Zohran Mamdani at an anti-fascism rally, 2024. Photo: Bingjiefu He – creativecommons.org (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Zohran Mamdani has made shockwaves throughout the United States. He ran as a Democratic Socialist and won, first the primary and then the New York City Mayoral Election on 4 November, defeating disgraced former mayor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo lost to Mamdani twice, first in the Democratic primary, then as an independent candidate in the mayoral election.
Who is Zohran Mamdani? Right-wing media has been proclaiming Mamdani as a communist, or at least a socialist extremist, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. While Mamdani describes himself as a Democratic Socialist and calls for progressive reforms, such as rent freezes.
Hopes were high for him, boosted by his underdog status and the frosty attitude the Democrat establishment took with many senior Democrats refusing to endorse Mamdani or even to say if they would vote for him.
However, he shouldn’t be regarded highly for the left. Despite Mamdani’s anti-establishment credibility and progressive measures such as rent-freezes and free busses, Mamdani is operating within the constraints of the US political system. That system is totally captured by big capital. A case in point is billionaires. Mamdani proposed to tax them (New York has the highest concentration of billionaires in the US) to pay for his progressive measures. However, he needs the governor’s approval to do that and it’s very unlikely the New York governor will give that approval.
Whether intentionally or not, Mamdani has confused the US working class, reestablishing faith into the Democratic Party, just like other progressives before him like Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Democratic Party cannot be reformed from inside. It represents the same bourgeois interests as the Republican Party, but differs in strategy.
The aim for both parties is to support the wealthy at home, and US dominance abroad. Time after time again, the Democrats capitulate to the Republican Party, as seen in the recent government shut-down. There, the Democrats gave up without winning the health care tax credits that had been their goal.
Mamdani is definitely a progressive force within the US. He should have no problem with some of his campaign promises, as the mayor sets the rent guidelines and the city run-grocery plan is within the municipal authority. He can’t stop ICE, the thuggish Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency which Trump has used to persecute immigrants, from operating in New York, but can provide more assistance for their victims.
Mamdani’s other ambitious campaign promises such as, free buses, cheaper electricity and higher taxes on the rich don’t come under his mayoral authority. Implementing them would depend on state legislation and Democratic Governor, Kathy Hochul. Hochul has publicly opposed Zohran Mamdani’s progressive policies. She has said that she has no plans to increase taxes because “I want to make sure high-net-worth people know we appreciated them.” That’s the true nature of the Democrat Party. It will never represent the workers.
Zohran Mamdani is only socialist in name. When it comes to actually existing socialism, Mamdani repeats the same talking points used by Republicans. He has called Cuban President, Miguel Díaz-Canel a dictator, and takes the same line on Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro.
At a time when President Trump is threatening Venezuela with intervention, this matters.
Zohran Mamdani is progressive, and it’s a good sign that New Yorkers elected him in the face of massive opposition from Trump and a large part of the Democrat establishment, but his winning the mayoral election will not save the American working class, and it’s not a turning point for American socialism.
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