The “Great Refusal” and Social Theory, 1961–1981 103
Later, showing contrition, Habermas explained his position as
an emotional “overreaction” that reflected the traumatic experi-
ences of his “generation,” that is, the ‘58ers’ firsthand experience
of the Third Reich and consequent reflexive rejection of violence in
any form.^64 But this stance obscures the fact that his allegation of
“leftist-fascism” was not an outlier but consistent with the broader
critique of actionism he repeated over and over during the years
1967–9. In the context of the student-led opposition to technoc-
racy, Habermas’s critique of actionism was both predictable and
consistent. To be precise, until the tripwire of legality was crossed,
Habermas remained sympathetic to the students’ position, but once
the students crossed the line, Habermas turned their shared cri-
tique of technocracy against the students themselves. The ways he
characterized student activism as “actionism” clearly illustrate his
projection of his own preoccupation with the technocratic distor-
tion of the link between theory and praxis.^65
Several major issues occupied the energies of the West German
student movement between 1965 and 1969. The students favored
major reform of the university and the development of an extra-
parliamentary opposition (Ausserparlamentarische Opposition, or
APO); they opposed press concentration generally and the Springer
publishing company in particular, West German support for the
United States’ war in Vietnam, the SPD’s entrance into coalition
with the CDU/Christian Social Union (CSU), and the amend-
ment of the German constitution to permit the government in
Bonn to declare a state of emergency. Habermas actively supported
the students as long as he interpreted their positions as an articu-
lation of a coherent worldview – one that was pro-Rechtsstaat and
antitechnocracy.
To understand why these positions cohered in Habermas’s
framework, we need to review the historical context of the emer-
gency laws in particular. Even after returning sovereignty to West
Germany in 1955, the Allies reserved the right to restore domestic
order. German politicians were eager to fill this gap in German sov-
ereignty. In the early 1960s, a movement of intellectuals and trade
(^64) See Habermas, “Deutscher Herbst,” in Kleine Politische Schriften I-IV
(Suhrkamp: Frankfurt/Main, 1981), 364. With acknowledgments to
Matŭstìk’s work for the reference.
(^65) The concept of “actionism” was first developed by Adorno, however.