s

ITUATIONISM
What follows are examples of Situationist activity in the Bay Area, including a brief
interview with a member of the short-lived Point Blank! group which in 1973 plastered
San Francisco with posters inquiring, "Did You Ever Feel Like Killing Your Boss?", etc,
bearing the Mayor's private phone number. Situationist materials are available from
Bound Together Book Collective, 1369 Haight, San Francisco C A 94117 (415-431-8355), or
from Compendium, 234 Camden High St, London NW1 England (1-485-8944).

VALE: Give us a little Situationist background

X: Situationism began in the late fifties as a Surrealistinspired attack on the mechanisms of alienated consumption
and the vulgar values of the Society of the Spectaclewhich
is the title of a work by a primary theoretician, the French
man Guy de Bord. The Situationists critiqued the idea of
work, play, the media, all organization, all hierarchy, and the
traditional Left, emphasizing spontaneous self-expression,
sexual liberation, the necessity for creativity and the exalta
tion of imagination and desire.
May 68 stands as the shining example of Situationist
theory put into practice, when almost the entire country of
France was brought to its knees by mass strikes. The incen
diary significance of May 68 and Situationism itself is virtu
ally unknown to most Americans, thanks to extremely
sketchy U.S. press coverage. A couple of eyewitness journal
ists, Patrick Seale and Maureen McConville, described the
feeling generated: "This very widespread revolt against the
old forms of established authority was accompanied by an
acute and profoundly enjoyable sense of liberation. All sorts
of people felt it in all walks of life. A great gust of fresh air
blew through dusty minds and offices and bureaucratic struc
tures. (Seale and McConville, French Revolution 1968, Lon
don, Heinemann and Penguin, 1968)
Inspired by Situationisms possibilities, in the early 70s
there were five Situationist groups in Berkeley: Point-Blank!,
Diversion, Negation, Contradiction, and the Bureau of Public
Secretsall competing! There were already "official
bureaus of the International Situationist group in Amster
dam, London, New York, etc. Basically these other groups
sprang up in opposition to this "officialdom; this was at a
time when the Paris group was factioning. Also, there was at
least a fifteen-year age difference between the original Situa
tionists and the Berkeley people, who were mostly
undergraduates.
However, lets stick to pranks and subversionspecifi
cally Situationist subversion. The following example
involved the most logistical planning (mainly phone calls
and printing), and was not only ambitious, but farfetched!
Because you cant easily shut down a city...
In 1973, thousands of the first three posters, Did you ever
feel like killing your boss?, Did you ever feel like stealing

everything? and Is there life after death? were plastered up

all over San Francisco by four teams of two people each,
starting around 10 PM and going almost til dawn. (A few
days after the first three posters had been circulated, a fourth
poster, The End of San Francisco (or, how to play with its
ruins) explaining our motives was plastered all over S.F.)
All districts were covered, with emphasis on shopping cen
ters, downtown, the financial district, and ghetto areas. We
used a special wheat paste which made the posters almost
impossible to remove.
However, late that night my partner and I were caught. A
patrol car took us to the Ingleside Precinct Station where we
were questioned for about two hours. Basically we said that
wed been wandering around that evening and someone had
approached us, made us the offer, and then paid us x amount
of dollars to do this job. We were simply earning a buck.
The police scrutinized the two posters they had, carefully
checked the telephone number (which was the Mayors pri
vate line!) and the names, and determined they were all
legitimate, [laughs] They said, "Well, these are the right
names all right, and this is a correct telephone number
they actually made calls to verify it! The gullibility factor in
all this was astonishingits amazing how one can exploit
the conventional media just by re-deploying letterheads and
logos. So anyway, they let us go.
What ultimately resulted was a flood of telephone calls to
the Mayors Office at City Hall. Then there were articles in
local papers exposing this "prank which for its day wasnt
bad; it was certainly more sophisticated than any other leftist
broadcast! We know for a fact that the Mayor was livid.
The whole point is: its simply a matter of using existing
communication channels to ones own advantage. One can
perpetrate crimes by posing as a delivery man, etcits just a
matter of using the guise of the existing system and turning it
upside down. Of course, this was largely a theoretical exer
ciseit doesnt cause people to think (anymore than they
already think) that they want to shoot their boss, or shoplift.
This approach (using the guise of the existing system to sub
vert it from within) is now known to be a much more effective
means of subversionwitness the CIAs de-stabilization of
governments by using the already existing newspapers, elec
toral system, and everything to achieve their ends!

DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE

KILLING YOUR BOSS?
i
If you have, youre not alone. Today, i t s
no secret th a t a lot of people arent happy at
their work. In fact, there is a growing discon
tent among workers of all types, in offices,
factories and public institutionsregardless
of age or pay-bracket, they no longer believe
in their jobs. In San Francisco (and, indeed,
all over the country), the institution of work,
which has long been a cornerstone of our so
cial structure, has lost its value. Dissatis
faction with the work ethic has been ex
pressed in various ways, from a general lack
of morale, to outright acts of sabotage, theft
and wildcat strikes. All of this poses a ser
ious threat to the successful functioning of
our economy. Statistics indicate th a t the
productivity level of the American worker is
one of the lowest in the world.
As proprietors of San Francisco busi
nesses, leaders of organized labor, and
government officials, we are intim ately con
cerned with this state of affairs. Since we are
partners in the economy who have a mutual
interest in the continued operation of our so
ciety, we feel th a t an immediate solution to
this problem m ust be found. A t present,
these acts occur on an individual or local
level, but they could easily develop into a
general revolt against our economic system.
Therefore, as a p art of a national effort, we
are starting a campaign designed to restore
peoples confidence in their jobs. This cam
paign will begin with a contest, BELIEV E
IN WORK.
Workers of San Francisco: we are aware
th at you are often bored and frustrated in
your work situation. B ut we are confident
th a t you are not disenchanted with our so
ciety as a whole because of this. We are al
ready implementing programs th a t will make
your job more meaningful to yoii by involv
ing you more actively in the decision-making
process. All of this will not change your posi
tion in society but it will bring your work
closer to you. While you may be unhappy
with your present conditions of employment,
we know th a t underneath it all, you still be
lieve in work itself and the system of author
ity th at lies behind it.
I t may appear to you th a t your work bears
little relation to w hat you really w ant to do,
and that it mainly consists of producing,
selling or servicing items which have no

apparent value in themselves. This may be

true; nevertheless, work keeps people occu
pied and gives them a goal in life. Besides,
this is the way it is all over the world, even in
the so-called socialist countries. Work has
helped everyone live much the sam e way.
The labor of the American worker has pro
vided all of us with the standard of living we
enjoy today. I t enables us to buy all the
things which are considered necessary to live
a happy, fulfilling life. People may object
th at in the act of shopping they are only buy
ing back w hat they and their fellow workers
have produced. However, this argum ent ig
nores the fact th a t work by its very nature
has to be this way; if we w ant society to con
tinue, we m ust all be prepared to make cer
tain sacrifices and a job is one of them.
Work may be unpleasant, then, but it is
absolutely essential. If people wanted to get
rid of it, they would have to change every
thing and create a completely different kind
of world. B ut lets be realisticnobody has
to go th a t far. We are convinced th a t the
average American worker respects his super
iors and is basically satisfied with his life. As
a way of showing our appreciation, our B E
LIEVE IN WORK contest will include a $20
cash incentive for all those who wish to
participate in it. Each contestant will receive
a free button, pictured below, and the indi
vidual who best fits our definition of a good
worker will be awarded a $1000 prize. Our
generosity should not be too su rp ris in g after all, money is the only thing we can ever
give you anyway.
W O RK IN G T O G E TH E R
a com m ittee of concerned San Franciscans
JO H N F. CROW LEY
Secretary-T reasurer, S an Francisco L abor Council
W IL L IA M E. D A U ER
Executive Vice President,
G reater San Francisco
C ham ber of Commerce
J O S E P H A L IO T O
M a y o r, S a n F ra n c isc o
(co-chairmen)
For fu rth er inform ation, telephone 558-3456.

DO YOU EVER FEEL

LIKE STEALING
EVERYTHING?
IH-u

l/( i J*,// /

? * llt>>-5!

..J

h r- V
Not only do m ost people feel this way,
theyre actually refusing to pay for consumer
goods, and instead are taking them illegally.
Many large San Francisco stores have suf
fered tremendous financial losses because of
the shoplifting th a t has taken place in the
last five years. As the owners of San Fran
cisco businesses, we are the people who have
to bear the cost of all this. We are therefore
taking this opportunity to express our con
cern and bring this problem out into the
open. Moreover, we feel th a t this seemingly
petty crime has im portant consequences for
society as a whole.
Surprisingly, this type of crime is not lim
ited to individuals who cant afford expensive
item sall kinds of people steal, even those
who have the money to spend. Our own em
ployees, for example, are responsible for a
large proportion of th eftwe cant even
tru st them any more. In fact, many people
consider shoplifting to be a game, a way of
striking back a t authority. This sort of activ
ity is far more disturbing than any kind of
consumer boycott, because it threatens the
very basis of our economy. We appreciate
good consumers who w ant to keep prices
down, but we cannot tolerate criminals.
All of this indicates th a t people are not
simply dissatisfied with the rising cost of liv
ing, but with the way they live in society. In
a sense, we can even understand this senti
ment. Apparently, shoppers feel insulted by
being forced to buy back w hat they have al
ready produced as workers. Shopping, how
ever, is as necessary as work. American so
ciety needs its consumers. People may feel
sometimes th a t in our economy, things are
more im portant than they are, but, after all,
we do give you a choice of what you can buy.
Those people who think shopping is boring
are the same people who are bored with their
w o rk -in fact, theyre probably bored with
everything our system has to offer. B ut
shopping is not necessarily a dull obligation;
it can be an exciting experience, a useful way
to spend your leisure time. Many people,
especially housewives, do a lot of shopping
and find it rewarding.

We are confident th a t m ost of you are bas

ically honest and have nothing to do with the
theft th a t has occurred. Right now, shop
lifting is largely an individual act and is not
th a t difficult to deal with. However, the con
tem pt for authority th a t people display when
they steal could easily become widespread. If
these people and our employees started
acting together, we could be faced with
serious revolt against the foundations of our
societywork and shopping. The kind of
people who dont pay are capable of any
thing, including the notion th a t they could
run society by themselves w ithout any need
for people to give them orders.
Shoplifting, then, is not ju s t an attack on
business, b u t an attack on our whole way of
life. We can stop this kind of crime by hiring
more guards to protect our property, b u t this
would only tre a t one aspect of a much greater
problem. To arrive a t a genuine solution, we
m ust restore peoples faith in shopping and
in society. As a contribution to this, we are
holding an I LIK E SH OPPIN G contest
which everyone is eligible to join. All those
who participate will receive a free I LIKE
SH OPPIN G button, pictured below, as well
as a $20 cash incentive. The individual who
can best tell us, in 100 words or less, why he
or she likes to shop, will be awarded a $1000
prize. Since you give us so much of your
hard-earned money every day, we can easily
afford to give you a little of it back.
F A IR TRA D E
a com m ittee of concerned San Franciscans
R OBERT A P P L E B Y
G eneral Store M anager, M acy s
C. A. H A IN E
G eneral M anager, Em porium
S hopping C enters
JO S E P H A LIO TO
M ayor, San Francisco
(co-chairmen)
For fu rth er inform ation,
telephone 558-3456.

THE END OF SAN FRANCISCO

v

(or, how to play with its ruins)

A city is nothing more than the sum of its con
straints. Its walls are at the same time the bar
riers to our lives and our desires. Every day, we
act out a routine within its streets and buildings,
but despite all our activity, nothing ever really
happens. Our work, our shopping, our education,
are just so much boredom, and we already know
it. Our misery finds its concentrated expression
in the city, and we can never really escape it.
The whole show is controlled by the same people
who order us around during the daythe bosses
and bureaucrats who benefit from the way things
are organized. But it is our habits as much as
anything else that keep us where we arewe
have been led to believe that everything's always
going to be the way it is, and there's nothing we
can do about it. However, beneath the surface
there exists a hidden discontent which is only
waiting for the right moment to express itself.
Yesterday, we published three posters, each
dealing with an aspect of this daily life, a daily
life which appears mysterious even though its
actions are repeated so often. We attacked
simultaneously work (Do You Ever Feel Like
Killing Your Boss?), shopping (Do You Ever
Want to Steal Everything?), and welfare (Is
There Life Before Death?). We also distributed a
phony "survival coupon" throughout the city. By
presenting each poster as an official document
written and signed by various civic leaders, we
attempted to call these institutions by their true
names, cutting through the lies that surround
them to reveal what people actually go through
every day. We parodied bureaucratic language
in order to expose the matters such language
deliberately conceals. At the same time, we
distributed a pamphlet (Space Travel) to com
muters and bus riders, which used the same for
mat to communicate the real purpose of travel in
a direct and personal way. We pointed out that
the circulation of people, like everything else in
society, is determined by the circulation of
things.
In carrying out these actions, we did not intend
to pull off some kind of elaborate practical joke.
Our aims were far more serious: we wanted to
present our ideas in such a way as to make it
impossible for anybody to ignore what we did,
including the authorities. We used the entire city
as a base for subversion, attacking work, shop
ping, welfare, and travel as important examples
of how we all spend our time, not as isolated
"problem s." Our lives are largely determined
by these categories, and in communicating our

p.o. box 42548

disgust with the existing world, we made it clear

that anything we did could only be a starting
point towards the development of large-scale ac
tion against society as a whole. In a time when
sideshows like the "Watergate scandal" com
mand public attention, the real scandal of how
we live has been constantly suppressed, and it is
precisely this reality that our actions tried to
expose.
Our goals are as radical as our methods; for
us, revolution means nothing less than the trans
formation of everything. Unlike those who
merely want to exchange one set of leaders for
another, who talk of socialism and the "van
guard party" in the same breath, we want to live
without bosses. We do not seek to impose our
selves at the head of any movement or to manip
ulate it for our own ends. If the present order of
things is to be eliminated, the m ajority of people
will have to assert their domination over the ur
ban environment that presently controls them.
To make the world truly oursto talk to other
people about the things we have always wanted
to talk aboutwe must begin to create our own
free space in the city, constructing it as a real
extension of our desires. This space, however,
cannot be restricted to one area; it can only be
created throughout all of society in the process of
radical struggle. The destruction of capitalism
and the class that maintains it must be accom
panied by the establishment of our own power,
democratic workers' councils where all of us can
participate in running our lives without outside
interference. Self-management in a society we
have organized ourselves is the common project
that yesterday's actions have tried to indicate.
The end of San Francisco as a place of isolation
and separation, then, will only come about when
people abolish these conditions through their
own actions. What we have accomplished may
be small in comparison with what remains to be
done, but from now on, things cannot continue as
before. Sooner or later, people will have to pur
sue their dissatisfaction to its final conclusion.
The spontaneous, individual revolts against
authority which occur every day throughout the
city, in offices, factories, and schools, must be
come generalized if they are to pose a genuine
threat to capitalist society. The defenders of the
existing order, from the tired old bureaucrats in
City Hall to all the young reformers who want to
"m ake the system w ork," can expect the worst.
The future will belong to those who have no
present.

POINT-BLANK!
san francisco, CA 94142