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LetterFrom Guy DebordTo Gianfranco Sanguinetti21 April 1978

Ever since the bombing of Milan [on12 December 1969], the "RedBrigades" have made constantprogress in raising of stakes -- Moro[1]is not Calabresi[2] -- but not in theirmethods: they have always killedefficiently, but their exploitation ofthese actions suffers from the samepoor and illogical staging, full ofhesitations and contradictions.

The leftists, who are stupid in both

their intentions and their strategy, arein no wayable to operate bythemselves in this manner. First of all,if they weren't followed, they wouldneed to act very quickly after thekidnapping (because of thepossibilities that they were alreadyinfiltrated or would one day findthemselves denounced at some level,if they did something stupid orencountered bad luck, this will beevident at least to one of them).Immediately, they would clearly and

with the most urgent insistancedemand something [in exchange forMoro]: either the liberation of politicalprisoners (as in the case of Baader),the dissemination of their propagandaor what they have learned fromMoro's extracted confessions ofcertain recent practices by theChristian-Democratic, semi-StalinistState. But they are naturallyindifferent to the fate of thoseaccused in Turin; they have nodiscernible ideas; they don't want to

compromise State personnel, whomoreover have shown no fear of thishappening.

I suppose that the intelligence of theItalian people, who don't expressthemselves in the mass media, havein large part understood all this. Fromwhence comes the diverse responsesof the last few days. Moro will be"suicided" so as to give the impressionthat a terrorist style has been

translated from the German (and thenhis body will be found in a lake[3] that

will, as it happens, contain anotherbody, but then there will be acorrection -- because one must havebeen dreaming to think such a simplecoincidence was strange -- that says

the aforementioned body was foundelsewhere, and that the informationconcerning these incidents came fromremote areas that are more accessibleto the carabinieri than urbanterrorists). In Hollywood movies, onesays: "Cut! Re-do the scene, it lacksnaturalism." Then Moro wasn't"suicided" anymore, and they nowwant a short postponement. Etc etc.

This affair is evidently staged by theenemies of the "HistoricCompromise"[4], not by revolutionaryenemies [of the State]. The leftists areordinarily very naive, even in Italy,where they gladly engage on theseoccasions in the completelytheological discussions of theproblems of revolutionary violence,like that chorus of children who, intheir faded aestheticism of the"anarchist assassin," once believedthat Oswald killed Kennedy.[5] It isthus a discussion on this model: "If

God existed, would he kidnap Moro"?But couldn't one just as easily ask:"Perhaps Censor exists and haschanged his politics?"

The Stalinists[6] evidently know whodirected this coup against them. Thefragile foundation of their politics isthe idea that all of the Christian-Democrats are officially their friends.Certain friends of the Stalinists'exerted this pressue on other friendsof theirs. The Stalinists say that it isn't

necessary to yield: and how couldthey say otherwise? The omertagoverns their relations to the end. Butwho applies this pressure, at thispoint? The things that are said, arecoded signs of an insult that playsitself out elesewhere. Some take greatrisks to show that the entry of theStalinists into the majority [coalition]won't restore order; quite thecontrary. It is necessary not to forgetthat from the point of view of therevolution, and from the point of viewof a capitalism in the manner of

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[Umberto] Agnelli[7], the Stalinists'participation absolutely doesn'tchange the nature of class society,which exists in other sectors ofcapitalism in which interests, which is

to say, passions are completelyopposed to the cost of making thischange and overtly constitute a casusbelli [cause for war].

The Stalinists are cruelly embarassed(Euro-Communism is already sunk, inFrance as in Spain). But if, today, thepublic is surprised by theseenormities, the Stalinist chiefs, andother old anti-fascists, have seen allthis and more, when they were young,in another Spain, when Andres Nin[8]was kidnapped. It is this that they saynothing about. As they once, as partof the International Brigades,defended the Spanish Republic insilence, they now defend the ItalianRepublic. But the Republics that theythus defend didn't last long.

The Stalinists' obligation to saynothing about diverse crimes [of thepresent] because they are silent onthe precedents for them creates a

problem that is well-known to theirenemies, whose audacity is thusjustified. But their silence isn't simplyfounded on the properly Stalinistcrimes of another epoch. TheStalinists, by virtue of their silence,have also collaborated in the coup of[12 December] 1969, from which therest has followed. Because it is theState that began terrorism [thebombing at the Piazza Fontana] inMilan (those who are invited to eatscraps from the table of the State,

despite its shady antecedents, won'tsay aloud that the dishes are dirty),Italian politics have spiralled intoapparent madness. There won't be apublic "Dreyfus Affair"[9], not becausethe scandal is smaller, but becausenobody will ever demand a trueconclusion. Thus Italy, which has hada "May [1968] in slow-motion," willaggravate its disease into a"Suppressed Dreyfus Affair."

Perhaps those who decided to kidnapMoro haven't accurately calculated all

of the consequences or theirinteractions with each other; butthese people have certainly weighedthem. To obtain the change they nowwant, they are ready for anything, and

they are now objectively constrainedto obtain it. Those who have stagedthis display, this coup, will do theworst. All of the partisans of the"Historic Compromise" are bothprovoked and terrorized. One alreadysees how they will react. If thepressure doesn't soon succeed inproducing a kind of softness, acrackdown is the obligatoryprogramme.

The experimenters who operate inItaly and begin to make it into theEuropean laboratory for counter-revolution are accustomed to ageneral complicity of all those whospeak, a complicity that -- pushed tothis point -- gives the entire country afalse aspect of general imbecility. Butone well knows that there are one ortwo exceptions. I have known aman[10] who spent his time amongthe "sfacciate donne fiorentine"[immodest ladies of Florence] and

who loved to keep bad company withall of the hard-drinkers of the badneighborhoods. But he comprehendedeverything that went on. Hedemonstrated his comprehensiononce. One knows that he will do itagain. He is, today, considered bysome to be the most dangerous manin Italy.

[Signed] Calvacanti [11]

[1] Former Italian Prime Minister Aldowas kidnapped on 16 March 1978.

[2] Police Inspector Luigi Calabresiwas in charge of investigating variousterrorist bombings that took place in1969, and was present when theanarchist Giuseppe Pinelli was"suicided" by police interrogators. On17 May 1972, Calabresi himself wasmurdered.

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[3] Here Debord refers to the bizarreevents of 19 April 1978, on which theItalian Army -- prompted by a falseclaim attributed to the Red Brigades --searched iced-over Lake Duchess for

the body of Aldo Moro, who was in factstill alive at the time. It wasn't until 9May 1978 that Moro was actuallykilled.

[4]The "Historic Compromise" was aproposal made by Aldo Moro to bringthe Italian Communist Party into theruling coalition. The "compromise"was strongly opposed by anti-communist elements in both Italy and"the international community" (NATO,the White House and the CIA).

[5] Note by Alice Debord: A thesissupported by Raoul Vaneigem in1968.

[6]The Italian Communist Party.

[7]The president of Fiat Motors.

[8] Andres Nin was the founder of theSpanish Communist Party and later

became a leader of the POUM. He waskidnapped and murdered by theSoviet Union's secret police in June1937.

[9] Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer inthe French army, was falsely accusedof passing secrets to the Germangovernment in 1894. It wasn't until1906 that he was exonerated.

[10] Debord is referring to GianfrancoSanguinetti.

[11] Guido Calvacanti was acontemporary and close friend ofDante Alighieri, the author ofTheDivine Comedy.

(First published in Editions ChampLibre, Correspondence, Volume II,November 1981. Reprinted in GuyDebord Correspondance, Vol 5:Janvier 1973-Decembre 1978 byLibrairie Artheme Fayard, 2005.

Translated from the French by NOT

BORED! March 2007. All footnotes bythe translator, except where noted.)

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