A 'Communist Lunatic' in New York?

New York can hardly be described as a major urban citadel of the Left. It cannot be compared to a ‘revolutionary St. Petersburg in Russia, or Red Vienna and Red Berlin of the early 20th century. Zohran Mamdani’s performance would be closely watched.

By B Sivaraman

“Hundred per cent communist lunatic!”

That is how President Donald Trump colourfully described Zohran Mamdani during the latter’s campaign for the post of New York City mayor. However, Trump had to invite the same “communist lunatic” for a cordial meeting in the White House, thanks to the huge impact of Mamdani’s electoral victory on November 4. 2025 and his growing global popularity. 


Surprisingly, contrary to expectations, the meeting went off well. There were no fireworks, and no inter-personal acrimony. In fact, there seems to be no early end to the string of surprises surrounding Mamdani.

A Muslim and a man of Indian origin, as well as a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist as mayor of the New York City, one of the top five urban nerve centres of global capital, appears at first sight as a major aberration. But the capitalist electoral democratic system is resilient enough to offer adequate political space for such “aberrations” -- like the victory of Barak Obama in an otherwise racist America.


Anyway, this astonishing victory of Mamdani amidst an overall Right-wing surge calls for greater scrutiny.

What clicked for Mamdani?

The dramatic appeal witnessed in favour of Mamdani was not entirely due to the attraction of the package of poll promises he made. His programme was not very radical. However, under the prevailing Right-wing hegemony in the US, even a plank of moderate democratic reforms earned him the tag of ‘socialist”.


The most attractive poll promise of Zohran Mamdani was to raise the minimum wage to $30 per hour by 2030 from the present level of $16.50 per hour in New York City. But Mamdani was not the first to raise it. He merely, cleverly, appropriated this slogan being widely raised in the American labour movement.


To tackle the post-Ukraine war waves of price rise, he also promised a chain of stores owned by New York City Corporation which would sell essential commodities at a price 20–25% less, compared to corporate retail chains. But the promise of fair price shops selling subsidized essentials is not radically new either.


The only innovative promise he came up with was the promise that the State would meet childcare cost for children up to five years. This endeared him to the women of New York, especially to working women, as many of them had to quit their jobs for childcare work, being unable to afford the high cost of hiring a childcare worker.

However, this cannot be called a very radical demand either.
Any liberal democratic government could have promised a similar charter.

What made Mamdani’s package special was that he also promised to tax the rich to raise the needed resources. This gave it a ‘socialist’ aura in the eyes of Americans.

The Left – on the rise?

The overwhelming majority of the progressive and democratic opinion warmly welcomed the victory of Mamdani. The ‘Chchotta Left’, the tiny Left groupuscles and small magazines, however, went overboard in lauding this victory and resorted to hyperboles. The American Leftwing journal Jacobin described Mamdani’s victory as, “The most exciting moment for American socialists in generations.”

Some small Left groups even described the victory as a historic breakthrough for the American Left. Coming in the wake of similar euphoria surrounding the campaign of Bernie Sanders for Democratic Party presidential nomination earlier, even the mainstream global media is grudgingly acknowledging a surge in the American Left in recent times.

However, some realists have also noted with concern the nadir to which socialism has fallen where even a minor breakthrough of municipal socialism, albeit in a major city, is being widely celebrated as a resurgence of socialism. The realists recall that Ken Livingstone’s tenure as the Leftist London Mayor did not trigger any Left quake in UK. Jeremy Corbyn’s dramatic ascent within the Labour Party too quickly faded away.


Opinions are also divided on the depth of socialist content of this victory. While some argue that this is not based on any ferment in the labour movement in the New York City, and tend to compare it with the transient popular-Left assertions in Latin America seen in Venezuela and Bolivia, and earlier in El Salvador.

Others point to New York being the epicenter of the 280% surge in strikes and other forms of work stoppages witnessed in the US in 2023, and the continuation of the same phenomenon in 2024 as well. It is marked by sustained labour actions by teachers, health workers and strikes by Walmart, Starbucks and other retail workers.

Also, Mamdani has a personal history of close association with the labour movements and participation in labour protests, including a hunger strike, along with taxi drivers union. Such a background must have contributed its mite to the shift of popular mood in favour of an avowedly Leftist candidate in the New York mayoral polls.

Municipal socialism in super-rich New York?

Opinions have also differed on the prospects as well as limits of municipal socialism, even in a big city like New York City with higher revenue. Some pessimists underline the limits of the municipal office and the overall urban fiscal framework in the US, hugely dependent on central funds. They have pointed to the fiscal constraints of even a major US city like New York and its crucial dependence on federal fiscal assistance. 

They have expressed doubts as to whether Mamdani can raise the resources needed to fulfil his lofty promises, with huge fiscal commitments. Moreover, Mamdani did not spell out in detail how much and which sections of the rich he would tax to meet the fiscal requirements.

The historical crisis suffered by the social-democratic Left, when elected to office, even at the national or provincial level, in Europe and Latin America, remains fresh in memory. 


The eternal optimists however argue that his position as New York mayor would catapult Mamdani into national limelight and he can emerge as a key spokesperson of the Leftist voice; that his opinions would be widely heard with greater credibility. That the American Left can now come out of the fringes.

Despite social marginality, the Left, though personified by a single, prominent, Left celebrity, can have greater political profile. Even as Mayor-elect, Mamdani has already started articulating the Left opinion on day-to-day developments with greater force.


True, despite having a Left mayor, New York can hardly be described as a Left-oriented city, or even as a major urban citadel of the Left. It cannot be compared to a ‘revolutionary St. Petersburg in Russia, or Red Vienna and Red Berlin of the early 20th century.

The class-demography might not exactly match the personal prominence of an individual Left leader. But the dynamic of direct election process does throw up, occasionally, a popular and strong leader such as Huge Chavez, as in Venezuela, or Eva Morales, another popular leader of the indigenous communities, as in Bolivia. Despite all odds, the Left will have to make the maximum out of such opportunities.

History is also replete with cases of social-democracy losing all its traction due to its inevitably insignificant performance in the elected bourgeois office. It is a structural limitation. Nevertheless, occupying such slots can enable the Left to institute radical reforms, offering greater direct role in governance to communities and people.

Zohran Mamdani’s performance would be closely watched.


---

B Sivaraman is a commentator and analyst based in Prayagraj, UP.