Improvising the Future: Theory, Practice, and Struggle in Adorno and Horkheimer's Towards a New Manifesto

Matt Applegate Ph.D., Molloy College

Abstract

A new manifesto for the radical Left is vital, and it is to emerge from whispers, riddles, and aphorisms without lapsing into dogma, pure utopia, or party politics. Its focus will be on practice and action, but will refuse to take command of the future. A new manifesto is, if it is to be all of these things at once, improvisation. These are a few of the basic features and premises of Adorno and Horkheimer's 1956 dialogue, posthumously titled, Towards a New Manifesto