Critical Theory Working Group

J.E Morain both translates and reconstructs a very early model of eco-Marxism in the work of Wittfogel. I urge any person who works on eco-Marxism to read this, and see how they would localize the various errors in Wittfogel!

NEW ON THE CTWG BLOG:

An excerpt translation of K. A. Wittfogel's 1932 text "Natural Factors in Economic History" (trans. J. E. Morain)
ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/2025/Wi...

My article on the antinomy of encore-loving and -hating is an attempt at a music-oriented critical theory inspired by Adorno. It’s been in the works for a long time + is the closest I’ve come to saying something. Thanks to @crittheoryworkgrp.bsky.social for notes. online.ucpress.edu/ncm/article-...

She's the true power behind the throne

Rackets, Monopolies, and Imperialism by Mac Parker | crittheoryworkgroup Get more from crittheoryworkgroup on Patreon

NEW RECORDING: DISCUSSION
“Rackets, Monopolies, & Imperialism” (3/29/25) with Mac Parker! We read Milios & Sotiropoulos’ critique of the monopoly capitalism paradigm to test the limits of Horkheimer & Adorno’s essays on Racket-theory patreon.com/posts/134560...

Horkheimer (& Adorno) in 1944/45: “Nazi barbarism has a long and uninterrupted prehistory. From Cortes’ rule of conquered Mexico to Leopold II’s administration of the Congo… the advocates of concentration camps… could find some support in institutions such as French Guyana.”

There are lots of important Marxist birthdays this week: Marcuse, Fanon, and Neon Genesis Evangelion immediately come to mind.

New: 3 translations of Adorno & Horkheimer’s reflections on racial classification under/after the Alien Enemies Act in 1942—Adorno’s “Dreams in America,” Horkheimer’s “Notes on the Curfew,” & their joint response to a survey about the racial classification of Jewish immigrants 🔗 ⬇️

have to admit though that my favorite of Horkheimer’s critical recoveries of Nietzsche is from Dämmerung (1934), “Nietzsche & the Proletariat”!

for when they pass you the aux cord at the function we are on spotify as well 😎

open.spotify.com/episode/7BzG...

We have also reduced ourselves to doing the most reactionary form of media as well (the podcast): www.patreon.com/collection/1...

Check out Margin Notes 1 and the (ongoing) Racket Theory dossier here: ctwgwebsite.github.io/projects/

“what is the working method of the CTWG”

B/w ~1939-1941, the ISR repeatedly tried (& failed lol) to secure funding for an insanely ambitious research project on German history from ~1900-1933. I transcribed most their 1st full draft, “The Collapse of German Democracy & the Rise of National Socialism” (Sept 1940)

Link below

The CTWG is pleased to announce that we are now accepting submissions for our blog. Please see the attached guidelines:
ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/2025/Bl...

And if you want a critical engagement with, inter alia, Ste. Croix, see our own Mac Parker's essay in Margin Notes 1!
ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/2025/Ma...

NEW: Re Tejus analyzes social domination in Part II of their essay "Class and Rackets"
ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/2025/Ra...

On the figure of Heinrich Regius, the pseudonymous author of Dämmerung, and how the standard dismissal of the text is a byproduct of the late Horkheimer’s consciously revisionist domestication of his own earlier work

Link below

happy 6 am to those who celebrate!

my reconstruct of the abandoned early draft of an intro to a failed research proposal that Adorno & Horkheimer would repurpose into the clearest 3page mission statement on the method of CT they’d write the whole 1940s, maybe ever!

link below

NEW ON CTWG: INTRODUCING RACKET THEORY

by J.E. Morain & yours truly to our collection of texts on 'racket theory.' This essay covers the history of the Frankfurt School's racket theory project as well as some of the core theoretical problems & themes

ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/2025/Ra...

ICYMI: Translation of Horkheimer’s 1927 lecture series on the Enlightenment, where he presents the radical French Enlightenment as the prehistory of scientific/revolutionary socialism & figures like Helvétius, Lessing, Mandeville as heralds of classless society

(link below)

new post up: transcriptions of the ISR’s big “reports on institute activities” from 1938 & 1944, + translation of Adorno’s ad for the ISR in ‘41, & re-translation of the ‘41 “debate on methods in the social sciences”!

open.substack.com/pub/jamescra...

NEW: Re Tejus works toward synthesizing a critical theory of class in "Class and Rackets, Part I - Conditions." Part II is soon to follow!
ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/2025/Ra...

The CTWG is pleased to announce that we are now accepting submissions for our blog. Please see the attached guidelines:
ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/2025/Bl...

“Revolution is nothing metaphysical; it is simply a matter of pain, hunger, and misery, of sufferings that can never be repaid. Socialism is not the perfection of humanity.”

@jemorain on the Frankfurt School, Jacques Camatte & Racket Theory:

ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/2025/Ra...

Collection—Horkheimer's Fragments on the Sociology of Sociology (ca. 1928-1934) (+ Adorno's '32 Report on science, industry, & ideology in Borkenau's "Übergang")

Our own Crane is back at it again!
jamescrane.substack.com/p/collection...

Class, Monopolies, and Rackets by Re Tejus | crittheoryworkgroup Get more from crittheoryworkgroup on Patreon

New Recording - EP1 of CTWG Spring 2025:

Class, Monopolies, and Rackets, presented by Re Tejus (3/22), on Horkheimer's "Sociology of Class Relations" and the prospects for Racketology today!
www.patreon.com/posts/class-...

Escape Velocities — Parapraxis On Erich Fromm’s lost social character J.E. Morain

Our own J.E. Morain has just published a piece on Fromm in @parapraxismag.bsky.social
www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/esc...

Thanks all who made it out to any of the meetings for the CTWG Spring 2025 session! We’ll be posting recordings, essays, & translations from this session soon, so let us know what you think if you follow along later on! See you on the other side of the reality principle! 👋

We are live!