Horkheimer personally edited Benjamin’s essays to strip their materialist framing.

Evidence

It was Horkheimer who had suggested or approved the omission of the introductory section of the essay on the work of art. Benjamin here referred expressly to Marx’s analytical and prognostic methods, and stated that the goal of his own inquiry was to put forward theses on developing trends in art under current conditions of production. It was Horkheimer, too, who had suggested or approved the shortening of the introductory part of the essay on Eduard Fuchs, with its general reflections on the concept of historical materialism. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 230

Categorization

• XREF: Names the Benjamin-Horkheimer editorial relation that anchors the whole art-essay controversy — a key node for mapping Institute power dynamics.