Horkheimer endorsed council communism over Leninist dictatorship in 1942

Evidence

Moreover, Horkheimer argued, the material conditions for the realization of freedom had finally been achieved. Like Marcuse, who developed this idea in his article on technology in the Studies in Philosophy and Social Science, he maintained that the end of scarcity, as well as new forms of domination, might possibly result from the spread of the technological ethos. In fact, the break with the past for which he called was now dependent solely on the wills of men. In the most direct expression of what might be called a “Luxemburgist” or syndicalist strain in Critical Theory, he wrote: “The modalities of the new society are first to be found in the course of its transformation. The theoretical conception, the council system, which according to its pioneers is supposed to show the way to the new society, arises from praxis. It goes back to 1871, 1905, and other events. The revolution has a tradition on whose continuation theory is dependent.” 72 Thus, instead of a Leninist transitional dictatorship, Horkheimer seemed to support the direct seizure of control by the people. The choice was clear, he wrote: “a retreat into barbarism or the beginning of history.” — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 496

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Late Horkheimer embraced anti-Communist and pro-American rhetoric — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 1726; In communist states, Marxist-Leninist ideology suppressed, not resolved, underlying civilizational divisions that then resurfaced — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 377

Broader Connections

• Late Horkheimer embraced anti-Communist and pro-American rhetoric #expands (0.82) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 1726
• In communist states, Marxist-Leninist ideology suppressed, not resolved, underlying civilizational divisions that then resurfaced #corroborates (0.75) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 377