Horkheimer, skyscrapers and 'the animal hell in human society' (and a fox in the Shard)

Max Horkheimer - Max Horkheimer (1935)– ' Der Wolkenkratzer / The Skyscraper':

'A cross section of today's social structure would have to show the following: At the top, the feuding tycoons of the various capitalist power constellations. Below them, the lesser magnates, the large landowners and the entire staff of important co-workers. Below that, and in various layers, the large numbers of professionals, smaller employees, political stooges, the military and the professors, the engineers and heads of office down to the typists. And even further down what is left of the independent, small existences, craftsmen, grocers, farmers e tutti quanti, then the proletarian, from the most highly paid, skilled workers down to the unskilled and the permanently unemployed, the poor, the aged and the sick. 

It is only below these that we encounter the actual foundation of misery on which this structure rises, for up to now we have been talking only of the highly developed capitalist countries whose entire existence is based on the horrible exploitation apparatus at work in the partly or wholly colonial territories, i.e., in the far larger part of the world. Extended regions in the Balkans are torture chambers, the mass misery in India, China, Africa boggles the mind. Below the spaces where the coolies of the earth perish by the millions, the indescribable, unimaginable suffering of the animals, the animal hell in human society, would have to be depicted, the sweat, blood, despair of the animals. 

[...] The basement of that house is a slaughterhouse, its roof a cathedral, but from the windows of the upper floors, it affords a really beautiful view of the starry heavens'.

 From 'Dawn & Decline: Notes 1926-1931 and 1950-1969', translated by Michael Shaw, Seabury Press, New York 1978, 66ff.

Horkheimer's text is remarkable for the time in including the suffering of animals in a litany of the abuses of capitalism. The image of society as a hierarchically ordered building is not unique but the acknowledgement that other species could be said to occupy the foundations is unusual in the 1930s, as far as I am aware.

Working for many years in the shadow of the Shard in London, this is what I always imagine as the archetypal skyscraper.  Yes there are expensive penthouses and restaurants further up, no actual slaughterhouse underneath but it overlooks the suffering and caring of Guys Hospital.  The photo above was taken in 2022 when striking nurses at the hospital were picketing directly opposite the Shard (hence the strike placard in image).

Another story from the Shard's history reminds us that whatever the implied hierarchy of such buildings, animals - like humans- refuse to know their place. When the building was under construction in 2011, a fox was found to be living at the top of the building! The fox was nicknamed Romeo and was later released on to the streets of Bermondsey. Possibly only a Frankfurt School critical theorist would be up to the task of analysing the fact that cuddly souvenir toys of the fox were later sold at the Shard, as well as the fox featuring in a children's book.