Uniting theory with practice, the Marxists at Jacobin magazine are finally getting some solidarity of their own. Staffers at the glossy socialist journal have unanimously moved to unionize and join the NewsGuild of New York.

After six years banging the drum of class war, all seven of Jacobin’s staff signed union cards, winning recognition from management.



“By unionizing relatively early in the life of Jacobin, we hope to institutionalize the socialist principles that have guided the magazine’s development,” read the workers’ mission statement.



It’s another victory in the wave of union drives in new media shops over the past year: the NewsGuild recently won a hard-fought struggle at Law360, and Guardian US staffers unanimously voted to join up in 2015. Meanwhile the Writers Guild of America East has unionized several shops, including the Huffington Post and Vice Media. (Fusion Media workers face radio silence this month after management said their proposed union “would not be beneficial”.)



But the union drive has special significance at Jacobin, founded in 2011 as a new home base for young radical writers. Over the past six years the magazine has grown at a clip, and now enjoys a total circulation of 20,000, mostly from subscriptions, and monthly traffic of over 1 million visitors.



“We didn’t decide to organize because we were all suffering under the crushing heel of management – Jacobin is a very egalitarian place and it’s relatively young,” said associate editor Micah Uetricht, who’s been at the magazine for two years. “But the values we’re putting forward, that workers deserve a say in their working conditions and a formal structure to pursue such things, is of a piece with the larger politics of the magazine.”



“This past year Jacobin’s ideas have reached more people than ever before,” said assistant editor Elizabeth Mahony. “It’s important for people to see that those ideas are reflected in our everyday practices at the magazine, and that we’re in solidarity with a wider labor movement that is increasingly made up of unconventional workplaces.”



Friedrich Engels, writing about trade unions, declared that “in a political struggle of class against class, organization is the most important weapon”. On that count, the staff of Jacobin have finally suited up. Next comes negotiations for their first contract.

