What happened at Nathan J. Robinson’s Current Affairs magazine during the 2021 co-op dispute and how has it evolved since?
Nathan Robinson’s articles, and Current Affairs generally, have been consistently challenging and thought-provoking, with incisive critique and informative discussion, lucid and provocative, and focused on well-chosen issues of major significance. I find myself regularly recommending Robinson’s articles to others, and re-reading them myself. Unusually valuable contributions.
Current Affairs is one of few superb places to go to get moral and spiritual depth combined with crucial progressive analysis and vision in a decadent American culture! The rich legacies of Martin Luther King, Jr., Noam Chomsky and Barbara Ehrenreich are alive in this marvelous magazine.
Nathan J. Robinson and Current Affairs are consistently excellent, writing at a very high standard, and offering serious and compelling alternative perspectives. Very worth following and reading.
Yes, Nathan is a brazen hypocrite who would be leading the righteous denunciation if this happened to anyone else. The schadenfreude is merited. But the left has created a deranged, self-immolating culture where nobody can survive… Over and over, left-wing spaces destroy themselves. They’re impotent, can’t achieve anything, so turn on each other to feel strong and meaningful. But they can only raise their fist over cheap, performative theater. The puritanical rules they’ve imposed ensure self-destruction... Nathan is reaping what he sowed, just like Scott Stringer, Dianne Morales and so many others. The Frankenstein they unleash to sadistically destroy others eventually comes to eat them. Nathan is a mewling, obsequious socialist, but in this sick leftist prism, he’s Jeff Bezos.
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.
Current Affairs Open Letter
Dr. Nathan Robinson earned a J.D. from Yale Law School. He completed his Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy at Harvard University in May 2022. He is a libertarian socialist. He advocates for workers’ rights, democratic workplaces, and anti-capitalist principles. He writes on a wide range of socialist subjects.
He founded the publication Current Affairs in 2015 with Oren Nimni. The original 2015 Kickstarter campaign raised $16,607, surpassing its $10,000 goal. Nimni serves as Legal Editor. Currently, it is based out of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is published as a bimonthly left-wing magazine with thousands of subscribers. It carries no advertising. It is funded by subscriptions and donations.
For about 6 years, things were good, until alleged firings and a worker co-op dispute happened. It involved Dr. Robinson, Allegra Silcox (Business Manager), Lyta Gold (Managing and Amusements Editor), Kate Christian Gauthreaux (Administrative Assistant), Aisling McCrea (Former Podcast Producer), and Cate Root (Poet at Large).
Staff alleged the triggering event was a Zoom meeting on August 7, 2021. There were discussions for a “more democratic workplace” for more than a year on a continuous basis. Robinson perceived the proposed changes as disregarding his vision for Current Affairs.
On August 8, 2021, staff were locked out of Slack. They received emails. The emails requested resignations. Alternatively, he offered “honorary titles.” The titles came with no governance power. Staff perceived this as de facto terminations. No prior notice was given.
No performance improvement plans were provided. Standard practice gives a two-week performance improvement period. However, it is not legally required in all employment contexts, especially for at-will employees in the U.S. Staff claimed being fired for attempts to restructure Current Affairs to a worker-owned cooperative reducing the unilateral control of Dr. Robinson.
The former staff members published a public letter in August, 2021, linked by Lyta Gold. Their central allegation hinged on single statement. “We were fired by the editor-in-chief of a socialist magazine for trying to start a worker co-op.”
The letter highlighted the perceived hypocrisy of Dr. Robinson by staff members based on public socialist advocacy, i.e., holding disproportionate power, lack of responsiveness, and prolonged absenteeism. Several portions are indicative:
Yes, we were fired by the editor-in-chief of a socialist magazine for trying to start a worker co-op… Nathan became agitated… behaved in a hostile manner… started removing people from the company Slack… sent letters requesting resignations, eliminating positions… offering new ‘honorary titles’ which would have no say in governance… he admitted that he simply did not want Current Affairs to be a democratic workplace… he wrote: ‘I think I should be on top of the org chart, with everyone else selected by me and reporting to me’… We note darkly that he says ‘egalitarian community of friends,’ and not, of course, a workplace… he has effectively fired us for organizing for better work conditions… we are sad, aghast, betrayed… Nathan J. Robinson can write articles and give speeches, but… he simply isn’t up to the task… We have no better explanation for Nathan’s behavior than any of you, but it is clear to us now that this is simply the most extreme event in a pattern of controlling and dishonest actions that began long before this sequence of events and has created an untenable situation for the workers… this feels like a light going out.
Dr. Robinson’s responses changed over time. The initial response, he claims to have “irreparably lost faith” in his staff’s ability to collaborate effectively. Within the first 24 hours, Robinson changed the position, while retracting the original response. Now, he still supported a democratic workplace, but went against a co-op structure. He considered Current Affairs “purely” his project and not a collectively governed entity, but an “egalitarian community of friends.”
He acknowledged personal leadership and shortcomings in this. At the same time, he maintained general support for labour organizing elsewhere. He did not address the hypocrisy allegations directly. Dr. Robinson took three actions. He:
- requested resignation of three staffers.
- reassigned an employee’s title.
- offered a contractor a different role.
On August 19, 2021, the board of directors issued a public statement. No staff had been ‘officially’ fired, while severance discussions were ongoing. Subsequently, Current Affairs was announced as on hiatus on Twitter (now X) by Vanessa A. Bee.
Uncertainty for the future of the magazine surrounded this hiatus. Dr. Robinson began reconciliatory efforts. He offered reinstatement of staff positions. Earlier, in February 2021, The Guardian discontinued Robinson’s U.S. opinion column. The discontinuation followed a satirical tweet about U.S. military aid to Israel.
He struggled with severance negotiations and the maintenance of the organizational community. On August 13, Dr. Robinson proposed $234,352 (USD) in severance. Staff remained on the payroll through September, 2021; bylaws prevented formal terminations. Five departing staffers received severances totaling $76,014. This was about 34% of the magazine’s cash reserves. They remained on payroll through September 2021 per board bylaws.
Yasmin Nair alludes to departing staff spreading falsehoods; further, those leading to online harassment of Robinson and financial harm to the magazine. Direct causal connection and financial specifics remain unconfirmed. Structural and vision disagreements were the dispute, not ideological betrayal.
The staff’s push for a co-op structure aligned with progressive values and Dr. Robinson’s stipulated values. The tension between individual centralized authority and collective governance showed in the story. Since 2023, no major developments on this particular narrative. He co-authored The Myth of American Idealism with Prof. Noam Chomsky in 2024. Currently, Current Affairs is operational and Dr. Robinson retains status as Editor-in-Chief.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen is Secretary of, and Chair of the Media Committee for, The New Enlightenment Project. He is the publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-0692343) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369-6885). He writes for The Good Men Project, International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN 0018-7399; Online: ISSN 2163-3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), A Further Inquiry, and other media. He is a member in good standing of numerous media organizations.
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