Critics mock ‘socialist’ current affairs magazine after boss fires workers for trying to form a workers’ cooperative

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Media headlines August 19

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Critics have amused themselves at the expense of ultra-progressive magazine Current Affairs after a massive layoff of employees trying to form a worker cooperative.

“Dear Comrades, We, the former full-time and part-time staff, write to you with deep sadness and disappointment about the recent events at Current Affairs,” a joint statement released on Wednesday began. “On August 8, editor Nathan J. Robinson (author of Why You Should Be a Socialist ‘) unilaterally fired most of the employees to avoid an organizational restructuring that would limit his personal power.

“Yes, we were fired by the editor of a socialist magazine for trying to create a work cooperative,” the ex-employee wrote in bold.

The letter detailed the formation of the worker co-op and how the goal, “including Nathan’s”, was to “create a democratic workplace where all voices were equally valued”, but it became “restless” and “Hostile” during the month of August. 7 meeting on Zoom.

THE STAFF OF THE SOCIALIST MAGAZINE CURRENT AFFAIRS ACTUALLY LAUNCHED TO TRY TO ORGANIZE A WORKERS ‘COOPERATION

“The next morning he started removing people from the Slack business and sent letters asking for resignations, eliminating positions and in some cases offering new honorary titles,” which would have no say on governance, “wrote the former staff.

They allege that Robinson retracted statements he made in his letters demanding resignations within 24 hours and expressed that it was his plan and that he “should be in control”.

“We are sad, devastated, betrayed and of course angry to realize that this person we trust has been lying to us for years,” they said. “We are frankly devastated to lose our high regard for current affairs.”

The letter was signed by ex-commercial director Allegra Silcox, ex-editor Lyta Gold, ex-administrative assistant Kate Christian Gauthreaux, ex-podcast producer Aisling McCrea and ex-poet in general Cate. Root.

While some readers of Current Affairs were dismayed by the conflict, other observers scoffed at the socialist versus socialist dilemma.

“Yes, Nathan is a brazen hypocrite who would lead the denunciation just if it happened to someone else. The schadenfreude is deserved. But the left has created a deranged, self-immolating culture where no one can survive. Read this madness. reporter Glenn Greenwald retweeted the letter.

“Nathan J. Robinson, author of WHY YOU SHOULD BE A SOCIALIST, is firing the majority of @curaffairsstaff rather than allowing them to organize. None of these people are serious!” exclaimed Thomas Chatterton Williams, columnist for Harpers Magazine. “It’s always the same story. The total lack of principle of the harshest reprimands is just incredible.”

“A socialist fired from the socialist magazine for doing socialism,” recapitulated Daily Wire editor-in-chief Emily Zanotti.

“The Socialists’ Magazine, a microcosm of the reasons why socialism doesn’t work,” wrote Robby Soave, editor of Reason magazine.

Neither Robinson nor Current Affairs responded to Fox News requests for comment, but Robinson posted a lengthy statement on Facebook.

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“I’m trying to make a more formal statement about this, but the result is this: I screwed up badly and didn’t live up to my values,” Robinson began. “I feel bad because I think I generally did a good job for five years to make Day-to-Day a pretty ethical organization and in one day I messed it up and disappointed a lot of people. I have a lot of work to do to rebuild trust, but I’m not sure if CA will survive as subscribers rightly feel betrayed and we’re getting cancellations [sic]. I don’t blame the people who cancel, all I can say is I tried hard for five years to do well with the people who worked for us and I’m really sad that I canceled in one. single week. “

“Our subscription numbers hadn’t been working well lately and I felt I had to exert some control over the organization to get it back on track, asking some people to leave and moving out. others in different positions. Unfortunately, I did this in a horrible way that made people feel very disrespectful, asking for a bunch of resignations at once and making people feel like I didn’t appreciate them. work for the organization, ”Robinson said in defense of his actions.

Robinson assured his fans that he never wanted to be a “dictator at work” and that he was “not a capitalist”.

“I have never taken more money for myself than any other full-time staff member and I want to do everything possible to ensure a level playing field. What I wanted was the ability to remain the executive director of the organization and to be able to have the staff report to me to make sure things got done. Maybe it was wrong. But that’s how I felt, ”Robinson wrote. “I think it’s easy to talk about a belief in power sharing, but when it comes to actually sharing power over this thing that I put my heart and soul into, it got me. seemed very, very difficult to do. I found it easy to enforce good working conditions and equal pay. Relinquishing control of CA management was a much harder thing for me to come to terms with. It is a weakness personal which clashed with my principle.

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“I’m sorry for all of you and the staff at CA who have done so much to make it what it is today. I sincerely hope CA will do this because I think we have a lot more work to do. great to do in the future. I will do my best to make sure this is done in accordance with leftist values. That was not it, “he added.

Brian Flood of Fox News contributed to this report.

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