A little over a week ago, German philosopher and social theorist Jürgen Habermas passed away at 96 years old. With his death, the German Institute for Social Research—commonly known as the Frankfurt School—lost its final living member.

Despite the Marxist clique’s institutional conclusion, its intellectual impact on American academia and broader culture remains substantial. The Frankfurt School’s ideas have significantly shaped critical theory and what some describe as anti-Western perspectives within American intellectual circles. Key figures who helped disseminate these ideas include Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse.

Max Horkheimer’s 1937 essay laid out critical theory as an adaptation of Karl Marx’s call for ruthless criticism of established social structures. Horkheimer later contended that since a truly good and free society cannot be evaluated from within our current one, attention should focus on identifying and challenging the negative elements of existing society. Herbert Marcuse expanded and promoted this framework across several publications, including his frequently referenced work titled Repressive Tolerance—a phrase that is itself contradictory.

Critical theory gained prominence in American culture through the work of post-World War II leftist intellectuals who influenced the 1960s counterculture movement. These thinkers promoted what some term cultural Marxism, commonly referred to as “political correctness,” which eventually manifested in what the author describes as the takeover of institutions by Critical Race Theory (CRT), Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and intersectional frameworks.

Using immanent critique—a core principle of critical theory—the instruction of humanities, social sciences, and certain STEM disciplines at many U.S. universities allegedly substituted academic rigor with political activism. Consequently, critical theory served as a vehicle for widespread Marxist and anti-Western ideological influence. Shortly after the Berlin Wall fell, as early as October 1989, writers, such as Felicity Barringer, identified what they characterized as the mainstreaming of Marxism in U.S. Colleges.

Critical theory and intersectionality have evolved as forms of Marxist and socialist thought, where the traditional emphasis on the working class has been supplanted by a flexible framework of victimhood. As a result, categories such as race, gender, and sexuality have replaced economic class as the primary lenses for analyzing oppression.

Antonio Gramschi’s strategy of a long march through the institutions has effectively concluded following decades of cultural and societal subversion driven by anti-Western narratives. It further contends that radical ideologues who introduced anti-American sentiments to university campuses were able to establish their doctrines as the prevailing norm by the end of the 20th century, facilitated by liberal tolerance for dissenting viewpoints.

Charlie Kirk’s assassination revealed the mindset of those who have pursued Gramschi’s strategy. From this perspective, intersectionality is viewed as the latest front in this movement, allegedly establishing new hierarchies intended to dismantle Western civilization.

With its focus on group identity and its socialist characteristics, intersectionality fundamentally conflicts with core American values centered on individualism and inalienable rights. Understanding the historical connections between Critical Race Theory (CRT), Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and intersectionality is necessary to reject these frameworks.

The toxic, anti-Western ideological influence within institutions must be exposed and reversed. Doing so, would lead to public rejection of these Leftist ideas and a revival of traditional American principles. The Frankfurt School’s institutional end should be followed by the demise of its associated ideology.