|
|
In Short
Appendix to Avviso al proletario italiano sulle possibilità presenti della rivoluzione sociale (1969)
Translated by Ken Knabb
THE ONLY REASON the situationists do not call themselves “communists” is so as not to be confused with the cadres of pro-Soviet or pro-Chinese antiworker bureaucracies, leftovers from the great revolutionary failure that ultimately extended the universal dictatorship of the economy and the state.
The situationists do not constitute a particular party in competition with other self-styled “working-class” parties.
The situationists refuse to reproduce internally the hierarchical conditions of the dominant world. They denounce everywhere the specialized politics of the bosses of hierarchical groups and parties, who base the oppressive force of their delusory future class power on the organized passivity of their militants.
The situationists do not put forward any ideological principles on which to model and thus direct the movement of proletarians. They consider that up to now revolutionary ideology has only changed hands; the point is to dissolve it by opposing it with revolutionary theory.
The situationists are the most radical current of the proletarian movement in many countries, the current that constantly pushes forward. Seeking to clarify and coordinate the scattered struggles of revolutionary proletarians, they help to draw out the implications of their actions. Striving to maintain the highest degree of international revolutionary consciousness, with the new theoretical critique they have been able to predict everywhere the return of the modern revolution. They are feared not for the power they hold, but for the use they make of it.
The situationists have no interests separate from the interests of the proletariat as a whole. They expect everything and have nothing to fear from so-called “excesses,” which reflect the critical profundity of the new era and the positive richness of the liberated everyday life that is emerging.
In all the present struggles the situationists constantly bring to the forefront the project of abolishing “everything that exists separately from individuals” as the decisive issue for the movement working to negate the existing society.
The situationists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their only interest and only goal is a social revolution going to the point where all powers are concentrated in an international federation of workers councils, the power of everyone over all aspects of everyday life — over all aspects of the economy, of the society, and of history. The point is therefore not to modify private or state property, but to abolish it; not to mitigate class differences, but to abolish classes; not to “improve” the present society, but to create a new society; not to achieve some partial success that would give rise to a new division, but to thoroughly reject every new disguise of the old world.
The situationists have no doubt that the only possible program of modern revolution necessarily entails the formation of councils of all the workers, who by developing a clear awareness of all their enemies will become the sole power.
Revolutionaries are now turning their attention especially to Italy, because Italy is on the eve of a general uprising toward social revolution.
|
