the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jul 21, 2025
Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old legislator for New York City, pulled off a surprise upset last month when he won the Democratic primary for mayor of the city. It appears that Mamdani pulled ahead by pushing policies that would help working people: free buses, free child care, and a rent freeze in a city with some of the highest rents in the country. He has also proposed increasing taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
Mamdani calls himself a “democratic socialist.” If elected, Mamdani would be the city’s first Muslim mayor. He has made a point to clearly back the cause of the Palestinians.
Without a doubt, working people in New York and all over the country need the things he calls for. Mamdani also made a point of going directly to voters in working class areas of the city and listening—when many politicians ignore working people.
But how can you get these things? His child care program alone is estimated to cost between five and eight billion dollars—though he has given few specifics. Like most politicians, his call is for people to vote for him, so that he can make the changes. He has not, and does not, call for working people to organize themselves, in order to pry money out of the hands of the ruling class.
Chicago has a “socialist” mayor: Brandon Johnson, who worked for the Teachers Union before being elected two years ago. Johnson also offered to “transform” Chicago, through his election.
You can ask any Chicagoan—the city is no socialist paradise for workers. The Chicago Public Schools face a huge budget shortfall, and are facing significant layoffs and cuts, despite having a union organizer for mayor. He ran on raising taxes on the wealthy, but so far, he has not done it—he hasn’t even brought it up lately.
Most importantly, this former organizer has not proposed that working people organize themselves to get what they need. Quite the opposite—Johnson and the Teachers Union leadership told the school workers to trust them and their dealings with the Democratic Party apparatus, instead of mobilizing for workers’ demands.
What people need—childcare, housing, education—all those things require money. The ruling class has its hands on plenty of money—and they have no intention of parting with it. The only way to get anything out of them is to wage a determined and forceful struggle. Mamdani, like Johnson before him, proposes nothing of the kind.