A Note to Our Readers

Jacobin’s existence is more precarious than publications with less reach than us.

I’ve boasted about Jacobin a bunch on this page. Beyond narcissism, it’s rooted in the feeling that our improbable success is symbolic of a wider intellectual shift. Qualify that with sober acknowledgement of the Left’s marginality, include token slaps in the direction of a certain mainstream commentator, strategically add “ youthful” profanity, and there you have it – a successful editor’s note.

But here’s where the attention we’ve gotten is all smoke – we have no institutional base and survive financially issue-to-issue. Jacobin’s existence is more precarious than publications with less reach and influence than us.

This is natural for a young magazine. But rather than bleed our subscriber base, it’s worth pointing out that beyond having a microscopic donor base, we don’t have any institutional subscribers. Other publications rely on a steady stream of renewals from universities to stay afloat. Jacobin has been successful leaning on just our young cohort of readers, but it leaves little financial cushion.

So please dear reader, fax your boss, email your university, take your librarian to dinner. Whatever it takes. Our institutional subscriptions are $60 yearly. Wealthy people, subscribe at that rate too and we might be kind to you after the revolution.

By the way, did you see that shit Ezra Klein just wrote?

Share this article

Contributors

Bhaskar Sunkara is the founding editor and publisher of Jacobin and the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality.

Filed Under