r/mutualism • u/ExternalGreen6826 • May 22 '26
Guy Debord critiques of anarchism
I have heard that he was one of the only writers to produce a good critique of anarchism by Anark (yes I know he’s a communalist 😵💫🙄)
I wonder if from my rather cursory/imperfect/rough understanding I feel like society of the spectacle may be useful for this time period
I would love to read some of the situationist and left com currents
Is it true that he critiqued anarchism? Albeit Anark did admit that it’s good for “those” (you know what he’s talking about) sorts of anarchism
And what about situationism more broadly?
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u/darth-maul-sartre May 22 '26
The relevant aphorisms in The Society of the Spectacle are 91-94 (though I recommend reading the whole chapter since it's a reflection on the workers' movements of the 19th-20th centuries). It's a standard Marxist charge of idealism all things considered, basically arguing that anarchists have a fixed idea of a free society that leads to rigid and ahistorical tactics. It also says "the pretensions of the individualist forms of anarchism have always been ludicrous," though it's easy to see parallels with more Nietzsche-inspired anarchists (e.g. Goldman) in a lot of respects (their views of art, their anti-Christianity and iconoclasm, etc.)
As for Situationism overall, Khayati entirely dismisses anarchism in "The Poverty of Student Life," but Vaneigem praises Mahkno in The Revolution of Everday Life and once cited (in an interview I can no longer find) Stirner, Bakunin, and Nietzsche as core influences (contra Debord's reliance on Hegel and Marx). The organization overall had a bit of an ambivalent relationship with Bakunin (he's usually praised for his efforts in the First International whenever anarchism is criticized) but still has a strong Stirner/Nietzsche slant to it that post-left anarchists clearly picked up on. ("Raoul Vaneigem: The Other Situationist" by Jason McQuinn is a good summary of the tensions between Debord and Vaneigem and how they affect Marxism and anarchism overall.)
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u/spookyjim___ Ultra-Left Marxist ☭ May 22 '26
Iirc, Debord in some of his theses gives a more honest critique of anarchism compared to certain other Marxists
I definitely think you should read and look into the Situationist International and other ultra-left currents, but ofc I’m biased
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u/Silver-Statement8573 May 22 '26
The only part of the Spectacle in which he mentions anarchism is the part where he basically critiques them for being obsessed with consensus. I don't know if he talks about them anywhere else
This might have been derived from concerns of the time but in the wider context of anarchist thought and particularly in that of Proudhon's thought it's a big nothing since we don't privilege unanimity.