Media Criticism

No Excuses for Zohran Mamdani and Radical Socialism

The new mayor's buddy, Hasan Piker, wishes the Soviet Union had won the Cold War.

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Zohran Mamdani | Sukhmani Kaur/Sipa USA/Newscom
Zohran Mamdani ( Sukhmani Kaur/Sipa USA/Newscom)

New York City's next mayor will be Zohran Mamdani, who is not merely an extreme left progressive but an actual democratic socialist. It would be a mistake to underemphasize the radical nature of this ideology.

And yet, that's precisely what some in the media are doing. The BBC, for instance, featured an infographic that described Mamdani's democratic socialism as an ideology "which has no clear definition but essentially means giving a voice to workers, not corporations."

That's an extremely evasive way of describing a radical political vision. No one would say that national socialism—the ideology of the German Nazi Party—had no clear definition and implied only good things about the empowerment of the working class.

It is not difficult to understand what is meant by the term democratic socialism. Plain-old socialism is a revolutionary economic and political system that involves the workers seizing the means of production from the capitalist class. In practice, this necessitates a strong centralized state exerting significant control over and management of the economy: confiscation of private property, nationalization of various industries, and redistribution. Since such a system inevitably produces shortages, suffering, and eventually public discontent, actually existing socialist regimes throughout history have tended toward authoritarianism. The Soviet Union, for example, brutally suppressed internal dissent. In a 2021 story for Reason titled "Yes, It was an Evil Empire," the writer Cathy Young, who was born in Moscow prior to the Soviet Union's collapse, provided examples of Soviet tyranny:

Among my parents' friends and coworkers, few did not have a story (if they were candid about it) of a family member or relative imprisoned in the Stalin era for some absurd reason: Someone's aunt was branded a subversive because a neighbor heard her playing a funeral march on the piano the day a notorious "enemy of the people" was executed; someone's father was charged with fomenting "defeatist attitudes" during the war for remarking that Stalin "sounded sad" in his radio address to the people.

By the end of its existence, the Soviet Union was an exhausted totalitarian regime trying to maintain its grip on a society that laughed at official pieties, craved consumer goods, was thrilled by the forbidden, and idolized the West.

Let's return to the Soviet Union in a minute.

Democratic socialists seek to distance themselves from the authoritarian tendencies of actually existing socialist regimes, which is why they added the word "democratic" to their moniker; they wish to establish that the seizing of private property and redistribution of resources will be arrived at via democratic means. And like the BBC, they tend to describe themselves very vaguely, using flowery rhetoric. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D–Vt.) has defined democratic socialism as "a government and an economy and a society which works for all." Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez thinks it's "democratic participation in our economic dignity."

Obviously, these are not particularly distinguishing descriptions. Most people probably think their political views lend toward a dignified society that generally works for all. Certainly, opponents of socialism believe that the opposite slate of policies—free markets, low regulation and taxation, reducing government control of the economy—creates greater prosperity at all income levels. Democratic socialists should be more honest about what they support: having a powerful, central government micromanage the economy.

Enter Hasan Piker, a controversial far-left Twitch streamer and self-avowed socialist who has described communism as the "honorable end goal" of socialism. Piker attended Mamdani's victory party earlier this week and remarked to a reporter that it was "unfortunate" the U.S. had defeated the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

At a time when many conservative commentators are feuding over Nick Fuentes and calling on others to denounce the antisemitic and racist influences in the movement, it might be fair to ask if Piker speaks for left-wing commentators. Just as every figure on the right should be able to denounce Hitler without hesitation, it would be nice to hear progressives admit that the Soviet Union was bad. (Fuentes, for what it's worth, likes Stalin too.)

 

This Week on Free Media

Here's something special: This week I was joined by both Amber Duke and Niall Stanage to discuss the election results. Tell us what you think! We expect to do more of this sort of thing.

 

Worth Watching

I finally finished the most recent season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which I had previously panned. The last two episodes were classics, though; the finale ended with a really touching send-off for Lynne Marie Stewart, the actress who portrayed Charlie's sweet but bizarre mother Bonnie, who passed away earlier this year.

Robby Soave is a senior editor at Reason.