The long march through the institutions () is a slogan coined by the German socialist student activist Rudi Dutschke around 1967 to describe his strategy to create radical change in government (particularly West Germany) by becoming part of it.. The phrase "long march" is a reference to the physical Long March of the Chinese communist army.
Influences Similarities have been drawn between the long march and Antonio Gramsci's idea of "war of position". Evidence is lacking, however, that Dutschke was aware of Gramsci's work at the time. There is no mention of Gramsci in Dutschke's diaries or biography, contrasting with many mentions of György Lukács, Che Guevara, and Mao Zedong.
Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch met Dutschke at Bad Boll in 1968, and admired his integrity and determination, qualities that he had written about in The Principle of Hope (Das Prinzip Hoffnung) as being essential for the achievement of utopia.
German-American philosopher Herbert Marcuse and Dutschke worked together at least as early as 1966, when they organized an anti-war conference at the Institute for Social Research.Ulrich Chaussy (2018), Rudi Dutschke, Munich, Droemer, Marcuse wrote to Dutschke in 1971 to agree with this strategy: "Let me tell you this: that I regard your notion of the 'long march through the institutions' as the only effective way..." In his 1972 book, Counterrevolution and Revolt, Marcuse wrote:
Commentary Roger Kimball wrote that it was by these means of "insinuation and infiltration" that the countercultural ideals of Herbert Marcuse gained influence. Helmut Schelsky wrote that the long march was part of a strategy towards "the conquest of the system" () through efforts to discredit the values and processes of constitutional democracy.
The long march through the institutions has been invoked by American commentators as an explanation for the dominance of left wing thought in academia and government, as social justice activists active in the 1960s and 1970s dispersed throughout various centers of power. One version, attributed by pundit Jonathan Chait to conservative activist Chris Rufo "posits that the 1960s far left hit a wall when the working class failed to support its revolutionary program, and instead decided to gain control of society from above by burrowing into its elite sectors"
See also Entryism Fifth column Paradigm shift Vanguardism New Left New Communism movement West German student movement Revisionism (Marxism) Robert Conquest's Laws
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