 In assessing his support for the capitalist democratic societies like the United Kingdom and the United States against the socialist Soviet Union governed by a single Communist Party or the national socialism of Germany governed by a single National Socialist German Workers’ Party, Hook explicitly affirmed that the defense and preservation of the institutions of political democracy that permitted freedom for individuals and groups were a much more important priority than the transfer of the ownership of the means of production from individuals and corporations to a socialist state. This conclusion went directly counter to the Marxist view that the political organization of a society was secondary to the primary economic structure of the society, that is, in one Marxist phrasing, that a state is nothing but the executive committee of the bourgeoisie. This conclusion, which emerged during the debate over support for the United States against Nazi Germany, was subsequently to become a strong basis for Hook’s support for American policy against the Soviet Union during the period that is referred to as the Cold War.