The Institute strategically self-censored Marxist vocabulary for American funders

Evidence

The book edition of the Philosophical Fragments, published by the émigré publishers Querido in Amsterdam in 1947 under the title Dialectic of Enlightenment, contained numerous small changes in comparison with the mimeographed edition of 1944. The word capitalism' was changed to existing conditions’; capital' was changed to economic system’; capitalist bloodsuckers' became knights of industry’; class society' became domination’ or order'; ruling class’ became rulers'. A sentence such as That would be a classless society’ was omitted. This form of self-censorship was not new; it was an Institute tradition. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1722 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The reason for these omissions was the same as in Horkheimer’s reminder to Adorno, for a lecture at the London Institute of Sociology at the beginning of 1938, to speak extremely scientistically', not one word that can be interpreted politically’, even avoid expressions like "materialist" . . . at all costs'. The journal and the Institute must, as a scientific organ’ or as a scientific institution, be protected from being dragged into any political discussion in the press'. — <cite>Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 865</cite> (#corroborates`, via linked claim)

Horkheimer proceeded now in exactly the same way as he had before. He had substituted the title Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung for Grünberg’s Archiv für die Geschichte des Sozialismus und der Arbeiterbewegung. In his inaugural lecture, he had substituted an apparently independent materialist transformation of German idealist philosophy for Grünberg’s appeal to Marxist theory. And he had substituted a demand for interdisciplinary work and a combination of philosophy and the various scientific disciplines for Lukács’s demandtaking up a theme from Karl Marx and Rosa Luxemburgthat the division of labour in bourgeois science should be transcended. So, too, he now used a general circumlocution which opened up an unimpeded vista compared with rigid and dogmatic left-wing theoretical positionswhile also sounding melodious and non-committal in establishment ears. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1901 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The Frankfurt School self-censored its Marxist vocabulary for American approval — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1722; Horkheimer censored explicit political language in Institute publications — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 865; Zeitschrift editors censored Adorno’s Marxian vocabulary to avoid appearing doctrinaire — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 355 (+5 more)

Related

• The Frankfurt School self-censored its Marxist vocabulary for American approval (similarity 0.94)
• Horkheimer censored explicit political language in Institute publications (similarity 0.90)
• The Frankfurt School deliberately censored Marxist terminology to appease American Jewish sponsors (similarity 0.88)
• Horkheimer censored democratic language from the student study for fear of funders (similarity 0.87)
• Social Democratic editors neglected Marx’s papers yet censored their letters (similarity 0.81)
• The Institute’s American relocation muted its Marxist revolutionary language for multiple reasons (similarity 0.81)
• Zeitschrift editors censored Adorno’s Marxian vocabulary to avoid appearing doctrinaire (similarity 0.81)
• Horkheimer repeatedly substituted softened formulations for Marxist-Radical demands (similarity 0.80)
• Horkheimer’s deliberate suppression of Marxist terminology secured Columbia’s affiliation (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• The Frankfurt School self-censored its Marxist vocabulary for American approval #corroborates (1.00) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1722
• Horkheimer censored explicit political language in Institute publications #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 865
• Horkheimer repeatedly substituted softened formulations for Marxist-Radical demands #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1901
• Zeitschrift editors censored Adorno’s Marxian vocabulary to avoid appearing doctrinaire #exemplifies (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 355
• Colonial academics self-censor conclusions that would indict colonialist capitalism #expands (0.85) — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 138
• Academic translation of Marxism blunts its revolutionary force into generalized abstraction #expands (0.85) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 198