In this essay, Gabriel Rockhill examines how "critical theory" – as associated with the Frankfurt School and monopolized by it – abandoned revolutionary Marxism and transformed into an academic discourse compatible and coordinated with American imperialist aims and the limits of the liberal system. Through archival research and political analysis, the relationship between the Frankfurt School researchers and the American state and security services is revealed, as well as their role in policing the left boundary of criticism and weakening the revolutionary perspective. A provocative essay that invites us to reconsider the concept of critique today and to reflect on radical theory.