| They originated in a small
band of avante-garde artists and intellectuals influenced by Dada,
Surrealism and Lettrism. The post-war Lettrist International, which
sought to fuse poetry and music and transform the urban landscape, was a
direct forerunner of the group who founded the magazine 'Situationiste
Internationale' in 1957. At first, they were principally concerned with
the "suppression of art", that is to say, they wished like the
Dadaists and the Surrealists before them to supersede the categorization
of art and culture as separate activities and to transform them into
part of everyday life.
At first, the movement was mainly made up
of artists, of whom Asger Jorn was the most prominent. From 1962, the
Situationists increasingly applied their critique not only in culture
but to all aspects of capitalist society. Guy Debord emerged as the most
important figure.
The Situationists rediscovered the
history of the anarchist movement, particularly during the period of the
First International, and drew inspiration from Spain, Kronstadt, and the
Makhnovists. They described the USSR as a capitalist bureaucracy, and
advocated workers' councils. But they were not entirely anarchist in
orientation and retained elements of Marxism, especially through Henri
Lefebvre's critique of the alienation of everyday life. They believed
that the revolutionary movement in advanced capitalist countries should
be led by an "enlarged proletariat" which would include the
majority of waged laborers. In addition, although they claimed to want
neither disciples nor a leadership, they remained an elitist vanguard
group who dealt with differences by expelling the dissenting minority.
They looked to a world-wide proletarian revolution to bring about the
maximum pleasure. |