 | |
| Editor | Matthew Schmitz |
|---|---|
| Categories | Culture,politics |
| Founder | Sohrab Ahmari, Edwin Aponte, and Matthew Schmitz |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Website | www |
Compact is an Americanonline magazine that began operating in March 2022.[1][2] The magazine was co-founded by Edwin Aponte, a populist and founder of the online magazineThe Bellows; Matthew Schmitz, previously an editor of the ecumenical religious journalFirst Things; and conservative Catholic opinion journalistSohrab Ahmari.[1] WhenCompact was launched, its listed contributors and contributing editors were described byThe New York Times as ideologically diverse, includingreligiously conservative Catholics,populists, and dissidentMarxist feminists.[1] The magazine's editorial line has been critical ofliberalism from both the left and the right.[2][3]
Planning for the launch of the magazine began in 2020 between Ahmari and Schmitz, who later incorporated Aponte on the condition that half of the site's content cover "material concerns".Compact launched without apaywall for its first few weeks,[1] and is now run on a reader-funded model, requiring a paid subscription to access all of the articles on the site. Aponte exited the magazine in late 2022 over political differences after the U.S. Supreme Court decisionDobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization was leaked to the public.[4]
The magazine's online mission statement describes its political intentions:
Compact, an online magazine founded in 2022, seeks a new political center devoted to the common good. Believing that political forces, not economic ones, should determine our common life, we draw on thesocial-democratic tradition to argue for an order marked by authentic freedom, social stability, and shared prosperity. Though we have definite opinions, we proudly publish writers with whom we disagree.[5]
According to Danny Postel, writing inNew Lines Magazine, its approach is a "'synthesis' ofcommunitarian conservatism andsocial democracy"."[6] According to Matt McManus, writing inJacobin, it is "an ideologicallysyncretic outlet in the spirit ofChristopher Lasch". McManus further wrote that "Compact's ambition is to argue for a strong social democratic state that also resists libertine ideologies and upholds local, national, familial, and religious communities."[7] Stephanie Slade, writing inReason, describes it as the new home ofpost-liberalism, whose editors espouse "intense religious conservatism [with] a whiff of socialism". Slade wrote: "By bringing a 'labor populism' with deep roots in the socialist tradition and a 'political Catholicism' that questions the very separation of church and state under a single roof, Compact has built an intellectual meeting place not just for post-liberal conservatives but for anti-liberals of every stripe."[8]
In 2022, the magazine included columnists such asChristopher Caldwell,Lee Smith,Malcom Kyeyune, andNina Power; and contributing editors includingAdrian Vermeule,Glenn Greenwald,Liel Leibovitz,Michael Tracey,Patrick Deneen,Paul Embery, andSlavoj Žižek.[9]
George Soros’sOpen Society Foundations have provided financial support to Compact. In 2023, OSF awarded Compact Magazine $200,000.[10] Entrepreneur and political activistPeter Thiel has reportedly donated to Compact, although Thiel denies it.[11] According to a Thiel spokesperson, he “couldn’t rule out the possibility that an entity Thiel funds has in turn donated to the magazine.”[12]