A Theory Devoured by Thought 443contemporary society was still a capitalist society in its basic economic
structure, whether the conceptual apparatus of Marx’s Critique of Poli-
tical Economy was still viable as a description of modern society, and
how far modifications were needed in Marx’s theories about the world
of work and his theory of classes and the state.^177
These were indeed topical issues. The contemporary relevance of
Marx’s theory of capitalism was the subject of heated discussion among
the students in Adorno’s sociology seminars. He never resisted this
interest in theory; on the contrary, discussions were encouraged with
the help of his assistant, the economist Ernst Theodor Mohl. They went
into great detail about the concepts with which to grasp the meaning of
economic crises, the ‘laws of motion’ of organized capitalism.^178 The
political assumption underlying these discussions was that democratic
societies above all others should not be thought of as static, but are
capable of being changed by political action. This possibility of change
is what Dahrendorf must have had in mind when he commented in his
welcoming address to the Frankfurt Sociologists’ Conference that they
found themselves in a situation in which ‘those who had sown the wind
might well find themselves unexpectedly reaping the whirlwind.’^179
This statement, at the opening of a conference that attracted consider-
able attention far beyond the conference hall, was a clear pointer to
the controversies that had been unleashed by the extra-parliamentary
opposition and student demonstrations. These were the years that wit-
nessed a process of politicization that proceeded at a furious pace and
which involved an increasingly militant protest against authoritarian
structures and traditional values of the establishment. At the time,
the reforms that began slowly to emerge in the early 1970s were not
yet in sight and the political demands of the ‘New Left’ provoked the
hostility of the majority of the population, while moral protests against
the war in Vietnam, dictatorships and the emergency laws were met by
incomprehension. All the more striking, then, was Adorno’s initial
sympathy for the protesters.^180
In the first weeks of April, a few days before the conference was
due to begin, there were two explosions in Frankfurt, where it was due
to convene. These explosions in two department stores started fires that
caused major damage. A little later, two men and two women were
arrested who declared at their trial that they wanted to burn the depart-
ment stores down ‘in order to protest against society’s indifference
towards the murders in Vietnam’. At the same time, leaflets were dis-
tributed that were full of the inhumanity of capitalism, exploitation and
consumer terrorism, and revolution and militant attitudes.^181 This was
evidently the unexpected whirlwind which, according to Dahrendorf,
had been sown by the critical theory of the Frankfurt School.
Adorno’s opening address at least alluded to these contemporary
events in passing. He interpreted the student movement as a resistance
to the pressures to conform. Student protest was motivated by‘revulsion