 | |
| 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 in March 2022 was 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. Co-founder Edwin Aponte exited the magazine in late 2022 over political differences after theDobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization U.S. Supreme Court decision was leaked to the public.[4]
According to Danny Postel, writing inNew Lines Magazine, its approach is a "'synthesis' ofcommunitarian conservatism andsocial democracy"."[5] 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."[6] 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."[7]
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.[8]