{"id":661523,"date":"2021-08-19T10:22:27","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T14:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=661523"},"modified":"2021-08-19T10:22:29","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T14:22:29","slug":"author-of-how-to-be-a-socialist-allegedly-fires-magazine-staff-for-asserting-that-workers-should-be-in-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/author-of-how-to-be-a-socialist-allegedly-fires-magazine-staff-for-asserting-that-workers-should-be-in-charge\/","title":{"rendered":"Author Of \u2018How To Be A Socialist\u2019 Allegedly Fires Magazine Staff For Asserting That Workers Should Be In Charge"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">38<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fauthor-of-how-to-be-a-socialist-allegedly-fires-magazine-staff-for-asserting-that-workers-should-be-in-charge%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=661523&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-635964869-breadlines-cropped.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Former staff members of the socialist magazine Current Affairs say they were summarily fired after tensions with their founder, socialist commentator Nathan J. Robinson, over whether he should share authority with his employees.<\/p>\n<p>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1qzPaisfCy0wNwVYxwaf443z8Aom4ELTU\/view\">open letter<\/a>, five former staff members wrote Wednesday:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"13\">\n<p><em>Dear comrades, We, the former full and part-time staff, write to you with deep sadness and disappointment about recent events that have occurred at Current Affairs. On August 8th, editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson (author of Why You Should Be A Socialist) unilaterally fired most of the workforce to avoid an organizational restructuring that would limit his personal power. Yes, we were fired by the editor-in-chief of a socialist magazine for trying to start a worker co-op.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cEveryone\u2019s stated goal, including Nathan\u2019s, was to create a democratic workplace where all voices were equally valued. But when we finally got around to discussing organizational models during a Zoom meeting on August 7th, Nathan became agitated,\u201d the letter continued. Robinson soon demanded removed employees\u2019 computer credentials and made clear they no longer had jobs, the letter said.<\/p>\n<p>The letter said that Robinson wrote in an email:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"9\">\n<p><em>This organization has been heading slowly for some sort of reckoning where it was going to have to be made clear once and for all what kind of authority I wanted to have over it. And I was in denial about the fact that the answer is I think I should be on top of the org chart, with everyone else selected by me and reporting to me. I let Current Affairs build up into a sort of egalitarian community of friends while knowing in my heart that I still thought of it as my project over which I should have control.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The staff continued:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"22\">\n<p><em>He has effectively fired us for organizing for better work conditions. We are sad, aghast, betrayed, and of course, angry to realize that this person we trusted has been lying to us for years. We, a small staff composed entirely of women and non-binary people, have faithfully worked to make Current Affairs the beautiful, engaging leftist magazine and podcast that it is.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The staff was fired without warning\u2026 We know that this news will devastate people who may be reeling from losses of faith, old and new. \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>We are frankly devastated to lose our high esteem for Current Affairs. The left can be as lonely and vicious as anywhere else on this earth.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Robinson\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nathanjrobinson.com\/\">bio<\/a> reads:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"10\">\n<p><em>I hold a JD from Yale Law School and am presently a PhD student in Sociology and Social Policy at Harvard University, and the author or editor of ten books including \u201cWhy You Should Be A Socialist and Trump: Anatomy of a Monstrosity\u201d as well as \u201cSuperpredator,\u201d a \u201cgood primer on liberal duplicity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He addressed the situation on Facebook, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/njrobinson\/posts\/10166195407570599\">saying<\/a> that while he was \u201cnot a capitalist,\u201d the socialist magazine had become \u201cinefficient\u201d as workers came and went as they pleased:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"15\">\n<p><em>I\u2019ve got a lot of work to do to rebuild trust, but I\u2019m not sure if CA will survive, as subscribers rightly feel betrayed and we\u2019re getting cancelations. I don\u2019t blame people who cancel. \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Even though I screwed up, the truth is more complex than the \u2018fired the staff for wanting democracy\u2019 narrative. I\u2019ve done many egalitarian things with Current Affairs. \u2026 Anyone can tell you I don\u2019t order people about. Everyone works when they like. I\u2019ve hardly ever exerted authority over it internally at all. Partly as a result, the organization developed a kind of messy structurelessness where it wasn\u2019t clear who had power to do what and there was not much accountability for getting work done. The organization had become very inefficient.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Robinson did not return a request for comment from The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p>But his most recent <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NathanJRobinson\/status\/1426620678820831232\">tweet<\/a>, dated August 14, says \u201cIf you\u2019re an active member of your DSA chapter &amp; would be willing to be interviewed for some CA writing &amp; academic research I am doing on how socialists organize, please email nathan@currentaffairs.org. Particularly interested in New Orleans &amp; Chicago but welcome all respondents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and&nbsp;<span class=\"il\">counter-cultural<\/span>&nbsp;outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615934302565000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHOV8alRjqO61ImZWCRpqOILgWzkg\">member<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former staff members of the socialist magazine Current Affairs say they were summarily fired after tensions with their founder, socialist commentator Nathan J. Robinson, over whether he should share authority &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-661523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}