![]() ![]() In Debord’s reading of history, “ the bourgeoisie is the only revolutionary class that has ever won and it is also the only class for which the development of the economy was both the cause and the consequence of its taking control of society.” The revolutions of the previous centuries were economic in nature, replacing kings with merchant princes. And despite their pretensions, communist societies had the same goals as every modern nation - wealth, prosperity, innovation, and growth. Unsurprisingly, capitalism is the best system for the accumulation of capital. But as a real Marxist, he had already arrived at what would become the historical consensus - communism, as practiced, was merely an inferior cousin to its free market foes. The Soviet Union was very much a superpower, and Nixon had yet to go to China. It might seem strange for Debord to declare capitalism victorious at the height of the Cold War. What Debord describes is really a combination of two things the total triumph of capitalism, and the rise of mass media. The spectacle is never outright defined or rather, the entire book is a series of definitions, each approaching from a different angle. ![]()
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