Adorno had abandoned all collectivities as truth-bearers by 1951

Evidence

As early as “Traditional and Critical Theory” in 1937, Horkheimer had denied the necessary connection between radical theory and the proletariat, arguing instead for an alliance with all “progressive” forces willing “to tell the truth .1’ 41 By 1951, Adorno had ruled out the possibility of any collectivity being on the side of truth and located the residue of those progressive social forces in the critical individual. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 875

Categorization

• QUESTION: The trajectory from Horkheimer’s 1937 alliance-with-progressives to Adorno’s 1951 critical individual is significant — what work in 1951 states this most explicitly?
• XREF: connects to: Adorno insisted that provisional claims coexist with an emphatic commitment to truth. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 68