Dilemmas of Radicalism

The posthumous collection of Franz Neumann’s essays (The Democratic and Authoritarian State, The Free Press, 1957) underlines the tragedy of his death. Some of the essays are diffuse and obscure, others unfinished; and the collection as a whole does not form a coherent unit, despite its somewhat misleading title, and it abounds in repetitions. More extensive editing and introductions to the essays relating them to the development of Neumann’s thought would have added clarity to both style and content. After all, they were written for a great variety of purposes over a period of seventeen years. Yet I can understand Herbert Marcuse’s decision to let Neumann’s work speak for itself because that work is of great significance. Amid the welter of erudition, repetition, and occasional obscurity there emerges a picture of a brilliant mind working its way through the decisive problems of our time. If reading these essays requires patience and effort, the labor is wel...