Here is the column:
This week, Seattle and New York swore in socialist mayors in what many are portraying as a new era for the Democratic Party and the nation. Of course, it is only “new” for the young voters who have no memory of the economic and political meltdowns of socialist and communist governments in the late 20th Century. Nevertheless, many of them were thrilled as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared at his inauguration that he would introduce the city to “the warmth of collectivism.”
The wind blowing from the West to the East coasts is familiar to many of us who lived through the 1970s and 1980s. In my forthcoming book, I discuss this shift toward socialism as a new generation replicates the same failed policies that marked a long line of collectivist catastrophes.
The current rhetoric and divisions are strikingly similar to the conditions that brought socialist François Mitterrand to power in France in 1981, promising a “rupture with capitalism.” It was a heady time for armchair Marxists. He was sworn into office just weeks after the election of an unknown socialist as mayor of Burlington, Vt. named Bernie Sanders.
Sanders was there this week to give the oath of office to Mamdani after thrilling the crowd with promises of going to war with the “billionaire class” and “wealthy oligarchs.”
Mamdani then repeated his pledge to govern as a socialist and listed off his pledges of free buses and other benefits of socialism. Mamdani had previously pledged everything from free buses to making “Halal eight bucks again.” As a rising socialist activist, he also called for “seizing the means of production.”
The problem with socialism, as Margaret Thatcher observed, is that you “eventually run out of other people’s money.” Such details are a distraction if you listen to Mamdani. After the mayor said that the free buses would be paid for by increasing state taxes on the rich, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) nixed the idea, knowing her state is already facing an exodus of high-earning taxpayers. When confronted by that refusal and asked how he would pay for the program, Mamdani shrugged and said, “The most important fact is that we fund it, not the question of how we do it, but that we do it.”
It is that easy. Mitterrand promised the same magical economic results for the working class. He even appointed Andre Henry as the Minister of Free Time to assist citizens in their new socialist leisure. As I explain in “Rage and the Republic,” the French economy collapsed, as the British economy had earlier during the “winter of discontent” under Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan. Britain was even forced to seek a loan from the International Monetary Fund.
Both France and Britain would later reintroduce capitalist policies and roll back socialist policies to stop the economic collapse.
We also tried collectivist policies in cities across this country, including a commune on Long Island called Modern Times (now called Brentwood). It lasted about ten years before collapsing.
But the greatest fear is not the replication of failed economic policies, but the assault on individual rights that is sure to come with it. Socialist and communist systems emphasize collective over individual interests. Mamdani also touched on that theme in his inauguration, promising to replace “the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.’”
Noting the millions who died under socialist governments, Bishop Robert Barron responded dryly on social media: “For God’s sake, spare me the ‘warmth of collectivism.’”
Even Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy, Kirill Dmitriev derided Mamdani’s speech by noting that the new mayor was “doing a solid job steering the U.S. toward Communism.” He wrote “Dear Comrade Mamdani — just a friendly reminder that this has been tried before.”
What is striking about Mamdani in New York and Katie Wilson in Seattle is that they have virtually no real experience in running anything. Indeed, with the exception of a few organizing and college positions, this is believed to be the first major job Wilson has ever held. Both are socialist organizers who have now been handed the mayoral jobs in two of the largest cities in the U.S. on promises to bring about “the warmth of collectivism.”
Of course, neither has come close to a utopian collective outside of a Marxist 101 college course. But it does not matter. In New York, voters have been promised that they will soon be munching on eight-dollar Halal meals on free buses.
Like promises of shares in the Brooklyn Bridge or five-dollar solid gold watches from street slicks, this grift is one of the oldest pitches in politics. But it has been decades since someone ran the scam on a large scale. Fittingly, some participants at Mamdani’s inauguration complained that it lacked any food, music, or bathrooms. On a cold, miserable Friday, the new budding socialists had to stand outdoors and imagine the “warmth of collectivism” coming in the new utopia known as New York.
It seemed Mamdani had already achieved true equality for everyone in attendance.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of the forthcoming “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution” on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.