The
Arch Conspirator
By Len Bracken,
Adventures Unlimited Press, 1999.
"Conspiracy, " n. from the Latin to breathe together. A secret
agreement or combination between two or more persons to commit an
unlawful act that may prejudice any third person
How much Len Bracken's new book has benefitted from the popularity
of dramas like The X-Files remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the
persistence of Elvis sightings, stories of alien abductions and
continued interest in the Bermuda Triangle are testimony to the
public's continuing interest in unexplained mysteries. And while
interest in renegade CIA agents and neo-Nazis in the White House has
abated since its peak with Oliver Stone's movie JFK, there is still
sufficient popularity for a show like Conspiracy Zone with
ex-Saturday Night Live comedian Kevin Nealon. Yet regular readers of
Adventures Unlimited titles, along with the casual conspiracy buff
picking up this tome hoping for a John Judge style expose are likely
to be disappointed..
Len Bracken is best known for his 1997 critical biography of
Situationist International leader/founder Guy Debord. In this current
collection of essays, Bracken does not depart from his interest in
the Situationists, but incorporates their ideas into the broader
theme of conspiracy in history.
For those familiar with Bracken's work in Guy Debord:
Revolutionary or in his zine Extraphile,
much of the material covered here will be familiar. In addition to
the Situationists in essays such as "Psychogeographical Map into the
Third Millennium" and the hilarious "Situation Report on the Hacienda
conference", Bracken also includes his anti-work ideas in "Anti-Labor
Day 1997" which includes selected aphorisms against work. In addition
each chapter is introduced by examples of Bracken's interest in
photography.
The book can be divided into two sections. First a collection of
shorter pieces. The book begins with an account of a Russian
conspiracy It is followed by "Considerations on Conspiracies," which
assesses past conspiracies as such Catiline, Spartacus, and of course
JFK. Beginning, Bracken notes "hidden actions are the most
admirable." This is for most people the definition of conspiracy, but
Bracken's use of the term is clearly broader than most would have. In
citing these examples, he clearly intends to prove a conspiracy
theory of history.
The last third of the book is given over a sweeping historical
account of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary moments in
history. "A Zerowork Theory of Revolution and A General Theory of
Civil War" is an examination by Bracken of the theory of civil war
and also the possibilities for revolutionary transformation.
Ostensibly ghostwritten as a master's thesis for money for a foreign
student at a Washington university, the text was re-written for
publication here.
Here Bracken distinguishes between six categories of civil war and
three types. What follws is a histroical examination of the causes
and methods of civil war, including both left wing, and right wing.
Of particular interest is Bracken's ideas about the refusal of work
in struggle, where he comments favourably upon the work of such
groups as Echanges and Kamunist Kranti. The zero work council then
would also be about reducing work. An important notion when the left
babbles about workers councils as if a future society would be
reduced to a huge factory and self-managed alienation.
It also seems that Bracken's mission here is to rescue the notion
of conspiracy from the right, and to subject the idea to
detournement. Detournement, to use a Situationist term, is the taking
of familiar images or ideas and subverting their intent by filling
them with revolutionary content,. For example the use of familiar
images such as the Terry and the Pirates comic strip and re-writing
the dialogue.
Nevertheless, this idea can be problematic. The Situationist
International began its existence as political avant guarde art
group. In 1962 they adopted the political programme of workers
councils as filtered through the lens of the French ultra-left group
Socialisme ou Barbarie, of which Debord had briefly been a member.
Bracken describes the moments' of council communism, including
the German Revolution of 1919, and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956,
as the "greatest moments of political intelligence of the twentieth
century."
Bracken endorses the Situationist credo that poetry must be made
by everyone or by no one, but the advocacy of conspiracy seems to
contradict theat notion. For the council communists have pointed out
the advocacy of political programmes and efforts to organize the
workers, must ultimately lead to a substitution for the masses. A
successful conspiracy without new forms of organization would merely
introduce old forms of oppression.
The Arch-Conspirator is a sling shot. Some of its
stones find targets, others miss their mark. Nevertheless, it is an
erudite and witty read. And above all, it is an argument that ought
to make the reader pause for reflection. Now there's a conspiracy
that worked.
Dave Elswith
Post Script July 2002
The original review published in R&BN #14
contained several minor errors such as the spelling of Len Bracken's
zine Extraphile and the year of publication of Guy Debord :
Revolutionary. These ahve been corrected in the above version.
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