this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2025
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chapotraphouse
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He used the cops leaving as more ammo for his plan to replace them with social workers. He's unironically doing 4D political judo to twist Americans' brains into supporting leftist policies.
yeah this seems basically of a piece with past statements. running for mayor of a major american city on a platform of "fuck cops" (much as we would all get a kick out of it) is an excellent way to get one's ass murdered, forget about not getting elected
come on man you can't "trick people into supporting socialism". a significant part of New York's population supports socialism and hates zionism, which resulted in his victory. he's not tricking poor people into voting in their interests.
Isn't tricking people into supporting socialism something that Lenin said very specifically NOT to do? Lol
This is the critique from leninists, he isn't letting his alleged politics be in command - but since he isn't a leninist why would we expect this? The critique is valid of communists but he isn't a communist. Every Democrat and bourgeois candidate, mamdani included, says shit to get elected and usually backpedals a majority of it. He is doing what is expected but because he identifies as a democratic socialist it feels as if he should be held to a standard higher than he really deserves to be held to. I don't think it's fair to expect a liberal to be a communist, even if they think they are. What's more annoying on this forum for me is the Democratic socialist members here acting like he isn't a liberal, more so than the ML members acting like he should be a communist.
This is a good take. I recognize that he wasnt going to be a full on communist in terms of policies, but i think it is important to think of these things and name them here. How many people here proclaim to be principled communists, quote Lenin, but are aggressively going to bat for the dude? Like, insulting other people/engaging in personal attacks kinda aggressive? Perhaps I had the wrong impression thinking that more people here were a tiny bit more militant in their beliefs.
Its more about the people and their positions more than the man, to me. and it kinda feel like its a bad faith reading to assume that everyone is either saying he MUST be one or the other, end of conversation, but that seems to be the way most people are interpreting comments.
I said it in the last news struggle sesh on this topic but I do see a lot of people here with principled takes on the subject, which really makes the kinds of responses you are describing stand out to me. I think there is an underlying dialectic of bloom/doom (optimism/cynicism) mentality where some people just need to feel like the left is having a win and so get invested into being very hopeful and positive and that means that any critique which undermines that position is automatically "doomer." Whereas I think many here can have a materialist take outside of this dialectic like "he is exactly what the has always been, a radlib, and he is doing nothing unexpected. There is also no reason to desire his loss because everyone else is worse and it will be good to see what happens if he wins whether he does better or worse than expected"
The one user here who worked on the campaign and is super invested because of it is being extra which I get on some level because it's not just an abstract thing but a personal project that dozens of hours went into which affects the place he lives. There's a lot of reason to take it personally for him, but I think being rude and insulting out the gate isn't doing any favors or displaying a comradely debate style. I get clapping back when someone starts it tho
Why not? You can "trick" people to support any ideology. Fascists and liberals do this all the time.
Sure, but if he said "all cops are bastards, we need to get rid of them", he would lose the election.
as socialists we do not aim to convince people by misleading them about our aims and practices. if you try that then you'll end up disappointing and pushing them away.
i don't expect him to say "ACAB" or be a Maoist but there are ways to phrase that kind of sentiment that will command majority support and legitimise that way of thinking amongst a populace constantly browbeaten into not thinking that way. instead he's choosing to legitimise the role of police in a society which generally mistrusts and fears them. and he already won the election that actually matters. he didn't back down on anti-zionism before he won the primary and it worked, so why start backing down on issues and flirting with mainstream democrats now?
The general election is still pretty risky. If Cuomo and Adams suddenly merge their campaigns it could be Bernie 2020 all over again. So Mamdani is definitely trying to appeal to the liberal-leaning masses right now.
I think delivering successful socialist policies is the best way to win people over. I don't think it matters how you get there.
you can't deliver successful socialist policies through electoralism in the most violent, expansive capitalist state on earth. you can deliver social democracy, maybe, at the expense of the global south. electoral success in imperial capitalist society = inevitable compromise to the point of abandoning either internationalism or socialist domestic policy.
That's American exceptionalism, and it only applies if you are 100% honest in your politics on the campaign trail, which I'm saying you shouldn't be.
If you woke up tomorrow morning as mayor of NYC, or even president of the US, what would you do?
how is it american exceptionalism. it's literally a criticism Marxists have levelled against bourgeois democracy for over a hundred years. i'm not even american