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Bhaskar Sunkara

Popvenstre International debate (cropped) (link) by Christopher Neumann Ruud. is licensed CC BY 2.0 (link)
Nationality:

American
Born:

1989
Occupation:

Socialist Editor

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 Bhaskar Sunkara is a prominent socialist editor and author. He founded the Marxist publication Jacobin in September 2010 and became the president of the social-democratic magazine The Nation in February 2022. 1

Sunkara has written several books relating to socialism. One of his most prominent books is The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality, which “explores socialism’s history since the mid-1800s” and casts a “vision for its future” in America. 2

Sunkara has been accused of revoking a promise he made to employees of the United Kingdom-based left-of-center Tribune magazine after Jacobin bought the outlet in 2018. 3 Workers at the Tribune claimed that Sunkara promised that if they took a settlement of 70 percent of the wages they were owed by Tribune’s previous owner, he would provide them with work after becoming the new owner. Sunkara, in a statement to Payday Report, said he would not welcome the workers back to the outlet. 4

Early Life

Bhaskar Sunkara is the president of The Nation and founding editor of the Marxist publication Jacobin. 5

Sunkara’s parents emigrated from Trinidad to the United States approximately a year before he was born in 1989. He went to school in Westchester Country, New York, and states he had his “first inklings of political engagement in middle school” centered around protests of the war in Iraq, although he admits that his main political developments came through reading books like George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm, as well as other works by Marxists such as Leon Trotsky when he was 12 to 13 years old. 6

Sunkara joined the New York chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) at 17. The DSA is a far-left political activist group and the largest socialist organization in the United States with approximately 78,000 members as of August 2023. 7 8 9

During his time as a member of the DSA, Sunkara edited The Activist, the blog of the youth branch of the organization. Some DSA members he worked became editors and writers for Jacobin, initially in unpaid positions. Jacobin began paying writers and editors in 2013. Sunkara is also a former vice chairman of the DSA. 10 11 12

Sunkara studied international relations at George Washington University in Washington D.C. He states that he was “more involved with the anti-war movement and student activism” during his time at college. 13

Career

Jacobin

Sunkara launched Jacobin in September 2010 and its first print issue was published at the beginning of 2011. According to an interview with the New Left Review, Sunkara said he wanted the Jacobin to be “neither Leninist nor the kind of broad liberal-left opinion you get in, say, The Nation or In These Times,” adding that he wanted the publication to be “uncompromisingly socialist” while being closer to The Nation in reader accessibility. 14

Sunkara has said his goal in creating Jacobin was “the broader political project of rebuilding the socialist movement in the US.” Jacobin publishes quarterly with 75,000 subscribers and has a website with over 3 million monthly views. 15 16

Jacobin has published radical far-left content, including pieces entitled “Burn the Constitution,” “Yes, a Planned Economy Can Actually Work,” and “There’s No Such Thing as Good Philanthropy.” 17 18 19

Jacobin has franchises in five foreign languages and publishes the United Kingdom-based magazine Tribune as well as Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy. 20

The Jacobin Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation, operates the publication. The foundation’s total revenue was $1.52 million in 2018, with $1.34 million coming from subscriptions, $107,000 from contributions and grants, and $69,000 from advertising. 21

The Nation

The Nation announced on February 23, 2022, that Bhaskar Sunkara would be its next president. Sunkara had begun writing at The Nation in 2013. 22

The Nation is the oldest weekly magazine in the United States. It was initially founded as a classical liberal magazine but as the liberal movement has evolved it steadily became a more left-progressive or social-democratic magazine. The Nation frequently praised authoritarian leftist leaders, including Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, on its pages. When Chavez died in 2013, the magazine ran several stories praising his time in office. One eulogy by Greg Grandin said Chavez was “not authoritarian enough.” 23

Other Writing

Sunkara has been a columnist for The Guardian U.S. and has written for several outlets including the New York Times, Vox, Foreign Policy, and the Washington Post. 24

Bhaskar Sunkara has written several books relating to socialism. One of his most prominent books is The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality, which “explores socialism’s history since the mid-1800s” and casts a “vision for its future” in America. He has also written Europe in Revolt: Mapping the New European Left, and Future We Want: Radical Ideas for the New Century. He has also published books written by Jacobin writers, including The ABC of Socialism, and The Good Die Young: The Verdict on Henry Kissinger. 25

Controversy

Bhaskar Sunkara has been accused of revoking a promise he made to employees of the United Kingdom-based left-of-center Tribune magazine after Jacobin bought the outlet in 2018. 26

The re-launch of the Tribune was attended by prominent members of the U.K. government’s left-of-center Labour Party, including two members of parliament, and the general secretary of Unite the Union, the largest labor union in the United Kingdom with 1.2 million members as of 2018. 27

Workers at the Tribune claimed that Sunkara promised if they took a settlement of 70 percent of the wages they were owed by the Tribune’s previous owner, he would provide them with work after becoming the new owner. 28

Sunkara, in a statement to Payday Report, said he would not welcome the workers back to the outlet. 29

In a series of open letters, workers have accused Sunkara of lying, with one employee stating, “In the capitalist world someone who buys an ailing company and dumps its committed workers is known as an asset-stripper or robber baron, but at least they don’t claim to be socialists.” Another former worker at the Tribune, Mike Parker, stated that “so often on the left, principles of comradeship, solidarity, honesty and so on make fine rhetoric but are shamelessly abandoned when they become inconvenient,” adding that his “capacity for disappointment in so-called ‘democratic socialists’ has not yet reached its limit.” 30

References

  1. “The Nation” Names Bhaskar Sunkara Its New President.” The Nation. February 23, 2022. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/bhaskar-sunkara-president/.
  2. “Bhaskar Sunkara.” Amazon. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B00J6ONJWM/allbooks?ingress=0&visitId=513d074d-25c1-4507-a63e-b48600160908&ref_=ap_rdr.
  3. Elk, Mike. “Jacobin Accused of Reneging on Wage Deal in British Takeover of Tribune Magazine.” Payday Report. September 26, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://paydayreport.com/jacobin-publisher-accused-of-reneging-on-wage-deal-in-takeover-of-british-magazine-the-tribune/.
  4. Elk, Mike. “Jacobin Accused of Reneging on Wage Deal in British Takeover of Tribune Magazine.” Payday Report. September 26, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://paydayreport.com/jacobin-publisher-accused-of-reneging-on-wage-deal-in-takeover-of-british-magazine-the-tribune/
  5. Room, Press. ““The Nation” Names Bhaskar Sunkara Its New President.” The Nation. February 23, 2022. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/bhaskar-sunkara-president/.
  6. Sunkara, Bhaskar. “Bhaskar Sunkara, Project Jacobin, NLR 90, November–December 2014.” December 1, 2014. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii90/articles/bhaskar-sunkara-project-jacobin.
  7. Sunkara, Bhaskar. “Bhaskar Sunkara, Project Jacobin, NLR 90, November–December 2014.” December 1, 2014. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii90/articles/bhaskar-sunkara-project-jacobin.
  8. “Home.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.dsausa.org/.
  9. “Growth and Development Committee 2023 Report to the DSA National Convention.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zll3BCBpr4ZwruT_ctugQUMCODRcZv7T/view.
  10. Sunkara, Bhaskar. “Bhaskar Sunkara, Project Jacobin, NLR 90, November–December 2014.” December 1, 2014. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii90/articles/bhaskar-sunkara-project-jacobin.
  11. Baird, Robert P. “The ABCs of Jacobin.” Columbia Journalism Review. January 2, 2019. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.cjr.org/special_report/the-abcs-of-jacobin-socialist-magazine.php.
  12. “Overcoming Individualism.” Democratic Socialists of America. June 30, 2017. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.dsausa.org/democratic-left/overcoming_individualism/.
  13. Sunkara, Bhaskar. “Bhaskar Sunkara, Project Jacobin, NLR 90, November–December 2014.” December 1, 2014. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii90/articles/bhaskar-sunkara-project-jacobin.
  14. Sunkara, Bhaskar. “Bhaskar Sunkara, Project Jacobin, NLR 90, November–December 2014.” December 1, 2014. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii90/articles/bhaskar-sunkara-project-jacobin.
  15. Sunkara, Bhaskar. “Bhaskar Sunkara, Project Jacobin, NLR 90, November–December 2014.” December 1, 2014. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii90/articles/bhaskar-sunkara-project-jacobin.
  16. “About.” Jacobin. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://jacobin.com/about.
  17. Ackerman, Seth. “Burn the Constitution.” Accessed January 29, 2024. https://jacobin.com/2011/03/burn-the-constitution/.
  18. Phillips, Leigh. “Yes, a Planned Economy Can Actually Work.” March 3, 2019. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://jacobin.com/2019/03/economic-planning-walmart-democracy-socialism.
  19. Bessner, Daniel. “There’s No Such Thing as Good Philanthropy.” Accessed January 29, 2024. https://jacobin.com/2020/01/george-soros-defense-of-open-society-philanthropy.
  20. “The Nation” Names Bhaskar Sunkara Its New President.” The Nation. February 23, 2022. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/bhaskar-sunkara-president/.
  21.  “Jacobin Foundation Ltd – Form 990 2018.” ProPublica. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/464332395/01_2020_prefixes_46-47%2F464332395_201812_990_2020013017086987
  22. “The Nation” Names Bhaskar Sunkara Its New President.” The Nation. February 23, 2022. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/bhaskar-sunkara-president/.
  23. Hall, Colby. “The Nation Eulogizes Hugo Chavez: He ‘Wasn’t Authoritarian Enough’.” March 6, 2013. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.mediaite.com/tv/the-nation-eulogizes-hugo-chavez-he-wasnt-authoritarian-enough/.
  24. “The Nation” Names Bhaskar Sunkara Its New President.” The Nation. February 23, 2022. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/bhaskar-sunkara-president/.
  25. “Bhaskar Sunkara.” Amazon. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B00J6ONJWM/allbooks?ingress=0&visitId=513d074d-25c1-4507-a63e-b48600160908&ref_=ap_rdr.
  26. Elk, Mike. “Jacobin Accused of Reneging on Wage Deal in British Takeover of Tribune Magazine.” Payday Report. September 26, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://paydayreport.com/jacobin-publisher-accused-of-reneging-on-wage-deal-in-takeover-of-british-magazine-the-tribune/.
  27. Elk, Mike. “Jacobin Accused of Reneging on Wage Deal in British Takeover of Tribune Magazine.” Payday Report. September 26, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://paydayreport.com/jacobin-publisher-accused-of-reneging-on-wage-deal-in-takeover-of-british-magazine-the-tribune/.
  28. Elk, Mike. “Jacobin Accused of Reneging on Wage Deal in British Takeover of Tribune Magazine.” Payday Report. September 26, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://paydayreport.com/jacobin-publisher-accused-of-reneging-on-wage-deal-in-takeover-of-british-magazine-the-tribune/.
  29. Elk, Mike. “Jacobin Accused of Reneging on Wage Deal in British Takeover of Tribune Magazine.” Payday Report. September 26, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://paydayreport.com/jacobin-publisher-accused-of-reneging-on-wage-deal-in-takeover-of-british-magazine-the-tribune/.
  30. Waterson, Jim. “New owners of Tribune shrug off criticism from former staffers.” The Guardian. September 27, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/sep/27/new-owners-of-tribune-shrug-off-criticism-of-former-staffers.
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