Guterman was Lefebvre’s longtime friend and collaborator, despite Guterman’s exile (as a European Jew) in New York for the last 40 years of his life, Lefebvre writing to Guterman from Algeria, Greece, Brazil, Spain, Italy, as well as his native France. Breton also corresponded with him. Nizan was a friend and colleague in the ‘Philosophie’ group of marxist intellectuals founded by Lefebvre.