We have been looking at the history of social justice. Our timeline has taken us all the way through World War One and we are about to discuss the effects of The Great Depression and World War Two and how social justice issues arose during those time periods and on into the present.
If you have followed this blog for awhile you will know that I am on a journey to explain the truths of social justice as they have developed in our current culture. We are answering ten questions that I asked in a previous article; and we are trying to decide whether or not social justice is needed today and how that should play out in our society during these times. History is a very important part of these answers. It would be unfair to talk more about the subject without first revealing all of the history; which will take several more articles.
I do this because it seems important for my children and grandchildren and the current generation to know ALL of the facts. How our cultures communicate and understand things today matters more than ever. Our times are critical for our future.
Before we embark on such discussions though; we must be aware that there is one fact of history that runs all the way through 100 years of the social justice timeline. This one presence that has continued through time has a huge impact on the way we have begun to look at social justice.
I’m referring to The Frankfurt School where a group of cultural Marxist researchers came up with an ideology called Critical Theory. This group wrote volumes of research books about the American Culture and how it could be manipulated.
A lot of the social justice ideology of today’s world came directly out of the theories of this school; especially this one theory called Critical Theory; or to speak of it in up-to-date terms, we could say; “political correctness.”
Today we will stop and take a look at the history of this school/think-tank/research center that eventually became known as a research institute.
Let’s see what this group has to say about how things have evolved to the point we’ve reached in today’s society in relation to social justice issues. Then; let’s stop to think about when and how we relate to their solutions in relation to today’s culture and social justice.
If you took a poll of the Christian culture today; you would probably find not many know much about The Frankfurt School. Though some groups of leaders in the Christian society have held conferences in hopes of awakening the population to such thoughts in relation to how the world is turning today; still a lot are not aware of the influence of this one small, but powerful group of world thinkers.
Part of this article’s purpose, besides the fact that I feel all people should know all they can about historical facts, is intended to open some eyes to the obvious that is right in front of us but not noticed. The younger Christians may know more than the older; but the younger could also be deceived about some of these things. I hope to point out the more obvious facts to everyone, and I hope to do it with truth and balance. This is such a complicated and layered subject; that the task is difficult at best.
Some consider The Frankfurt School to be a big, ugly blot of humanity that happened to the world at the end and just after World War I. Others, of a more liberal, progressive leaning; think of some of these men from the organization it presented as being genius and consider them (as well as Marx) to be heroes.
I suppose it depends on how life experiences and educational influences have played out in your thinking and world views. Let’s break it down and consider all perspectives as we go.
First of all; we need to define Marxism and discuss the difference between Marxism and “cultural” Marxism.
Marxism is a form of government using the political and economic theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, later developed by their followers to form the basis for the theory and practice of communism. Think, China, Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea, Laos.
“Cultural” Marxism is a perceived Marxist conspiracy controlling modern progressive politics, mass media and academia, or Marxist analysis applied to culture and cultural phenomena instead of only economics.
Cultural Marxism came to America eventually through the Frankfurt School when it moved from Frankfurt, Germany and came to Columbia University in New York.
There is so much to consider about The Frankfurt School’s contributions to this way of thinking in our current culture.
I’ll explain right up front that my own personal opinion is that The Frankfurt School has moved us closer to socialism than any other part of history. Maybe that has a lot to do with the fact that it has existed, and still exists in some form, for over one hundred years. Unfortunately; the school really doesn’t seem to have ever answered to anyone for accountability and/or how it has influenced generations of American thinking.
This cultural monster of an experimental nature existed all through The Great Depression and continued through World War Two; then it survived the timelines and events that carry us through the 50’s, 60’s,70’s,80’s,90’s and beyond. It was these later decades that had the most impact on American culture; but the school, its theories and thoughts have affected the whole world at large.
I am speaking of an organization that had a tremendous impact upon influencing and changing the whole course of history, yet; you will rarely hear anyone say that in public or out loud. For the most part, the media certainly would not report any of their antics, except in a rather biased way.
I would love to say this huge, slow-moving and progressive influence changed the world for the better; but I must announce loudly that it was definitely for the worst of all things that could happen to the governments and educational systems of any free country.
I’ve tried to reason out where this thinking could possibly have begun in the lives of these cultural Marxists. Most of these leaders seemed to have three things in common; they survived Nazi Germany, most of them were Jewish atheists, and they thought outside the box using a lot of Freudian psychology for their ideology and theories about society.
The ideas and theories that came from this group, though received with joy by most liberal thinkers; are very disturbing to some of us. I’ll try to explain more of that later; right now I simply want to look at the facts of history which they have presented.
As we continue to study the Great Depression and World War Two and the history after those things that lead us up to today’s date; we will cover the details of the influences that this school had on cultures in each of these time periods. This overview of today will go into more depth in later articles that cover these time periods.
This institute we think of when we begin to consider cultural Marxism, was originally called The Frankfurt School. It came into existence very quietly at the end of World War One, and it continued to tip-toe quietly through the course of human history. Now the remnants of this institution have even made giant footprints that are evident throughout all of the various governments of today’s world.
Some of their research has been like a cancer to democracy, liberty and freedom; yet, hardly a human soul has noticed the slow and assimilated effect they have had on civilization as we know it.
Many have lauded this institute with honor and praise. Great leaders and financial wizards have helped with its further establishment and funding.
The original funding came from a wealthy German grain trader named Weil. He funded the original institute in Frankfurt Germany and sent his son to study there. After years in Germany the institute moved to Columbia University in New York and received great funding and support from The Rocketfeller Foundation.
As of late; much of the funds for the modern version of this institute have seeped into different places and organizations financed and backed by a wealthy man named George Soros who has openly proclaimed Marxism as his banner for changing the world.
Most of the world’s current civilization has been under the false impression that Marx’s theories finally proved wrong and died out. Norman Geisler has different thoughts on that subject; he once said; “Marx’s spirit never died; it just went to hell to regroup.”
Today you can still find the main branch of The Institute of Social Research (which it was formally called) to be a respected spoke in the wheel of education at Goeth University in Frankfurt Germany.
Hiding there among very intelligent and well respected Nobel Prize winning scientist and scholars is what is left of what has evolved from The Frankfurt School and The Institute of Social Research.
That isn’t the only trail that they have left behind though. We will also discuss some obscure American organizations that foster these same ideas that tend to lean heavily into cultural Marxism.
Today, another huge piece of their more modern influence hides behind an institute called The Center For American Progress, led by John Podesta and funded heavily by George Soros.
What better place to hide and thrive than Gothe University which is in a region of the world where the largest IT cluster of Europe exists?
Here are the hundred largest European software companies and one of the most important bio-pharmaceutical, fin-tech, finance and consulting clusters of Europe. One would think that only good could come from this region of the world where much of the greatest and top scholars have made their life-long contributions to science and the welfare of the earth.
Still; the old ghostly voices of the original founders of The Frankfurt School dart here and there silently among the other giants of humanity; still making their contributions of critical thinking that is permanently etched across the minds of the educated of the world.
They sit unnoticed for who they really are, have been, and will probably continue to be; one hundred years of influence toward cultural Marxism.
Very few of the modern-day members of society are completely aware of the pill these revered men have given our governments to swallow. It is a pill which has choked them and then silently caused the disease of the fake illusions of socialism and communism to be so easily spread among our youth.
This has gone on for several generations now; and much of the influenced young college students of the past now hold prestigious and important positions in our society.
To the common man these world leaders seem to have a different and very strange way of thinking. To those who understand The Frankfurt School and what it accomplished over the last 100 years; the handwriting is now on the wall.
We know where it all originated and why it has taken over in America like a cancer. This cultural-Marxism that America now experiences came directly from the evolution of The Frankfurt School and it came to America because of the funding of The Rocketfellows, who provided their foundation a place in Columbia University in New York for years and years. Eventually that school’s leaders dispersed back to its place now in Germany; and some of the leaders assimilated into various other parts of the United States.
Now we can only look at the damage that has been done and wonder how it happened so easily and so effortlessly at our own expense and curiosity.
There are no clear answers; except that we must now tell the whole story and all of its sorted details so that our present youth can begin to have a more clear understanding. Even the greatest narrators and speakers will have trouble reaching these well-trained and guided ears now.
The seeds of the past which have already been planted may prevent many of them from listening; but we must try all the same. I fear that it takes age and experience in years of living for any of these historical facts to seem to make sense. To be honest; half of us are still in denial. Many think the stories are all exaggerated and made up. They existed though and the thinking processes of our culture has changed greatly because they did. Even those of us who have decades of liberty under our belts have been sometimes caught in the snares of these charismatic leaders and their thoughts and ideas.
The silence and the ignorance of three generations have cursed us enough. Those who now understand what has happened must begin to speak and initiate some positive changes; or the world as we have known it in the republic full of free states will no longer be able to revive. Given our current crisis of COVID-19; this task seems even more difficult.
Have you ever witnessed a bird or a squirrel in active motion who suddenly stops right in its tracks and begins becoming very, very still as if it is unexpectedly frozen in place? The animal seems to be trying to blend in with the background so that they will not be noticed by those they perceive as being dangerous. Animals often achieve success and escape with this instinctive technique.
It is as if they are hiding in plain sight.
If you have witnessed this; then you have a comparable image of how The Frankfurt School has managed to exist and propagate its harmful theories over so long a time.
No one has been paying attention while they have quietly been changing the world to fit into the mold of what they consider to be a type of workable society. No one has questioned them. Much notoriety and public promotion has promoted their theories. It is a paradox that gets deeper and deeper as you go along.
So let’s look at what has happened over the years. As we continue in further articles to explore wars and events that parallel the long history of The Frankfurt School’s existence; let’s consider how these events were moved and shaped because of the existence of this particular institute.
Let’s be brave enough to go where so many have walked away by looking at the whole long picture of what this work has produced on our society in general.
I’ll warn you this is a long and tedious study.
You must be passionate about liberty and freedom and permanent answers to finish the whole journey.
I’ll try not to bore you to tears, or entice you to sleeping through much of the reading.
If you can stay awake though; you are going to be shocked and appalled at much of the story.
So here is the modern-day tale of an old, old institute:
Once upon a time, about one hundred years ago, there were a group of rich, private citizens living in what was left of Nazi Germany. They were not Nazis. They were Marxist, and they were still waiting on the revolution that did not happen because of World War I. They thought it was just a matter of time, that things were ripe and if they just waited patiently after the war; this revolution was still going to take place.
These men, as they waited on their society to change gathered together to share their ideas and theories. They were like a “think-tank” even before the modern definition of think-tanks had been thought of. They were called The Frankfurt School, and eventually became known as The Institute of Social Research.
The men who started out gathering in a library in Frankfurt at first, were well educated college professors. They loved sharing their ideas about changing the world. Max Horkheimer recruited an eclectic group of Marxist scholars into the school. These included Erich Fromm, Theodore Adorno, Herbert Marcuse and several other well known names.
Two events inspired these men the most; the failure of Marx’s prediction that a utopian revolution would emerge in developed Western states to overthrow the capitalist order, and the rise of fascism and Nazism in Western liberal democracies.
Many of these professors were Jewish and were appalled by the Nazi doctrines of the times. The takeover of the Nazis actually led this group to flee Germany in the 1940s. At that point, Horkheimer and Adorno published works that sought to explain how enlightened liberal countries could fall to Nazism.
Some other names you might recognize as members of this school were Walter Benjamin, Henryk Grossman, Herbert Marcuse, Jurgen Habermas and others who joined off and on through the last 100 years. There were no women involved; but after time went by many women became supporters of their theories.
These thinkers and philosophers witnessed the age of the rise of capitalism’s mass production techniques. They saw the birth of Hollywood. Most of them witnessed World War I and the failure of the German Revolution. They lived in the times of the Soviet experiment, the Weimer Republic. They were around during the rise of Hitler and the Holocaust. They knew the facts of an era of mass European exile. They lived through the times of sexual liberation and the swinging times of the 60’s with all of its student radicalism. Their times were of the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. They knew of the 9/11 tragedies, and they lived in the midst of the development of multiculturalism and multi-religious societies.
Let’s start with 1881 and move forward up to the time of the end of the first world war. In 1881 Henryk Grossman was born in Krakow (present-day Poland). He grew up to become a Jewish economist working in the Frankfurt School.
In 1882 Walter Benjamin was born in Berlin, Germany. He grew up to be a critic and philosopher who was a very profound intellectual influence on the development of The Frankfurt School. In his childhood he witnessed Berlin changing form Prussian provincial backwater to a city rivaling Paris as mainland Europe’s most modern capital. In 1896 The Reichstag Building opened its first department store. By the turn of the century its population had risen to two million.
In 1894 Friedrich Pollock was born in Freiburg im Breisgau. He grew up to be a social scientist and one of the Frankfurt School’s founders.
1895 was the year that Max Horkheimer was born in Stuttgart. He became a philosopher and eventually the director of The Frankfurt School .
Herbert Marcuse was born in Berlin in 1898 and he became a political philosopher and author working at The Frankfurt School. In 1960 he wrote One Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society. Marcuse became a type of intellectual hero of student radicals and his book became a popular counter-cultural type of bible.
In this same year Felix Weir was born in Buenos Aires. He was a student of The Frankfurt School who later convinced his father to provide an endowment that would help it survive during the Weimar Republic’s hyperinflation, the Wall Street Crash and the Third Reich.
During 1900 Eric Fromm was born in Frankfurt Germany. He grew up to become the Frankfurt School’s psychoanalytical thinker who wrote The Art of Loving, Escape From Freedom and The Sane Society.
Also in 1900 Leo Lowenthal was born in the same city of Frankfurt. Lowenthal grew up to become The Frankfurt School’s literary theorist and sociologist.
Another Frankfurt School member was born in Katowice (present day Poland) in 1900. He was named Franz Neumann and he grew up to become a labor lawyer and sociologist. He wrote the classic analysis of the Third Reich, Behemoth: the Structure and Practice of National Socialism, 1933-1944.
In 1903 Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno was born. He became a philosopher, composer, sociologist and music theorist and author at The Frankfurt School. He wrote (with Horkheimer) Dialectic of Enlightenment as well as Minima Moralia. These books influenced Negative Dialectics as an ideology.
Around 1908 Henry Ford designed the Model T car. The production principles used by his assembly lines were key to the way the Frankfurt School of thought began to progress. A Frankfurt School member named Gyorgy Lukacs wrote a book in 1922 called History and Class Consciousness which expressed the use of Marxism in this new industrial age.
In 1910 The Nestor Company opened the first film studio in Hollywood. Shortly after Hollywood became the nickname for an entertainment industry. In the 1940’s leading members of The Frankfurt School lived nearby in exile and labeled the Hollywood culture as a capitalist tool to keep the masses from rising up against their oppressors.
World War One began in 1914.
In 1917 the Bolshevik revolution was in Moscow. This led the young Frankfurt School group to consider the future of Marxism which led to the establishment of The Institute for Social Research from The Frankfurt School.
In our next articles we will discuss The Great Depression and we will consider the influence of this group of philosophers during that time period.