Fromm concluded class rebellion was not more rational than psychic submission to it.

Evidence

Violent rebellion, powerless hatred of the ruling class and masochistic self-denial all seemed equally valid forms of behaviour for the poor and oppressed, and each type was psychically rational according to the situation. Fromm was clearly guided by the following logic: the real infantile situation of childhood, which neurotic individuals are fixated on in one form or another, comes to an end at some point. A thorough elimination of the illness was therefore possible, and there was some purpose in helping the patient. Class society, however, which condemned the greater part of its members to be infantile, was a lasting reality against which rebellion was understandable but was in no way more rational than psychic acceptance of it, just as the child’s rebellion against its father was understandable but was in no sense more adapted to reality than respecting and valuing its parents. For this reason, rebellion did not deserve to be supported. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 223 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The General Strike thus focuses the “cleavage” between the antagonistic classes, by making every individual outburst of violence into an act in the class war. “Cleavage”, for Sorel, is the equivalent of class consciousness, of the class for-itself; e.g. “When the governing classes, no longer daring to govern, are ashamed of their privileged situation, are eager to make advances to their enemies, and proclaim their horror of ail cleavage in society, it becomes much more difficult to maintain in the minds of the proletariat this idea of cleavage without which Socialism cannot fulfil its historical role.” — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2076 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Class society’s permanence made psychic acceptance as rational as rebellion — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 223; Class consciousness requires maintained antagonistic cleavage, not reconciliation with rulers. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2076

Broader Connections

• Class society’s permanence made psychic acceptance as rational as rebellion #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 223
• Class consciousness requires maintained antagonistic cleavage, not reconciliation with rulers. #contradicts (0.80) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2076