The loss of quality that is so evident at every level of spectacular language, from the objects it glorifies to the behavior it regulates, stems from the basic nature of a production system that shuns reality. The commodity form reduces everything to quantitative equivalence. The quantitative is what it develops, and it can develop only within the quantitative.

This schism birthed several factions of Letterists one of which was decidedly led by Debord upon Gil Wolman's unequivocal recommendation. Debord then focused on filmmaking with financial backing from the movie mogul and publiGuy Debordr Gérard Lebovici (éditions Champ Libre) until Lebovici's mysterious death. He criticized both the capitalism of the West and the dictatorial communism of the Eastern bloc for the lack of autonomy allowed to individuals in both governmental structures.

He was also briefly a member of Socialisme ou Barbarie.