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A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 2
Marxist think-tank, the Institute was a center for but it was nonetheless a devastating critique of the
theoretical discourse but not revolutionary history, philosophy, politics, social and economic
activism. Although some of its faculty and staff structures, major institutions, and religious
were avowed Communists, the Institute was foundations of Western civilization. As a result,
never officially affiliated with either the despite the individual personalities and the
Communist Party of Germany (KPD) or the more respective differences and emphases of the various
moderate Socialist Party of Germany (SPD). Frankfurt scholars, there was a basic
Furthermore, although the Frankfurt scholars philosophical coherence in their cumulative work.
praised Lenin and the Bolshevik regime in the Ultimately, what united these scholars was the
early Twenties, support for the USSR was more application of a Neo-Marxist dialectic in their
tempered after Lenin died in 1924. Interestingly, unrelenting criticism of contemporary Western
Grunberg and his colleagues were careful not to society and culture.
criticize Stalin overtly, but they circumspectly An important point to consider is that the
kept their distance. driving force behind the Frankfurt Schools
Grunberg suffered a stroke in 1927 and retired research was never impartial scholarship but the
as director of the Institute of Social Research a aggressive promotion of a radical left-wing
couple of years later. In 1930 Max Horkheimer socio/political agenda. Even Martin Jay, who is
became the director of the Institute, and at that generally sympathetic toward the Frankfurt
point a new philosophy took hold in the Institute. School and Critical Theory, concedes that the
Horkheimers view of Marxism was more true object of Marxism... was not the uncovering
expansive and dialectical rather than rigid and of immutable truths, but the fostering of social
mechanical, and like Gramsci and Lukacs before change. The conservative research scholar,
him, he was convinced that the major impediment William S. Lind, is more blunt:
to the spread of Marxism was Western culture. In The goal of Critical Theory was not truth
particular, he despised traditional but praxis, or revolutionary action: bringing
Judeo/Christian ethics and morality, which he the current society and culture down through
believed prevented the widespread acceptance of unremitting, destructive criticism. [William S.
Lind, Further Readings in the Frankfurt School,
Marxism. in Political Correctness: A Short History of an
Under Horkheimers directorship, the Ideology. www.freecongress.org.]
Frankfurt scholars synthesized Marxism, Social Horkheimer and his associates did not regard
Darwinism and Freudian psychology, and in the truth and reason (including Marxist dogmas) as
process they created an ingenious cultural immutable and transcendent realities, but neither
ideology that had the potential to radically did they consider themselves to be relativists
transform German (and Western) culture. either epistemically or ethically. Instead, they
Horkheimer was convinced that human values argued that truth exists, but only within history. In
and actions were psychological as well as this sense, they regarded the dichotomy between
ideological, and he was adamant that the Institute absolutism and relativism to be false because it
integrate psychology into its philosophy. The was merely a theoretical construct divorced from
result, as Martin Jay observes, was that in the real life situations. As Martin Jay explains, Each
early years the Institute concerned itself period of time has its own truth, Horkheimer
primarily with an analysis of bourgeois societys argued.... [and] what is true is whatever fosters
socio-economic substructure in keeping with social change in the direction of a rational
classical Marxism, while in the years after 1930 society. He goes on to note...
its prime interest lay in its cultural superstructure Dialectics was superb at attacking other
as developed by Neo-Marxist theoreticians. systems pretensions of truth, but when it
Under Horkheimer, the Frankfurt School came to articulating the ground of its own
propagated a revisionistic Neo-Marxist assumption and values, it fared less well....
interpretation of Western culture called Critical Critical Theory had a basically insubstantial
Theory. In essence, Critical Theory was a concept of reason and truth, rooted in social
comprehensive and unrelenting assault on the conditions and yet outside them... If Critical
values and institutions of Western civilization. Theory can be said to have had a theory of
truth, it appeared in its immanent critique of
Based on utopian social and political ideals,
bourgeois society, which compared the
Critical Theory offered no realistic alternatives, pretensions of bourgeois ideology with the
A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 3
reality of its social conditions. Truth was not African-American Studies, Ethnic Studies,
outside the society, but contained in its own Feminist Studies, Peace Studies, and LGBT
claims. Men had an emancipatory interest (Lesbian/Gay/Bi-sexual/Transgender) Studies.
in actualizing the ideology. [Martin Jay, The Particularly significant in this regard was
Dialectical Imagination, p. 62.]
Wilhelm Reichs book, The Mass Psychology of
This is, to say the least, an unconvincing Fascism (1933), which offered up an intriguing
argument. The claim that truth is only a product revision of the Marxist dialectic. Unlike classical
of ones historical circumstance would itself be a Marxism, which was fundamentally economics-
product of ones historical circumstance, which is based and reductionistically simplistic in terms of
of course self-refuting. Although denying they setting the bourgeoisie against the proletariat,
were epistemic relativists, the Frankfurt scholars Reich contended that the conflict in the 20th
were certain that truth is found only within century was between reactionaries and
historical circumstances, yet they claimed revolutionaries. In other words, the culture war
personal exemption from the restrictions of their was not exclusively a class-based conflict but one
own historical circumstance and assumed a between those who held incompatible socio/
transcendent truth perspective. In logic, this is the political ideologies. This allowed some among the
self-excepting fallacy but they conveniently elite classes in society, including some who were
resolved this contradiction by simply dismissing rich and highly-educated, to join in the struggle
formal logic as bourgeois thinking. Besides, it against oppression along with the poor and the
imposed unwanted restrictions on their theoretical exploited. Of course, it also opened up the
assertions. opportunity for Marxist intellectuals such as
Under Horkheimers leadership the Frankfurt Reich and his Frankfurt School colleagues to take
School attracted some brilliant scholars and leadership in the culture war on behalf of the
intellectuals such as Theodor Adorno, Eric downtrodden and the victims of Western
Fromm, Wilhelm Reich, Walter Benjamin, Leo capitalism and Christian oppression. Nonetheless,
Lowenthal and Herbert Marcuse. Like Trotsky, as members of the intellectual elite, they retained
Luxemburg, Lukacs, Bela Kun and other notable a certain distance from the unwashed masses. As
European Marxists in the early 1900s, many of Martin Jay notes, the Institutes members may
the Frankfurt scholars were secular Jews, a fact have been relentless in their hostility towards the
that the Nazis successfully exploited in their capitalist system, but they never abandoned the
propaganda regarding a Jewish conspiracy of life-style of the haute bourgeoisie.
Communist intellectuals who were perverting In retrospect, the Frankfurt School had a
German society. significant influence on the evolution of the
Although independent scholars in their own American left over the past 70 years, particularly
right, the Critical Theorists held a common the kind of cultural Marxism that generated the
commitment to Neo-Marxism and the belief that New Left movement in the 1960s. Since then, the
Western civilization has left has launched an
been an imperialistic and unremitting culture war of
repressive force in human attrition that has largely
history especially, succeeded in terms of
Western Christianity. In secularizing American culture
their view, Western and undermining traditional
civilization was built on values and institutions, and
aggression, oppression, much of its ideology,
racism, slavery, classism inspiration and tactics were
and sexual repression. gleaned from the Frankfurt
Decades later, this Schools Institute of Social
ideology became the Research.
philosophical basis for the
founding of the various
critical studies programs
and departments in (L-R): Felix Weil, Walter Benjamin,
Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno
universities such as
A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 4
impression, some were quite profound and onset of the Great Depression there was once
undeniably influential. again a flurry of socio/political musical
[NOTE: Before the advent of the phonograph commentaries. Many of these songs, such as
and the radio, popular music was Happy Days Are Here Again and Theres No
indistinguishable from folk music in that one Depression In Love, were slick and jazzy
generations popular songs became the folk songs productions designed to revive the flagging spirits
of succeeding generations. It wasnt until the early of the American people, while others dealt more
20th century, with the evolution of a commercial seriously with social realities such as Brother,
music industry, that popular music became a Can You Spare a Dime? Hobos Lullaby, and
distinct category from folk music.] many of Woody Guthries songs.
Prior to the 20th century social protest songs Likewise, World War II inspired scores of
often disguised their messages, such as in the songs that echoed the times e.g., Irving Berlins
Mother Goose rhymes. However, with the God Bless America, Remember Pearl
coalescence of several different reform movements Harbor, Johnny Mercers G.I. Jive, The
in the early 1900s, socio/political protest music Andrews Sisters Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,
became more open and explicit. In particular, the Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition,
radical left-wing of the labor movement, as Coming In On a Wing and a Prayer, Peggy
characterized by the Marxist-oriented Industrial Lees Waiting For the Train To Come In, and
Workers of the World (IWW), utilized music very many others. In the relatively placid Fifties few
effectively to rally the troops and promote its songs dealt with themes other than romance (e.g.,
agenda. Labor anthems, such as those composed Elvis Presleys Love Me, Tender, Pat Boones
by songwriters such as Joe Hill (see below), Love Letters In the Sand, etc.) or the pursuit of
contained sharp and explicit lyrics and were sung pleasure (Bill Haley & the Comets Rock Around
with revivalistic fervor by the union faithful. the Clock, Chuck Berrys Sweet Little Sixteen,
Since popular music echoes the spirit of the etc.). Then, the turbulent 1960s once again
times, socio/political message songs tend to produced a great outpouring of socio/ political
proliferate during times of crisis and turmoil. topical songs. But unlike the past, this time
This was certainly the case during World War I counter-cultural themes dominated the music, and
when Tin Pan Alley songwriters churned out the lyrics tended to be overwhelmingly critical of
scores of topical songs related to the war mainstream American lifestyles and values.
everything from the anti-war I Didnt Raise My Since the Sixties popular music in general has
Boy To Be a Soldier to flag-waving anthems gotten even more cynical and jaded. Much of it
such as Over There has become a celebration of decadence, and the
and social glorification of sex, drugs, violence, irresponsible
commentaries like hedonism and mindless materialism is certainly
How Ya Gonna cause for alarm. If Britney Spears, Madonna,
Eminem, the hip-hoppers and the gangsta rappers
speak for a critical mass of young people today,
this is truly disturbing. And although most of this
music is not overtly political, the very fact that
these people are pop culture icons is a damning
indictment of the state of our culture.
Many people wonder why so much popular
music is so ugly, so degenerate, so sexualized, so
obscene, and so fixated on drugs and violence.
Keep em Down on the Since all art is an expression of philosophy and
Farm (After Theyve moral values, much of this is due to the insidious
Seen Paree)? During influence of Nihilism and Postmodernism on
the raucous and contemporary American culture. But some of it
prosperous Roaring directly reflects a Neo-Marxist political ideology
Twenties very few serious socio/ political as well. To radical left-wing social critics, the
commentaries were written and recorded, but reason why so much modern art expresses such
following the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the rage and dissatisfaction is because it reflects the
A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 7
realities of living in a repressive and oppressive various types of avant-garde music such as atonal
society under the heavy yoke of capitalist free form jazz (most notably, the music of John
exploitation and traditional Christian-influenced Cage), the extended guitar freak-outs that were
moral values. popular among some rock bands in the Sixties,
Cultural Marxists argue that all of life is a and in recordings such as John Lennons bizarre
struggle against the forces of oppression and Revolution No. 9" on The Beatles White Album.
repression. Originally, classical Marxism focused More recently, much of rap, hip-hop and heavy
rather narrowly on economic oppression and class metal music emphasize form over content. In
conflict, but by the 1930s Neo-Marxists began to much of this music the lyrics and the messages are
widen the scope of their cultural critique to vague, inarticulate or even unintelligible, but the
include a broader range of social issues and even mood is obviously angry, aggressive and anti-
psychological factors in particular, issues related social. In such music, form trumps content and, to
to sexual repression. In their condemnation of borrow Marshall McLuhans famous dictum, the
Western culture, they emphasized social injustice medium is the message. Despite the lack of any
and the plight of marginalized minorities those clearly articulated or intelligible message, such
victims of the bourgeois social order that included music can function as a potent expression of
the working classes, racial minorities, radical socio/political protest.
feminists, homosexuals, and non-Christians in Theodor Adorno, the Frankfurt Schools most
general. Therefore, it was within the context of prominent cultural analyst, was a staunch
their Neo-Marxist Critical Theory that they advocate of the form over content approach.
encouraged the politicization of the arts as part of Adorno began his academic career as a music
a full-scale assault on Western culture. critic, and as a doctrinaire Marxist he had a
Among cultural Marxists there have been two peculiar take on music as a political statement. He
competing theories regarding the proper role of was contemptuous of popular culture in general,
revolutionary art. The first approach, which Lenin which he regarded as bourgeois, frivolous and
sanctioned and has always been the most counter-revolutionary, and as a musicologist he
common, focuses on content. In this approach art was particularly scornful of popular music, which
is an expression of agitprop (agitation/ he considered trivial, insipid and banal which of
propaganda), and it emphasizes overtly social and course most of it was (and always has been).
political messages. However, these messages may But Adorno was more than just a cultural
be either relatively mild and suggestive or harsh elitist, and he held a radical view of art and
and confrontational. Examples of the former culture that few would accept. According to him,
would include many of the socio/political protest since modern bourgeois culture is intrinsically
songs of the early Sixties such as Bob Dylans repressive, art could only be authentic if it
Blowin in the Wind and Pete Seegers If I were non-commercial, dissonant and alienating.
Had a Hammer and Where Have All the In other words, any art form, such as music, that
Flowers Gone. By the mid-Sixties much of the conveyed joy or contentment or harmony was at
protest music became more explicit and best an expression of ignorance or at worst an
aggressive, as characterized by songs such as affirmation of the authoritarian status quo.
Dylans The Times They Are A-changin, Barry Declaring that defiance of society includes
McGuires Eve of Destruction, The Beatles defiance of its language, Adorno might also have
Revolution, or I Feel Like Im-Fixin-To-Die added that defiance of society includes not only
Rag by Country Joe & the Fish. defiance of its traditional values but its art forms
The alternative as well. As he stated, We interpret [art] as a kind
theory of revolutionary of code language for processes taking place within
art emphasizes form society, which must be deciphered by means of
rather than content. critical analysis.
As such, its messages [NOTE Marxism has long been recognized as
are often more stylistic a kind of surrogate religion. As such, it shares
than overtly some common perspectives with Christianity,
propagandistic. This such as a deep longing for transcendence beyond
approach has been present realities. Also, like Christians, Marxists
incorporated into rejected the popular notion that art is merely an
A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 8
expression of the individual creativity of artists Observing that it served primarily as dance or
themselves. Art is not values-free or values- ambient background music, he challenged the
neutral. Wittingly or not, all art expresses the claim that jazz was sexually liberating. In fact, he
beliefs and ideals of its creators, and the concept contended, rather than transcending alienation,
of artistic creative freedom is in many respects jazz music actually strengthened it by reconciling
illusory. Unlike Christians, however, Marxists the alienated individual with mainstream culture.
were strict determinists who believed that Prior to Adorno, most criticism of popular
sociological factors alone determine peoples culture came from social conservatives. Now,
values. Christians dont deny that society and however, it was attacked as a tool of the status
culture can influence (or condition) our values, but quo that pacified the masses and diverted their
human beings still have a measure of free choice attention away from all the oppression, repression
as a result of being created in the imago Dei the and social injustice inherent in American culture.
image of God. Still, like Marxists, Christians As such, it was part of a massive bourgeois
believe that the ultimate goal of art is not merely capitalist conspiracy. Martin Jay explains:
individual expression but a reflection of truth and The Frankfurt School disliked mass
reality.] culture, not because it was democratic, but
precisely because it was not.... The culture
According to Adorno, until current social and industry administered a nonspontaneous
political alienation and contradictions were [and] phony culture rather than the real
reconciled in reality, the utopian harmony of art thing. The old distinction between high and
must always reflect the current dissonance. For low culture had all but vanished in the
him, everything was political, and since bourgeois stylized barbarism of mass culture.... The
capitalistic society was innately discordant and subliminal message of almost all that
repressive, the only legitimately authentic music passed for art was conformity and
was that which avoided commercialism and resignation.
Increasingly, the Institute came to feel
spurious harmony and expressed the
that the culture industry enslaved men in
contradictions of modern life. Furthermore, he far more subtle and effective ways than the
reasoned, just as true artistic creativity was crude methods of domination practiced in
determined by social factors, so too was peoples earlier eras. The false harmony [promoted
subjective appreciation of art. This is why popular in popular culture] was in some ways more
culture, including virtually all popular music, was sinister than the clash of social
so deplorably vacuous: it expressed bourgeois contradictions, because of its ability to lull
values and the unsophisticated tastes of the its victims into passive acceptance....
masses, who were the psychologically oppressed Moreover, the spread of technology served
products of a bourgeois capitalistic system and its the culture industry in America just as it
helped tighten the control of authoritarian
propaganda. The People needed to be liberated
governments in Europe. Radio, Horkheimer
from such constraints, and Adorno believed this and Adorno argued, was to fascism as the
could be accomplished in part through true art printing press had been to the Reformation
and true music, which was innately revolutionary .... [Ibid, pp. 216-17]
and counter-cultural. As he expressed it...
A successful work [of art]... is not one
In his study of the Frankfurt School, Jay
which resolves objective contradictions in concludes that the Institutes greatest impact on
a spurious harmony, but one which American intellectual life was its critique of mass
expresses the idea of harmony negatively culture along with its analysis of American
by embodying the contradictions, pure and authoritarianism (see below, Fascist Amerika).
uncompromised, in its innermost structure.... But Adornos philosophy of culture and music
Art... always was, and is, a force of was too extreme even for many of his Neo-
protest of the humane against the pressure Marxist colleagues, some of whom challenged his
of domineering institutions, religious and basic assumptions. Walter Benjamin, a notable
otherwise.... [Quoted in Martin Jay, The
philosopher and essayist, expressed the more
Dialectical Imagination, p. 179]
orthodox Marxist view that came to prevail
For Adorno, even modern jazz, which many among most left-wing social critics and activists.
conservatives feared was promoting sensuality Unlike Adorno, Benjamin recognized the
and undermining traditional morality, should be immense potential of agitprop commercial
rejected as just another commercial commodity. entertainment, and he contended that popular
A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 9
music could be a potent political weapon in the They [the bourgeois capitalists] have taken
culture war in terms of undermining traditional untold millions
values, radicalizing the masses and transforming That they never toiled to earn
culture. Adorno was unconvinced, and argued But without our brain and muscle
Not a single wheel can turn
that any such attempts to integrate socialist
We can break their haughty power
realism into commercial popular music only Gain our freedom when we learn
succeeded in promoting the kind of premature That the union makes us strong.
harmony that was in fact counter-revolutionary. (CHORUS)
Most left-wing artists took Benjamins view Solidarity forever!
because Adornos more radical critique essentially Solidarity forever!
eliminated any audience for their art. In this Solidarity forever!
regard the playwright Bertolt Brecht was For the union makes us strong!
particularly significant in his utilization of the [NOTE: Like most other left-wing groups, the
theater as a political forum to explore what he IWW was constantly racked by internal sectarian
called the critical aesthetics of dialectical disputes and power struggles. During World War
materialism. Brecht inspired a whole new I it lost most of its members, and many of its
generation of Marxist artists and entertainers, and leaders were charged with treason and sent to
his influence was particularly significant in films prison. Big Bill Haywood, the public face of the
and the theater. Meanwhile, union, evaded prison by fleeing to the USSR,
in America, perhaps the most where he was treated as a celebrity by Lenins
successful and influential regime. When he died in 1928, Haywood was
propagandist for the Marxist buried in the Kremlin one of only two
cause was the actor and Americans so honored. In its short but colorful
movie producer, Charlie history, the IWW produced quite a few
Chaplin, whose comic genius memorable characters including the firebrand
in films such as Modern Times agitator, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and Joe Hill,
and The Great Dictator Americas first left-wing protest singer/
skillfully and subtly promoted songwriter.]
the left-wing agenda. In 1914, on the eve before he was scheduled to
Adornos eccentric views be hanged, Joe Hill explained his rationale for
aside, many Marxists writing political protest songs:
understood intuitively the A pamphlet, no matter how good, is
power of politicized music as never read more than once, but a song is
a social and learned by heart and repeated over and over.
cultural force. As noted I maintain that if a
earlier, the IWW was a Charlie Chaplin person can put a
radical Marxist labor union in few cold, common
the early 1900s that included a fragile and volatile sense facts into a
song, and dress
coalition of Communists, socialists and
them up in a cloak of
anarchists. According to its Manifesto, the union humor to take
was founded on the class struggle and the the dryness off of
irrepressible conflict between the capitalist class them, he will
and the working class, and its motto proclaimed, succeed in
The final aim is revolution. IWW rallies often reaching a great
resembled religious revivals with stirring, number of workers
emotional speeches and a lot of group singing. who are too
Songwriters such as Joe Hill converted scores of unintelligent or too
well-known church hymns into labor anthems, indifferent to read a
pamphlet or an
and the IWW even published its own hymnal of
editorial.
sorts, the Little Red Songbook, featuring songs such Joe Hill
as Solidarity Forever, sung to the tune of
Battle Hymn of the Republic.
A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 10
[NOTE: Joe Hill was a Swedish immigrant unadorned. It featured simple instrumentation,
and a professional provocateur who, according to and songs were sung (or in many cases, croaked,
American left-wing lore, was hanged by local howled, wheezed, whined, growled or rasped) in
authorities for his courageous stand against a down-home style by singers with gloriously
injustice on behalf of the downtrodden working untrained voices. The beauty of the song was in
class. From point of fact, he was executed for its message rather than the melody, the
murdering two men. At the 1969 Woodstock instrumentation or the vocals. Therefore, a
music festival, folk balladeer Joan Baez warbler like Woody Guthrie could be hailed as a
momentarily resurrected the dormant memory of great singer and musician when in fact he could
this early working class hero with her lilting not have sounded worse if hed been born without
rendition of Joe Hill, but few in the crowd had vocal cords. (Nor would his guitar playing have
a clue who she was singing about.] suffered much had his fingers been webbed.)
Left-wing protest music was not a factor in The folksong genre
American popular music during the Roaring remained the officially
Twenties, but with the coming of the Great sanctioned and preferred
Depression dozens of topical songs related to the medium for left-wing music
times were played on the radio and became hits. into the 1960s. As a young
Some American leftists, along with their music phenom, Bob Dylan
European counterparts such as Theodor Adorno, mastered the genre and wrote
considered all commercial popular music to be some of the defining protest
bourgeois and counter-revolutionary, but others songs of the early Sixties such
saw great potential in exploiting the medium for as Blowin in the Wind,
propaganda purposes. Still, American Masters of War and The
Communists generally looked at popular music Times They Are A-changin.
with suspicion if not outright contempt. Popular But he soon grew tired of
music was mostly Broadway show tunes, acoustic folk music because it
formulaic Tin Pan Alley love songs, and hyper- was too restrictive, and when
kinetic jazz, and most doctrinaire Marxists he formed a rock band and
dismissed the commercial music industry as just went electric, folk purists such
another capitalistic scam operation. as Pete Seeger went ballistic.
Instead, the American left preferred the For Seeger and other left-wing
socio/political folk-style music of performers such ideologues, authentic political
as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and the Almanac music was folk music, and they
Singers. In their minds, folk music was the music regarded Dylan as a Pete Seeger
of The People and therefore an authentic art commercial sell-out to the capitalistic music
form, and operating outside the commercial music industry. This opinion didnt last long, however,
industry, it was itself a protest against capitalism. as other gifted songwriters such as Paul Simon
Furthermore, and Phil Ochs converted to rock.
politicized By the late 1960s, left-wing themes and
folk music influences had thoroughly infiltrated American
avoided the pop culture in music, movies, the theater and even
kind of TV. In the end, the elitism of a Theodore
spurious Adorno was discarded for very practical reasons:
harmony a Marxist agenda could very effectively be
both communicated to mass audiences through mass
thematically marketing and new technologies. If the ultimate
and musically goal was cultural infiltration and social change,
that concessions had to be made to the realities of
Marxists modern life. In fact, being almost entirely
Woody Guthrie
like Adorno consumer-driven and virtually devoid of any
detested. Unlike slick commercial jazz and quality control, there was not a medium more
sentimentalistic love ballads sung by professional open and susceptible to left-wing propaganda than
crooners, folk-style music was plain and popular culture.
A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 11
the interests of the proletariat. Instead, they were The costs associated with resettling and
willing to ally with any and all progressive employing more than a dozen refugee scholars,
forces that were dedicated to the revolution. along with poor investments in the stock market
As Horkheimer and his colleagues settled into and disastrous real estate transactions severely
America in the 1930s, racial bigotry and strained the Institutes economic resources. [Yes,
discrimination were pervasive and blatant. The you read that right: the Neo-Marxist and anti-
Frankfurt scholars viewed this situation as a capitalist ISR invested heavily in the capitalistic
golden opportunity, and they effectively exploited system.] In fact, had it not been for the financial
the situation in their efforts to forge a new support of the American Jewish Committee and
revolutionary alliance of victims i.e., blacks, the Jewish Labor Committee, the Institute might
Jews, and the traditional proletariat classes of have ceased to exist.
factory workers, farmers and menial laborers With the coming of World War II, several
along with their sympathizers in academia, the associates of the ISR, including Herbert Marcuse,
media, and in the Communist Party of the United found employment in Washington, D.C. in
States of America (CPUSA). A standing joke government agencies such as the Board of
among Greenwich Village Communists in the Economic Warfare, the Office of War
1930s was this exchange between two Party Information, and the Office of Strategic Services
members discussing an upcoming cell meeting: (OSS the forerunner of the CIA). During the
You bring the Negro, and Ill bring the war most of the Institutes members became
folksinger. They could have added, And well American citizens. A small staff, headed by Leo
ask another comrade to bring the Jewish Lowenthal and Friedrich Pollock, continued to
intellectual. operate out of the Institutes New York office
All social and political systems are flawed, and until June, 1944 when the building was turned
all are deserving of serious examination and over to the U.S. Navy. At that point the ISR was
criticism. But there were two fundamental relocated in smaller offices in Columbias Low
problems with Neo-Marxist Critical Theory: First, Memorial Library, and by 1949 the Institute was
it is based on a seriously defective naturalistic no longer associated with the university.
worldview that, among other things, provides no In 1941 Horkheimer and Adorno relocated to
philosophical basis for judging the morality or Pacific Palisades near Santa Monica, California,
goodness of anything; and second, Critical Theory where they joined other German leftists such as
was exclusively a one-way street. While subjecting the playwright Bertolt Brecht. Unfortunately, no
America and Western Europe to intense and substantive histories have been written that
withering criticism, Horkheimer and his explore their Hollywood connections during these
colleagues were incredibly naive (or simply years or their influence in the movie and TV
cowardly) when it came to the Soviet Union. In industries. But in 1947, during the height of the
this respect they were guilty of employing a post-war Red Scare, the House Un-American
deplorable double-standard. While expressing Activities Committee (HUAC) was sufficiently
outrage over racial bigotry in the United States, concerned about Communist influence in the
for instance, they found it excruciatingly difficult Hollywood entertainment industry that it held
to criticize Stalins totalitarian dictatorship. Even extensive hearings and subpoenaed more than 40
in the late 1930s, after Stalin had murdered writers, directors, actors and producers. Ten of
millions of Soviet citizens in the Ukrainian Terror those called before the committee the infamous
Famine and the various Purges, they remained Hollywood Ten refused to testify and were
almost totally silent, and in 1946 Horkheimer cited for contempt. Many of the others were
declared that at present the only country where blacklisted by TV and movie studio bosses,
there does not seem to be any kind of anti- including the singer/songwriter, Pete Seeger, who
Semitism is Russia. Almost as if on-cue, when was kept off television for 20 years until he was
asked about Communist atrocities and Soviet finally invited to appear on The Smothers Brothers
gulags, their typical response was, But what Comedy Hour in 1967. With characteristic
about the Negroes in the South? as if there was defiance, he sang an anti-war song, Waist Deep
a moral equivalency between the two. in the Big Muddy, dedicated to President
When the Institute of Social Research Johnson.
relocated in America, it lost much of its funding.
A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 13
disorders such as sado-masochism. By contrast, standard of living than in the United States.
the families of mentally healthy children were Rather than support the Neo-Marxist thesis of
more matriarchal, less conventional, less status- Fascist Amerika, the evidence indicates that
conscious, and less demanding. In such families Fascism and authoritarianism such as the
the parents were loving and affectionate, but the McCarthy witch-hunt of the early 1950s, are
mother, who was nurturing but also strong and anomalies in American history. As the former
independent, was clearly dominant. Sixties radicals Peter Collier and David Horowitz
According to Adorno, this explained why the point out in Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts
Fascist personality lacked empathy and on the Sixties, the McCarthy phenomenon and the
compassion for others. Originally, he identified Red Scare were merely a blip on the radar screen
the antithesis of the authoritarian Fascist as the of American history.
principled and mentally-healthy revolutionary, The history of McCarthyism shows how
but when he finally published his study he referred alien the witch-hunt mentality is to the
to this alternative character type as a liberal or a American spirit and how superficial its hold
democrat terms that were considerably less on the American psyche. Appearing in the
extraordinary circumstances of the postwar
controversial. The prototypical liberal was an
period, McCarthyism was brief in its moment
independent thinker who was committed to and limited in its consequences. And it was
progressive social change and who, complete in the way it was purged from the
coincidentally, held the same values and bore the body politic. The Wisconsin senators strut
same characteristics as Adorno and his on the stage ended in a crushing repudiation
Neo-Marxist colleagues. Adorno had found by his colleagues. [Peter Colier and David
himself in his own research, which must have Horowitz, Destructive Generation: Second
come as a most pleasant surprise. Thoughts on the Sixties, p. 196]
[NOTE: Many have pointed out the subjective From point of fact, as even the Neo-Marxist
and problematical nature of Adornos research as M.I.T. professor, Noam Chomsky, has admitted,
well as his simplistic caricature of conservatives. the whole Fascist Amerika line is a fabrication. As
For substantive critiques see Paul Gottfried, After Chomsky concedes, the United States is the
Liberalism: Mass Democracy in the Managerial State greatest and the freest country in the world.
(Princeton University Press, 2001), and the notes I dont just mean in terms of limits on
state coercion, though thats true, too, but
accompanying Martin Jays The Dialetical
also in terms of individual relations. The
Imagination. Particularly noteworthy are those United States comes closest to
who criticized Adornos political bias in the study. classlessness in terms of interpersonal
Edward Shils, for example, questioned why relations than virtually any society. [Interview
authoritarianism was associated with Fascism with Noam Chomsky and Bill Bennett, American
alone and not Communism, and why was the F Morning with Paula Zahn. CNN (May 30, 2002).
Tim Adams, Noam Chomsky: Thorn in Americas
Scale not a C Scale or a T Scale (for Side. The Observer (10/30/2003).]
Totalitarian)? Obviously, despite all their rhetoric
about toleration, leftists such as Adorno were A post-script: One obvious problem with
every bit as biased and intolerant as the Critical Theory is that it is entirely an open-ended
conservatives whom they despised. See Martin strategy with no fixed point or realistic destination
Jay, pp. 244-48.] or standard of measurement. At what point does
one find respite in the pursuit of utopian
Adornos thesis that America is innately
perfectionism? All human systems are flawed, and
Fascist is transparently self-refuting. The very fact
those seeking socio/political salvation in this
that radical leftists like him were free to propagate
world will never find satisfaction. Even the
their views contradicted his argument. If America
proponents of Critical Theory admitted that its
is so racist, xenophobic and repressive, why does
truths could not be assessed or critiqued, verified
it continue to attract hordes of immigrants, and
or falsified, by reference to the present order for
why do virtually all those who come here (legally)
the simple reason that the present order is
also choose to stay? The facts tend to speak for
hopelessly flawed. This requires a leap of faith
themselves, and in fact there is no country in the
that even Kierkegaard would have found foolishly
world where citizens in general, and racial and
presumptuous.
ethnic minorities in particular, enjoy more civil
liberties, more opportunities, and a higher
A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 16
Maslow would later term it, self-actualization. neurosis. He also emphasized the integration of
In 1941 Fromm published Escape from Freedom, ethics and psychology, and in later years even
a seminal work in political psychology in which developed a fascination with Zen Buddhism.
he theorized that due to the insecurities of life, we Although no longer a Neo-Marxist
tend to gravitate toward authoritarian fascism theoretician, Fromm didnt totally divorce himself
unless we master society and subordinate the from politics. In the mid-1950s he joined the
economic machine to the purposes of human American Socialist Party, and he was a staunch
happiness. Escape from Freedom was a favorite supporter of SANE, the disarmament group
among left-wing ideologues and Existentialists aligned with the international peace movement.
alike, and it was often required reading at colleges In 1968 he supported Eugene McCarthy for
and universities in the 1960s. president, but gradually lost interest in politics
By the time Fromm published Escape from after the 1968 election.
Freedom, he had parted company with his
Frankfurt School colleagues over philosophical Theodor Adorno
differences. Thereafter, he devoted himself Theodor Adorno (1903-69) was one of the 20th
exclusively to his clinical work and his subsequent centurys premier Neo-Marxist social
writings. He followed Escape from Freedom with philosophers. He grew up in a cultured family in
Man for Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of which his mother, a Catholic, was a gifted
Ethics (1947) and The Art of Loving (1956), which musician, and his father,
are essentially Existentialist in nature. No longer a a Protestant convert from
doctrinaire Marxist, he had come to believe that Judaism, was a wealthy
individual self-fulfillment is the greatest good. He wine merchant.
defined a true revolutionary as an individualist Adorno studied both
who has emancipated himself from loyalty to music composition and
his familial heritage, his nation-state, his race, his philosophy at the
party and his religion. University of Frankfurt,
From Fromms perspective, classical Marxist writing his dissertation
theory was psychologically naive, and he believed on Kierkegaardian
psychoanalysis could provide the missing link aesthetics under the
between a societys socio/economic substructure direction of the Christian
and its ideological superstructure. Nonetheless, he socialist and liberal Theodor Adorno
always maintained that the greatest influence on theologian Paul Tillich.
his thinking was Marx, not Freud, whom he In 1933 the Nazi government expelled him from
regarded as too bourgeois and patriarchal. When the university due to his non-Aryan ancestry and
Fromm wrote his autobiography in 1962 he Marxist ideology. The following year he sought
declared emphatically that Marx is a figure of refuge in England and then came to America in
world historical significance with whom Freud 1937, where he worked closely with Max
cannot even be compared. He also confirmed Horkheimer at the Institute of Social Research at
that I have always upheld the... point that mans Columbia University and as the head of the music
capacity for freedom, for love, etc. depends almost study division of the Office of Radio Research at
entirely on [his] socio-economic conditions. Princeton University.
In The Sane Society (1955) Fromm called for a In 1941 Adorno became co-director of the
humanistic communitarian socialism. He Research Project on Social Discrimination at the
spurned Western capitalism and Soviet University of California at Berkeley, and after the
communism, both of which he considered to be war he returned to Germany and taught at the
bureaucratic, dehumanizing, and alienating, and University of Frankfurt from 1949-69.
argued that the sane society would be one in Adorno was a doctrinaire Neo-Marxist who
which human freedom and the communal good attributed the Holocaust to the influence of
were the ultimate goals. Enlightenment rationalism, which he considered
After severing his connections to the Institute to be the philosophical basis for modern
of Social Research, Fromms subsequent work totalitarianism. Yet conversely, he was also a
focused less on political and psycho-sexual issues gifted composer and a romantic at heart who
and more on the interpersonal components of considered the arts to the be the key to human
A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 18
In 1955 Marcuse published his first major Marcuse called for sexual liberation,
academic work, Eros and Civilization: A polymorphous perversity and the abolition of
Philosophical Inquiry into Freud. The book was a the monogamous and patriarchal family, and at
bold attempt to synthesize Marxism and times he seemed perfectly enraptured by his own
Freudianism, and it became the essential psycho-sexual fantasies:
connection between the cultural Marxism of the No longer used as a full-time instrument
Frankfurt School and the New Left of the 1960s. of labor, the body would be resexualized,
Eros and Civilization was a wholesale repudiation (which) would first manifest itself in a
reactivation of all erotogenic zones and,
of Western civilization and a clarion call for a
consequently, in a resurgence of pre-genital
cultural revolution, and it provided a pseudo- polymorphous sexuality and in a decline of
intellectual basis for the sexual revolution of the genital supremacy. The body in its entirety
1960s. The book quickly became a favorite among would become an object of cathexis, a thing
free-thinkers, Beatniks and bohemian hedonists, to be enjoyed an instrument of pleasure.
and a few years later it inspired a generation of This change in the value and scope of
young counterculture radicals in the Sixties. libidinal relations would lead to a
Eros and Civilization is anything but disintegration of the institutions in which the
a practical guide for revolution, but it private interpersonal relations have been
set forth a libertarian and hedonistic social reorganized, particularly the monogamic
and patriarchal family.
philosophy that held great appeal to affluent Baby
Boomers in post-war America. Marcuse called for A resexualized body in which all erotogenic
a democratic socialist society based on the zones would be reactivated along with a
principles of non-alienating labor, freedom, and resurgence of pre-genital polymorphous
the pursuit of happiness including sexual sexuality and a decline of genital supremacy,
liberation. As such, he rejected a central tenet of culminating in the disintegration of all cultural
Freuds theory of social psychology. According to institutions? Marcuse apparently enjoyed himself
Freud, civilized society operates according to the immensely, but its hard to take all of this
performance principle, and therefore it must seriously. Perhaps that is why many Sixties
necessarily be repressive by forcing its people to radicals preferred reading Eros and Civilization
spend most of their time and energy working while stoned. Yet the strangest part was that he
rather than gratifying their desires. Freud believed dedicated the book to Sophie Marcuse, his wife of
that if human beings were freed from the 50 years.
constraints of labor and traditional social and Predictably, Eros and Civilization elicited strong
moral taboos, civilization itself would collapse. reactions even among those on the left side of the
In contrast, Marcuse called for the culture war. Eric Fromm called the book
actualization of a reality beyond the performance nihilistic, accused Marcuse of misrepresenting
principle, and asserted that mankind could find Freud, and pointed out that his former colleague
fulfillment not through dominion and lacked any practical experience with
exploitation [i.e., the tyranny of labor and the psychoanalysis. More seriously, he charged that
performance principle] but through the release the book promoted irresponsible hedonism. Like
of inherent libidinal forces. His socialist utopia Freud, Fromm was convinced that the tension
would operate according to the erotic between hedonism and civilization was necessary
reconciliation (or union) of man and nature in the to curb the worst excesses of human behavior. It
aesthetic attitude, where order is beauty and work was absurd, he argued, to think that widespread
is play. polymorphous perversity was compatible with a
[NOTE: Im reminded of a dialogue that took well-ordered society and culture. Certain practices
place within a radical group in the late 1960s. The that Marcuse tolerated, such as sadism and
leader had just proclaimed that henceforth the coprophilia, should never be socially sanctioned.
group would abolish all social conventions, Furthermore, the loss of restraint and the
including work. From now on, all they would do obsession with immediate gratification that
is eat, sleep, have sex, and protest the war. That Marcuse advocated would break down all self-
sounded perfectly groovy until one of the discipline and render humanity easily
neophyte radicals thought to ask, But wholl manipulated, as in Aldous Huxleys Brave New
make the signs?] World.
A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 20
Yet despite its radical and irresponsible working classes those who ought to have a
hedonism, Eros and Civilization was one of the revolutionary consciousness are co-opted by the
landmark books of the 20th century in terms of seduction of mass consumption.
igniting the sexual/cultural revolution of the Marcuse argued that the end result is that
1960s. As William Lind observes... human freedom is sacrificed as people live to
Marcuse understood what most of the work more so they can buy and consume more.
rest of his Frankfurt School colleagues did He considered production and consumption to be
not; that the way to destroy Western an integral part of a conformist society that
civilization... was not through abstruse suppresses individualism, but his primary concern
theory, but through sex, drugs and rock n
seemed to be that such mundane matters
roll. Marcuse wrote other works for the new
generation that spawned the New Left... interfered with more important things in life such
but Eros and Civilization was the key work, as the perfection of polymorphous perversity.
the one that put the match to the tender. According to Marcuse, the solution to escaping
[William S. Lind, Further Readings in the the robotic routine of modern society comes
Frankfurt School, in Political Correctness: A through the Great Refusal an intentional
Short History of an Ideology. rejection of capitalism, technology, and the cult of
Www.freecongress.org.]
consumption. Rather than being a mindless slave
In 1958 Marcuse published Soviet Marxism, addicted to production and consumption,
one of the first substantive critiques of Soviet Marcuse called for liberation... through erotic
Communism by a left-wing intellectual. Using a sexuality. As a leading advocate of sexual politics,
line of argument that would later become he contended that sexual liberation was an
standard fare in Neo-Marxist circles, Marcuse essential aspect in the social and political
charged that Stalins regime had perverted transition from capitalism to socialism.
orthodox Marxism and betrayed Lenins However, since the traditional proletariat class
revolution by the imposition of a totalitarian and is innately conservative and religious, and because
bureaucratic state. Like many Neo-Marxist it has been co-opted by consumerism, the
Western intellectuals, Marcuse departed from vanguard for any cultural revolution must come
rigid Marxist orthodoxy whenever it suited his from disenfranchised minorities, social rebels, the
purposes, so he rejected the glorification of the liberal elite, and a radicalized intelligentsia.
state that relegated the individual to Unlike most academicians who spurned
insignificance. popular culture, Marcuse recognized its potential
In his next major work, One -Dimensional Man impact on society and understood that a political
(1964), Marcuse criticized both capitalism and revolution is inextricably linked to a cultural
Soviet-style communism. In place of classical revolution. His theories influenced subsequent
Marxism, he advocated a form of libertarian generations of scholars who specialized in popular
socialism that glorified individualism and culture as well as radical activists such as Abbie
humanistic values. Nonetheless, the final aim was Hoffman, co-founder of the Youth International
a radical cultural revolution that would transform Party (YIPPIEs), and Angela Davis, a black
mans basic existence. According to Marcuse, Communist whom Marcuse called my best
man actualizes his potential in history through student. [NOTE: Davis also studied in Frankfurt
revolution. under Theodor Adorno.]
In his critique of capitalism, Marcuse argued Marcuses 1965 essay on Repressive
that, whereas early capitalist societies had used Tolerance essentially defined what is now
human beings as units of production, advanced considered Political Correctness. He declared that
capitalist societies thrive on over-production and capitalist democracies are innately totalitarian,
over-consumption. He contended that modern and therefore a selective or discriminatory form
capitalism is an unholy alliance and a tangled web of tolerance should be applied to ensure that the
of exploitation involving capital investments, opinions of marginalized minorities are
industrial management, technology, mass recognized. It is perfectly proper, he contended, to
production, advertising, and mass consumption. silence repressive intolerance (i.e., conservative
In such a mutually-exploitative matrix, human opinions) in order to protect the rights of
beings become mindless consumers of minorities. Freedom of speech and freedom of
unnecessary products consumption addicts and expression should be regulated in order to
pawns of modern advertising. As a result, the
A History of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness: Part 2 21
Goodman had little hope that the older A self-described anarchist and libertarian
generations would rebel against the established socialist (a term he borrowed from Marcuses
order, but he was optimistic that young people One Dimensional Man), Chomsky has also been an
could change the culture through radical reforms outspoken critic fo U.S. foreign policy since the
or by starting their own counter-cultural 1960s. He condemned the American involvement
institutions. Throughout most of the Sixties he in Vietnam and wrote that the U.S. should have
supported the Students for a Democratic Society been prosecuted for war crimes. Other than the
(SDS) and the New Left agenda in general, but United States, his
eventually he disengaged from the movement as it favorite target has been
became increasingly erratic, strident and violent. Israel. Although an
After a campus appearance in 1967 in which he ethnic Jew, he has been
was heckled by a group of radical students, he a harsh critic of Israel
realized that an entirely new worldview was being and an ardent supporter
forged but it was anything but the dawning of of radical Palestinian
the Age of Aquarius: groups such as the PLO.
Suddenly I realized that [these students] Following Nine-Eleven,
did not believe there was a nature of things. he wrote that the U.S.
[To them] there was no knowledge but only itself is a leading
the sociology of knowledge. They had terrorist state. In his
learned so well that physical and sociological
book, The End of Faith, Noam Chomsky
research is subsidized and conducted for the
benefit of the ruling class that they were the atheist apologist Sam
doubtful that there was such a thing as Harris chides Chomsky for drawing absurd
simple truth.... I had imagined that the moral equivalencies between the U.S. and Iraq,
worldwide student protest had to do with or between Osama ben Laden and Saddam
changing political and moral institutions, and Hussein and George Bush and Tony Blair.
I was sympathetic to this. But I now saw that Paradoxically, in recent years Chomsky has
we had to do with a religious crisis. Not only conceded that the United States is the greatest
all institutions but all learning had been and the freest country in the world. In a 2002
corrupted by the Whore of Babylon, and
interview on CNN with Paul Zahn, Chomsky
there was no longer any salvation to be got
from Works. declared...
I dont just mean in terms of limits on
What Goodman was experiencing, of course, state coercion, though thats true, too, but
was the dawning of the age of postmodernism also in terms of individual relations. The
a worldview devoid of morality that he and others United States comes closest to
such as Marcuse and Mills had inadvertently classlessness in terms of interpersonal
birthed through their systematic deconstruction of relations than virtually any society.
[Interview with Noam Chomsky and Bill
Western culture and values. Revolutions often Bennett, American Morning with Paula Zahn.
end up devouring their own, and now it was CNN (May 30, 2002). Tim Adams, Noam
Goodman who was being dispatched to the Chomsky: Thorn in Americas Side. The
guillotine by the very radicals he had inspired just Observer (10/30/2003).]
a few years earlier.
Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky (1928- ) has been the foremost
propagator of Frankfurt School-style Neo
Marxism for the past 50 years. Chomsky is a
philosopher and a political activist, and as a
professor at M.I.T. he taught in the Department of
Linguistics and Philosophy from 1955 to the
present. Chomsky was born and raised in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his father was a
Hebrew scholar as well as a member of the radical
Marxist labor union, the I.W.W.
Bibliography
24
William McGowan, Coloring the News: How Political Correctness Has Corrupted American
Journalism (Encounter Books, 2003).
Miriam Grossman, Unprotected (Sentinel, 2007).
Satirical Critiques
Saul Jerushalmy and Rens Zbignieuw X, Politically Correct Manifesto (1992).
Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf, The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook
(1992).
James Finn Garner, Politically Correct Bedtime Stories (1994).
25