The real split in the international

Exploding as politically revolutionary at the heart of the Paris 1968 uprisings, the Situationist International has proved a tenaciously compelling radical movement in terms of aesthetics and political theory.

This volume presents an understanding of the revolutionary thought that inspired the Situationists and has established the Situationist movement - of which Guy Debord was the key member - as one of the most influential of the 20th century.The book sees Debord not only evaluate the movement as a whole, but also signal the end of it.

For him, it had become clear that the Situationist's success had produced - within its own ranks as well as outside them - a host of fans and "onlookers" who amounted to little more than consumers of a radicality that had become fashionable.

In this way the movement had begun to encompass the very "society of the spectacle" that the Situationists had challenged.

There was a danger that Situationist theory could turn into ideology - Debord's reaction was to break up the movement.