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From Suzi Weissman's FB timeline:
Dear Friends,
Catalyst has stood out as a bright spot in a dark time for radical
politics. I have served from the outset as co-editor of the journal
along with Vivek Chibber. Nevertheless, Chibber, backed by publisher
Bhaskar Sunkara, has seen fit to remove me from my position -- without
any warning, pretense of consultation, or plausible justification. A
number of contributors to Catalyst are now stepping in to try to limit
the damage that this coup will inflict. Their statement below represents
the first step in the campaign.
Robert Brenner
https://catalyst-journal.com/vol1/…/editorial-robert-brenner
Catalyst Contributors’ Protest Robert Brenner’s Dismissal from the
Catalyst Co-editorship and Demand for his Reinstatement
We, the undersigned, are contributors to Catalyst, who have published or
have been commissioned to publish articles in the journal. We are
writing to protest the removal of Robert Brenner from his position as
co-editor of the journal and to demand his reinstatement.
Co-editor Vivek Chibber, backed by publisher Bhaskar Sunkara, who is
also publisher of Jacobin, made this move unilaterally, without warning,
and without any pretense of consultation. Chibber has refused to discuss
it with Brenner or to consider Brenner’s proposals for re-configuring
Catalyst’s editorial procedures to meet Chibber’s concerns. Nor has
Chibber been willing to talk with several of the signers of this
statement who contacted him to work out a resolution.
Catalyst is produced by Jacobin, which has provided indispensable
support for the journal across the board in terms of finance,
production, design, and circulation, while granting its editors total
autonomy in terms of its content, especially politics. Jacobin has
established itself as one as of the left’s more important institutions.
We want to make it abundantly clear that that this letter is in no way
an attack on Jacobin and that we have no desire to harm it in any
manner. Just the opposite.
So far, Catalyst has been a striking success. It has defined itself as a
radical political journal devoted to further developing Marxist theory
as an essential guide for political intervention. It has insisted that
this development requires dialogue with non-Marxist radical traditions,
as well as dissident strains of Marxism typically excluded from major
socialist journals, and it has placed a high priority on seeing to it
that they are represented in its pages.
Catalyst’s point of departure is that the fundamental goal of working
class emancipation has not changed. But it recognizes that continuing
transformations in capitalism, the working class, and society/culture
have raised different problems than those posed in the last great period
of mass mobilization of the 1960s and 1970s.
The journal has thus tried to nurture and publish new theoretical and
empirical work to address these changes. Especially due to the
globalized nature of the economy and its crisis, which has fueled
austerity, neoliberalism, and a growing rightwing populism virtually
everywhere, the working class and the left across the world now confront
the same challenges simultaneously. Catalyst therefore sees building a
coordinated, international political response as an immediate priority.
Catalyst has clearly struck a chord on the left, attracting a remarkable
level of interest and rapid growth of subscriptions in a relatively
short period of time. Robert Brenner, who co-edited the journal along
with Vivek Chibber, was the journal’s founder and has been its central
motivating force. Taking take nothing away from Chibber, who has made
indispensable contributions in every respect. Brenner was uniquely
responsible for enabling the journal to establish itself and flourish,
contributing more than his share in every aspect of Catalyst’s work.
Given the journal’s success, his dismissal from the position of
co-editor makes no sense and is self-destructive for the journal. He
must be reinstated.
Chibber, backed by Sunkara, has justified the change in editorship by
claiming serious shortcomings in Brenner’s performance as co-editor.
According to them, he did not shoulder his proper share of the editing,
tended to be late with the editing he did do, and failed to find
replacements when he failed to complete jobs on time, compelling Chibber
to swoop in to save the day. The burden of Chibber’s case is that he
essentially functioned as editor-in-chief, taking the main
responsibility for the journal, and that Brenner assumed a lesser and
subordinate role but refused to acknowledge it.
