letter dated 10 October 1967.
[3] Hubert Berard, of the A.I.
[4] Translator: a brutal leader of the Soviet secret police, Lavrenti Beria was found guilty and shot in 1953.
[5] Translator: see letter dated 9 April 1967.
[6] The Rennesais responded to the anger of Jacques Le Glou in this way (extract): "(Seeing that you are patient) we thus repeat that: 1) It is to our great indignation that Cosson fired the first shot. 2) Cosson had accumulated several thoughtless actions on several occasions. 3) The prior conduct of Cosson didn't permit one to suppose the possibility of such behavior. 4) Cosson did not fire on a comrade, but at the side of a comrade. 5) The death of Loic was an accident. A weapon is the negation of the game. . . ." [Translator: this refers to a murky event that took place at the end of August 1967 and seems to have precipitated Le Glou's exclusion from the Anarchist International. Someone named Gilles Cosson, who had been admitted into the Rennes group (a part of the A.I.) three days earlier, killed Loic Le Reste point-blank. Cosson's first shot was at Jean-Paul Caro and missed its mark; his second shot hit Le Reste.]
(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.)