ABSTRACT
Borkenau is usually considered a Marxist, a peripheral member of the Frankfurt Institut für Sozialforschung known as the Frankfurt School. However, this common view is open to question. His major 1934 book was indeed published in the Institut series. The title and some of its terminology are also unmistakably Marxist. Yet, even in this book, the sincerity of Borkenau’s Marxist commitments is doubtful. The movement away from Communist orthodoxy which he started in the late 1920s was still progressing. The book is shaped partly by this shifting involvement and partly by the duty and obligation to conform to the requirements of the Institut. The dilemma whether Borkenau was using Marxist concepts in his book as a mere decoy, or whether the ambiguities of the book reflect his genuinely ambivalent status is probably impossible to solve and is not very relevant. He was certainly in a delicate situation in more ways than one, and attempted to make compromises. The results were mixed and no doubt contributed to the problems of reception. For Marxists, Transition failed to step in line with the creed and, for non-Marxists, its terminology looked prohibitive.
