On the Poverty of Student Life: A Consideration of Its Economic, Political, Sexual, Psychological and Notably Intellectual Aspects and of a Few Ways to Cure it is a pamphlet

Pamphlet

A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...

 first published by students of the University of Strasbourg

University of Strasbourg

The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....

 and the Situationist International (SI) in 1966. Attacking the subservience of university students and the strategies of student radicals, it caused significant uproar, led to the dissemination of Situationist ideas, and precipitated the events of May 1968 in France.

Background and publication

Taking advantage of the apathy of their colleagues, five "Pro-situs", Situationist-influenced students had been elected to the University of Strasbourg's students' union

Students' union

A students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools...

 in November 1966 and began scandalising the authorities. Their first action was to form an "anarchist appreciation society" called The Society for the Rehabilitation for Karl Marx and Ravachol; next they appropriated union funds to flypost

Flyposting

Flyposting is a guerilla marketing tactic through the act of placing advertising posters or flyers in legal or illegal places. In the United States, these posters are known as bandit signs, snipe signs, or street spam. Posters are adhered to construction site barricades, building facades, in...

 "Return of the Durruti Column", André Bertrand's détourned

Detournement

A détournement is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Letterist International, and consist in "turning expressions of the capitalist system against itself." Détournement was prominently used to set up subversive political pranks, an influential tactic called situationist prank that was...

comic strip. They then invited the Situationists to contribute a critique of the University of Strasbourg, and On the Poverty of Student Life, written by Tunisian Situationist Mustapha/Omar Khayati was the result.

The students promptly proceeded to print 10,000 copies of the pamphlet using university funds and distributed them during a ceremony marking the beginning of the academic year. This provoked an immediate outcry in the local, national and international media. The students responsible were expelled and the student union closed under court order. The scandal significantly raised the profile of the SI and led them to reappraise the revolutionary potential of academia, reversing their previous disillusionment to take seats on the Occupation Committee of the Sorbonne

Occupation Committee of the Sorbonne

The Occupation Committee of the Sorbonne was a radical student group that occupied the Sorbonne during the May 1968 social unrest in France....

 during May 1968. On the Poverty of Student Life was a key text for the French and German students who rebelled in 1968.

Content and reception

The text displayed an advanced understanding of Situationist concepts and tactics. It provoked the students of the university by confronting them with their subservience to the ideological conditions imposed upon them by the state, family and the university system. The pamphlet alleged that the students fled from this reality to take refuge in miserabilism and bohemianism

Bohemianism

Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...

. It also criticised radical student collectives including the Provos (Netherlands), Committee of One Hundred (United Kingdom) and those of Berkeley, California

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 (United States) for fighting specific issues such as nuclear arms, racism and censorship rather than the system at large, praising only Spies for Peace

Spies for Peace

The Spies for Peace was a group of anti-war activists associated with the Committee of 100 who publicized government preparations for rule after a nuclear war. In 1963 they broke into a secret government bunker, Regional Seat of Government Number 6 at Warren Row, near Reading, where they...

.

The title of the pamphlet induced fury in the Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

ian cafés in the Spring of 1967. The pamphlet was described by a local newspaper shortly after its release as "the first concrete manifestation of a revolt aiming quite openly at the destruction of society". Critic Greil Marcus

Greil Marcus

Greil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a much broader framework of culture and politics than is customary in pop music journalism.-Life and career:Marcus was born in San Francisco...

 characterised the pamphlet as a polemic

Polemic

A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...

 in his history of 20th century avant-garde art movements Lipstick Traces

Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century

Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century is a non-fiction book by American rock-music critic Greil Marcus that examines popular music and art as a social critique of Western culture....

(1990).

External links

• On the Poverty of Student Life at Nothingness.org