…[E]ven apart from the militaristic encroachment, the absolutism of bureaucracy, whose authority the police enforce to the utmost in all phases of life, stands opposed to the free structuring of society. No economic or juridical measures, only the will of the ruled can lead to the democratization of the system of control. They will be trapped in the vicious cycle of…domination, war and poverty until they break through it themselves. Wherever else in Europe these tendencies toward integral statism are present, the prospect exists that the masses will not become enmeshed in bureaucratic control. It cannot be predicted whether or not this will succeed, and cannot therefore be worked out once and for all in praxis. Only the bad in history is irrevocable: the unrealized possibilities, missed opportunities, murder with and without legal procedures, and that which those in power inflict upon humanity. The other is always in danger.
- Max Horkheimer, “The Authoritarian State”