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LetterFrom Guy DebordTo Andre FrankinSaturday, 18 March 1961

Dear Andre

I very much regret the blunders ofthose from Brussels concerning thebringing of texts to you and theeventual content of those texts. Themost serious misunderstanding mustbe located between [Robert] Dehouxand Bakir, because the people fromBrussels believed they were coming,not to an informational meeting, butto a meeting that would decide upon

and write a programmatic text.

I perfectly understand the care youtook to provide the comrades fromLiege with time for a more exhaustivepolitical reflection. It is veryunfortunate that this wasn'tunderstood by all (and before themeeting of 12 March [1961]).

It is also quite obvious that it wasn'tpossible to extend the P. O.[1] groupto Liege by having you participate init.

This group, even provisionally reducedto Brussels, must come to the fore;but the absence of solid andexperienced militants, like those fromLiege, renders still more difficult theconstitution of an effective politicalprogramme. The contacts they havewith Paris fortunately engender acertain critical action on theirplatform, which they will not

definitively adopt without getting ouropinion. But this can not off-set, fromafar, the influence of trustworthyworker-militants who lack their ownorganization.

If the liaison committee that youformed in Liege at this moment trulyrepresents the maximum agreementpossible, even with Bakir, then try tomake the best use of it. I admit that Iam very sceptical of such aformulation, except if this committee

actually prepares a new, precise

platform. Otherwise, this formulationwill reinforce the illusions concerningthe "respective organizations" --except the JGS [2] -- that do not at allseem to come from sustainable

milieux.

Thus, I await with interest thedocuments that will be elaborated inLiege. But I do not at all see how Imust "choose Brussels or Liege," asyou have invited me to do. All thesame, I suppose that the first task ofyour liaison committee can not be tocritique and combat the P. O. group inBrussels! I hope that, before long, youyourselves will attempt a re-groupingof all the elements of the avant-garde,at first in Belgium, and later in liaisonwith the international regroupmentthen in motion.

Cordially yours,Guy

[1] Pouvoir Ouvrier [Workers' Power].

[2] Jeunes Gardes Socialistes [YoungSocialist Guards], a youth organizationsponsored by the Belgian SocialistParty.

(Published in Guy Debord,Correspondance, Volume 2, 1960-1964. Footnotes by Alice Debord.Translated from the French by NOTBORED! April 2005.)

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