Situationists - A Reading Guide

Libcom’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.

• Situationists - an introduction - Short and clearly-written introduction to the Situationists.
• Society of the Spectacle - Guy Debord - Seminal analysis of 20th Century consumer capitalism. Arguably the most important text of Situationist thought.
• The Revolution of Everyday Life - Raoul Vaneigm - Excellent text, written in Vaneigem’s typically poetic style, attacking the alienation of capitalist life not only at work but also in our ‘free’ time.
• Critique of the Situationist International - Gilles Dauve - Excellent overview of Situationist thought, analysing both their theoretical strengths and weaknesses.

• Situationist International - Libertarian Marxist group whose ideas heavily influenced the events of May 1968 as well as those of non-Leninist revolutionaries for years to come.
• Guy Debord - Writer, filmmaker and founding member of the Situationist International.
• Raoul Vaneigm - One of the most prominent members of the Situationist International.

• Internationale Situationiste - Archive of issues of the Situationist International’s journal.
• On the poverty of student life - Classic essay analysing the alienation inherent in student life and the university in general.
• Preliminaries on councils and councilist organization - René Riesel - A look at workers’ councils and the historical contexts in which they were created, challenging some aspects of the standard anarchist analysis of the events in Spain during the 1936 Revolution.
• The Decline and Fall of the Spectacle-Commodity Economy - Guy Debord- Interesting text on the 1965 riots in Watts, Los Angeles, developing into a wider criticism of the civil rights movement in general.
• Militancy: the highest stage of alienation - Organisation des Jeunes Travailleurs Révolutionnaires - A critique of the role of the political militant, it’s misery and arrogance.
• Enragés and Situationists in the Occupations Movement - Situationist International - Written in the aftermath of May 1968, a highly interesting account of their contribution to the movement of occupations that took place throughout France during the largest wildcat strike in history.
• May 1968 Documents - Situationist International - Documents produced by the Situationist International or groups the Situationists were involved with during the mass strike and revolt of the glorious May 1968 in France.

• On the poverty of hip life - Contradiction - A critical look at the hippy counter-culture.
• Strange defeat: The Chilean revolution, 1973 - Pointblank! - Article written in October 1973 about the coup in Chile which deposed elected left-wing leader Salvador Allende.
• Self management and the Spanish revolution - Point Blank - A Situationist take on the militias and workers’ councils during the Spanish Revolution.
• On the poverty of Berkeley life and the marginal stratum of American society in general - Chris Shutes - Situationist-influenced text containing critiques of Berkeley radicalism, the marginal worker, ‘natural’ commodities (e.g. crafts, food, medicine), the car, jogging, bureaucratic reform, Reaganism, the Black Panthers, criminality, culture/aesthetics, feminism, therapy, Robert Crumb, global class struggle in the 1970s and 80s and South Africa in particular - plus more.

• How to talk like a Situationist - Humorous piss-take of Situationist stereotypes.
• King Mob poster and image gallery - Posters, stickers and images produced by British Situationist-influenced group King Mob.