Fun With Primary Sources: The Free Congress Foundation's "History of Political Correctness"

William S. Lind

Last week I put up a post about the Frankfurt School in right-wing conspiracy theories.  As discussed in the comment thread of that post, a few things have become clear about this meme, largely through the work of Chip Berlet:

First, the notion that the Frankfurt School was responsible for creating "Political Correctness," "Cultural Marxism," and a related plot against Western civilization itself emerged from the circle around Lyndon LaRouche from the 1970s (when LaRouche's attacks on the Frankfurt Institute apparently began) through the early 1990s, after "Political Correctness" had entered American discourse through President George H.W. Bush's 1991 University of Michigan Commencement Address. Michael Minnicino's 1992 article on the Frankfurt School and Political Correctness, published in Fidelio, the journal of LaRouche's Schiller Institute, was particularly important. Minnicino has since renounced this article and other work he produced for LaRouche.

Second, the supposed connections between the Frankfurt School, "Political Correctness," "Cultural Marxism," and a plot against Western civilization were popularized by William S. Lind through his work at Paul Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation.  Lind has been something of a journeyman, working on the Senate Armed Services Committee for Sen. Robert Taft, Jr (R-OH) in the 1970s and Sen. Gary Hart (D-CO) in the 1980s.  Later he wrote for paleoconservative publications like The American Conservative and for Alexander Cockburn's leftwing Counterpunch.

Below the fold, you'll find Lind's Free Congress Foundation-produced video, "The History of Political Correctness," which I believe was made sometime in the 1990s (I haven't been able to find an exact production date.  If anybody knows when this video was made, please provide the date in the comments).

For more on this video check out this blog post over on Ecological Handstand.  You'll see that the intellectual historian--and actual Frankfurt School expert--Martin Jay puts in an appearance here.  Lind's surprise interview of him made him aware of this particular conspiracy theory for the first time. He has since written an article about this issue:   "Dialectic of Counter-Enlightenment: The Frankfurt School as Scapegoat of the Lunatic Fringe," Salmagundi, 169, (Fall 2010-Winter 2011).

Even more influential than this video was the short book “Political Correctness:” A Short History of an Ideology, which Lind edited for the Free Congress Foundation.  It was apparently originally posted, free of charge, in late 2004 on the FCF's website. 

Table of Contents

Introduction by William S. Lind

Chapter I - What is "Political Correctness?" by William S. Lind

Chapter II - The Historical Roots of “Political Correctness” by Raymond V. Raehn

Chapter III - Political Correctness in Higher Education by T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.

Chapter IV - Political Correctness: Deconstruction and Literature by Jamie McDonald

Chapter V - Radical Feminism and Political Correctness by Dr. Gerald L. Atkinson

Chapter VI - Further Readings on the Frankfurt School by William S. Lind

The original e-book appears to have been widely linked by other conservative websites, including David Horowitz's Discover the Networks. But the Free Congress Foundation seems to have taken the book down from its website

However, those interested can still find the .pdfs of the complete book here.