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LetterFrom Guy DebordTo Jaap Kloosterman23 February 1981

Dear Jaap:

I am not extremely surprised by theevolution of your relations with Arthur.[1] Ever since the day that he had thecold audacity to falsely report aconversation that he had with me, infront of witnesses moreover, and that(in addition) concerned a questionthat was completely withoutimportance for all of us, I haverecognized in him the dishonest

bureaucratic temperament, with itstaste for hostile maneuvres, even ifthey are stupidly doomed to failure.This aspect of his personality, whichperhaps increases with age, will endup obscuring and dominating what hecan be as a revolutionary and ahistorian. The amusing law thatdominates this kind of praxis is abureaucrat is always destined to beout-maneuvred by and subjected to abureaucrat who is more beastly thanhe is (it is unquestionable that Trotsky

was much more intelligent thatStalin). Thus, this poor game has ledArthur, like a marionette, to followaround an imbecile of the dimensionsof [Rudolf] De Jong,[2] whose essenceI clearly recognized by reading asingle letter from her to the Italiansection of the SI twelve years ago!Moreover, I indicated this to Arthurand Maria,[3] who confirmed that hewas absolutely inconsequential. I havealways thought that he remained theessential cause of the hostility that

Arthur felt for me, since all of ourencounters were always cordial andwe never had the least conflict aboutanything. Not just a hundred times,but a thousand times, and withoutever finding a single exception, I haveexperienced the constant fact thatpeople do not forgive you for the goodcounsel that you have given themwhen they have not followed it andsuffer the consequences. For all that, Ihave never modified my behavior,because prudent wisdom is not mystrong point.

The only distressing thing about yourcurrent conflict, which Arthur seemsto find completely insignificant andwithout interest, is that the completeedition of Bakunin[4] risks suffering

greatly: once again, after a hundredyears, for he who truly held the palmamong cursed authors! I hope thatyou can arrive at an arrangement withChamp Libre that can prevent thismisfortune.

I cannot at all accept the publicationof my Preface[5] in the same book asGianfranco Sanguinetti's Terrorism.[6]I think it's a very good thing to publishTerrorism, which is completelyaccurate on its central question and isfull of valuable arguments concerningit. It is [however] extremely deficienttheoretically, and its pretentious toneis most disagreeable, when he has theinsolence to treat -- and reduce to aridiculous schemata -- the historicaland strategic question of armedstruggle in general and the particularcase ofall terrorism as it has existedin many diverse forms throughouthistory.

My refusal to bring these two textstogether is based upon the mostserious reasons. After the end of ourorganizational links in 1972, for manyyears I maintained a very closecollaboration with Gianfranco on manyenterprises and very good personalrelations. But all that is over. At themoment that Moro[7] was kidnapped,I wrote to Gianfranco,[8] exposing thetruth of this affair and encouraginghim to reveal it at once, and Icounseled him, at the same time, to

go underground, because he was inany case in great danger because theenemy knew that, having writtenCensor,[9] he was probably the onlyone in Italy who had the power toeventually reveal the truth at thatvery moment -- that is to say, whenthe enemy absolutely did not want torun such a risk, when Moro was stillalive (once the affair was over, soonforgotten and upstaged by otherspectacles, revealing what had takenplace would have only been theexpression of "an opinion," although,

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for sure, a very dangerous one).Gianfranco, for reasons that haveremained very obscure to me,responded at the time [1 June 1978]that my thesis -- which he later on

reprised -- was brilliant and ingenious,but he believed that true leftists weredetaining Moro. This was, however, abelief that no one who was a bitreasonable and well-acquainted withthe Italian situation could entertain.

I have asked Floriana [Lebovici] tosend you a photocopy of a recentletter from Gerard [Lebovici] that wassent to the first French publishers ofTerrorism, which is a document thatwill be published in Volume II of theCorrespondence.[10] I cannot tell youwhich is the better of the two [French]editions ofTerrorism; I read it in theItalian. People say that [Jean-Francois]Martos' translation is the better one.For the other details, you can writedirectly to Gianfranco Sanguinetti at[address omitted] in Italy.

If you can publish the Preface byitself, you will obviously have theagreement of Champ Libre. To my

knowledge, it has already beenpublished, outside of Italy, inEnglish[11] and in Greek, and it is nowbeing translated in Spain.

You must see how one now has theopportunity to serious shake Spain,and not leave to the Basques themonopoly on refusal, which ismoreover a localized refusal. The bookabout Segovia only expounds uponthe beginning of the process. TheEnglish, French, Italians, etc. arealready involved in the struggle, and Ithink that you must translate all thisfor Holland. One has quickly obtaineda remarkable effect: the liberation,not of all prisoners, but precisely themost guilty and the best, by a trulycomic "denial of justice" that thereason of the State chose precisely toavoid what could only rekindle the fireon the side of the "libertarian front."But, two months later, Suarez'spolitics of relative weakness towards

the autonomous regions, the demandfor divorce and especially in matters

of the repression of the armedstruggle -- all this has caused the firstpronunciamiento rampant[12] in thehistory of Spain. This is apronunciamiento without bragging

and spectacularly contradicted, butwhich follows its inexorable course:the army hunts for the Prime Ministerand one speaks of constitutional rulesto apply to the case; the bishopsreunite and make it known that theyhave been discovered to be enemiesof the divorce; the "government" --probably the first in the world to do so-- reveals that a detained Basque[separatist] was tortured and killedthe day before, thus causing theBasques to revolt, while Saurez

wanted to appease them and thearmy wanted to force them into astate of siege; one sanctions severalpolice torturers and all the SpanishChiefs of Police resign at the sametime; etc. In brief, two successivepolitics prove the accuracy of theanalyses in the tractA los libertarios:[13] 1) it is necessary "that one doesnot see an internationalistrevolutionary current reappear inSpain"; and 2) it is time to confess

that "all the pleasures of permitteddemocracy have already seen theirbest days."

The Russian bureaucrats' delay inintervening against the PolishRevolution proves in the most flagrantway their weakness today in Russiaitself. Because this intervention wasabsolutely necessary for them andwas so from the end of August [1980],because their system cannot accept aunion of the Western type. They

wanted to accept such a union for awhile, and this union -- as everywhereelse -- was incapable of combatingwildcat strikes. The peasants becameinvolved, it became like Hungary [in1956], in which Walesa, the Pope andKania tried to contain a revolution byweak exhortations. In the end, itwould be necessary to order the RedArmy to advance against the millionsof "White Guards, aristocrats andfascists" who occupied all of thefactories. But the morsel would be

harder to digest than Kronstadt.

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With our best wishes,Guy

P.S. If you translate In girum,[14] I cansend you a list of detournements. The

address below is good until the end ofMay. Afterwards, Champ Libre canforward mail to me.

[1] Arthur Lehning. [Translator's note:the Director of the InternationalInstitute of Social History inAmsterdam and editor of MikhailBakunin's The Complete Works.]

[2] Translator's note: associated withthe International Institute of SocialHistory.

[3] Maria Hunink, collaborator withArthur Lehning. [Translator's note:Hunink was also the Curator of theInternational Institute of SocialHistory.]

[4] An enterprise in which EditionsChamp Libre was engaged.

[5] Preface to the Fourth ItalianEdition of "The Society of theSpectacle." [Translator's note: firstpublished in French in 1979.]

[6] On Terrorism and the State, byGianfranco Sanguinetti.

[7] Aldo Moro, president of theDemocratic-Christian Party andinstigator of the "Historic

Compromise" with the CommunistParty, was kidnapped on 16 March1978 and assassinated by the so-called Red Brigades. His body wasdiscovered on 19 May 1978.

[8] Translator's note: see letter dated21 April 1978.

[9] Translator's note: The VeritableReport on the Last Chance to SaveCapitalism in Italy, written byGianfranco Sanguinetti and signed

"Censor."

[10] Letter from Gerard Lebovici toJean-Francois Labrugere and PhilippeRouyau (Editions Champ Libre,Correspondance vol. 2, pp. 70-72.)

[11]Translator's note: Published byChronos Publications, London.

[12]Translator's note: creepinginsurrection.

[13]Translator's note: an open letterwritten by Guy Debord and dated 1September 1980.

[14]Translator's note: In girum imusnocte et consumimur igni, Guy

Debord's last film, released in 1978.

(Abridged version published inEditions Champ Libre,Correspondence, Volume II, November1981. Full version published in GuyDebord Correspondance, Vol 6:Janvier 1979-Decembre 1987 byLibrairie Artheme Fayard, 2006.Footnotes by Alice Becker, exceptwhere noted. Translated from theFrench by NOT BORED! March 2007.)

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