The real split in the International

First published in 1972 in Paris, “The Real Split in the International” is regarded as one of Guy Debord’s finest works.Exploding as politically revoluntionary at the heart of the Paris 1968 uprisings, the Situationist International has proved a tenaciously compelling radical movement in terms of asthetics and political theory.This crucially important book is not only a philosophical landmark, it is also a cult classic that established the Situationist movement — of which Debord was the key member — as one of the most influential of the twentieth century.This new translation by John McHale is the first officially authorized in English. The book has previously been available only in underground or online formats.”The Real Split in the International” 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 International’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. Debord’s reaction was to break up the movement.Essential to an understanding of the revolutionary thought that inspired May 1968, this book is also an indispensable guide to all that is at stake in the “society of the spectacle.”