Pacifica Radio is like a miniature Stalinist Russia without a Cheka or Gulag system to remove squabbling rivals. Its operations are micro-Stalin vs. micro-Trotsky vs. micro-Bukharin vs. micro-...... . Sounds like Fass was not very well suited to that kind of environment.
The odd thing is, like a battered wife, Fass stayed loyal to WBAI right to the bitter end.
Back in '77, they fired him (he was a paid employee at the time and was apparently trying to start a union; that should tell you how genuine Pacifica is in regard to their stated cause). So he went across the Hudson River to WFMU. At the time, WFMU was run by Upsala College. They were in the process of transitioning from a typical college station into the same kind of freeform format Fass was using—but Fass still wanted to go back to WBAI, and in 1982, he did, even without payment.
Fass was just as much of a lefty as anyone else at Pacifica, but he knew he wasn't there for himself. He was there to give a voice to those who he thought had something to say.