It is generally believed that the relations between Soviet Marxism and the Frankfurt School are non-negotiable. The reason is simple. While Soviet Marxism has been considered as an expression of a unilinear view of Marxism, which in the name of science has refused to accommodate the element of subjectivity, the Frankfurt School, deeply anchored in the tradition of German idealism, has focused on consciousness and humanism. This, at least, has been the standardized understanding of the interrelation of Soviet Marxism and the Frankfurt School and one has viewed the other with deep suspicion and animosity.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, as a new atmosphere of free thinking gradually began to clear the mist of dogmatism and regimented thinking, which had dominated the Soviet era for decades, it was now possible to unravel a new dimension underlying this relationship. Following the research findings of a number of Russian and German scholars, after the opening of the Soviet archives, one can now arrive at an altogether different, yet complex, understanding of the relationship between Soviet Marxism and the Frankfurt School whereby one can reach a quite different conclusion. This refers to an untold story that unfolded itself in the 1920s, which is associated with Moscow's Marx-Engels Institute, headed by the internationally acclaimed Marx scholar, David Ryazanov, its first director, who had succeeded in establishing a great relation of cooperation and friendship with the Frankfurt School in Germany.