The Long
Insurgency

Dossier · 1898–1970

Herbert Marcuse

Ideas, American teaching and the students who used and challenged them

Chronology

1898–1970

189819341970
11 dated events
  1. Marcuse is born in Berlin Reported · Source 3, On the Authors, p. xxii; PDF p. 22
  2. Marcuse joins the Institute in New York Reported · Source 4, pp. 146–147; PDF pp. 308–309
  3. OSS report proposes dissolving Nazi organizations Documented · Source 3, Report 16, pp. 253–254; PDF pp. 277–278
  4. Marcuse begins teaching at Brandeis Reported · Source 3, On the Authors, p. xxiii; PDF p. 23
  5. Eros and Civilization is published Reported · Source 3, On the Authors, p. xxiii; PDF p. 23 (1955 United States publication)
  6. One-Dimensional Man is published Reported · Source 1, Copyright page and original-publication line
  7. Marcuse moves from Brandeis to UC San Diego Reported · Source 3, On the Authors, p. xxiii; PDF p. 23
  8. Repressive Tolerance is published Reported · Source 6, Original-publication copyright; 1969 paperback, fifth printing 1970
  9. Davis resumes study with Marcuse Reported · Source 7, Davis preface, p. xi; PDF p. 12
  10. Marcuse’s New Left interview appears in the New York Times Magazine Reported · Source 7, p. 100, n. 1; PDF p. 115
  11. Radical America publishes Aronson’s assessment of Marcuse Documented · Source 2, Contents and Dear Herbert, pp. 3–5; PDF pp. 2, 5–7

Influence

Davis adapts his work

Angela Davis credited Marcuse with showing her that scholarship and activism could go together. She recalled resuming study with him in 1967. In her later account, she drew on his ideas about political language to question the way society talked about crime and prisons. She also criticized his sharp division between high and low art. Her account shows a chosen and changed use of his ideas. [7], Davis preface, pp. xi–xiv

Aronson challenges his teacher

Ronald Aronson described Marcuse’s teaching at Brandeis as a decisive experience. Marcuse helped him read Marx alongside other philosophers and link thought with social change. Aronson then argued that Marcuse’s broad terms could hide the details of particular societies and struggles. Radical America published the essay in April 1970, alongside other discussions of Marcuse. [2], contents; Aronson, pp. 3–5

Marcuse himself resisted the title of spokesman for the student revolt. In a 1968 interview, he said few students had read him closely. He described a meeting of ideas more than direct influence. His view and his students’ accounts give us different evidence to compare. [7], pp. 100–101

Follow this pathway

Marcuse and the Institute: ideas enter American radical politics