By Angel Mella
After an extensive and tumultuous campaign, the voters of NYC, the wealthiest and most powerful city in the history of the world, have elected a new mayor. Change has swept the ballot boxes as turnout has reached a high not seen since Mayor John Lindsay’s 1969 reelection. Andrew Cuomo, establishment figure & son of the late Governor Mario Cuomo, has lost by nearly ten points to political outsider and state assemblyman from Astoria, Queens Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani (a member of and endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America) has promised a supposedly ambitious agenda reminiscent of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s New Deal era policies, with his signature policies being promises for fare-free buses, an additional 2% tax on millionaires and billionaires, and a freeze on rent increases for stabilized housing units. This demagoguery—particularly the latter element regarding the rent freeze—mobilized the youth to participate in the election at record levels,1 notably electing NYC’s youngest mayor since 1892 and its first Muslim mayor in the diverse city. The central question in the equation is that of housing, with record high rents as the bourgeoisie squeeze ever more working people, particularly those from national minorities, out of NYC.2 Through the construction of luxury housing, the privatization of NYCHA, and tactics such as deed theft in historically Black neighborhoods, those who make up the backbone of the city are increasingly pushed away to the suburbs or elsewhere altogether.
One must consider, then, Mamdani’s broader strategy to lower housing costs. The rent freeze is nothing more than a temporary concession to the workers—landlords will continue to fraudulently hide stabilized units and skirt the laws. The landlord class is backed up by the NYPD’s monopoly on power, which Mamdani will continue to defend as he affirms his commitment to Jessica Tisch’s position as Police Commissioner, praising her commitment to rooting out “incompetence and corruption”.3 Never mind that the nepotistic Tisch comes from a billionaire Zionist family notorious for financial contributions to the Zionist entity as well as Republican Party candidates.3 and has intensified racial profiling and de facto stop-and-frisk policies against Black & Latin American people since her appointment under Mayor Adams. Moreover, Mamdani supports ballot proposals two through four, which will fast-track the gentrification of working class Black and Latin American neighborhoods, eliminating what little community input now exists. Tisch has stated that after holding a series of private conversations with Mamdani, she is “reassured.” Despite Mamdani’s token South Asian Muslim background, Tisch’s repression of the Palestine student movement speaks for itself, with no indication of any change on that front.4 As NYPD funding continues to balloon and tactics such as gang indictments target youth from nationally oppressed backgrounds, Mamdani will continue these dynamics as the Cop City repression campaign progresses in a historically Black neighborhood of Atlanta & ICE racially profiles the working masses of Latin Americans.
In the midst of the Revolution of 1905, a critical juncture, Lenin emphasizes the Bolsheviks’ conception of power in “The Denouement is At Hand”:
“‘I promise you anything you wish,” says the tsar, ‘only let me retain power, let me fulfill my own promises.’ That is the gist of the tsar’s Manifesto, and it obviously had to spark off a determined struggle. ‘I grant you everything except power,’ tsarism declares. ‘Everything is illusory except power,’ the revolutionary people reply.“5
Today, Mamdani represents the desperation of the ruling class, providing the masses with “democratic socialist” concessions but retaining the power of the police and maintaining the Wall Street status quo—albeit with an additional 2% haircut. State unions across New York City such as the 1199SEIU healthcare workers union have endorsed Mamdani;6 his policies will not prevent or stall the fascistization of the state, but rather enhance the process through collaboration with the AFL-CIO and Teamsters. Just as Mayor La Guardia localized the New Deal, a clear initiation of fascistization which on a national level brought unions under the purview of the State and enhanced the repression of Black sharecroppers, Mamdani attempts to further this agenda today. His proposals take the form of a narrow economism—even if Mamdani is able to implement his proposals in totality, most of which he cannot do unilaterally, such policies would not change class relations in NYC and could easily be rolled back by the following mayoral administration. As of the writing of this article—November 10th, 2025—Zohran Mamdani has just spent the weekend celebrating at the annual “Somos” conference in Puerto Rico7 while courting the NY state Democratic Party establishment and state unions.8This absurd display truly unmasks the emptiness of Mamdani’s pledge to avoid visiting Israel, as on the other hand he is perfectly willing to mingle with those who occupy the island of Puerto Rico, which remains a colonial holding of the U.S. In the final analysis, the DSA is nothing but organized social-fascism, as we can see with the case of Mamdani that gives impulse to and fans up popular opinion for fascistization.
A critical point in analyzing the conditions of the bourgeois electoral system is turnout—working class neighborhoods may vote a certain way or in favor of a particular candidate, but overall participation in elections and political engagement remain low in such areas, especially public housing. It is our task as revolutionaries to construct a meaningful movement in opposition to Mamdani’s sham promises and the entire system, for that matter. We must engage in social investigation in working class and nationally oppressed neighborhoods, mobilizing tenants against gentrification and landlord abuses & ultimately leading housing struggles; we must organize the multinational working class of NYC (particularly the logistics and service sectors), rejecting yellow unions and building red unions that reflect our class standing; we must struggle on behalf of immigrant workers, rejecting Mamdani’s vague promises to stand up to the reactionary Trump administration, lacking any backing. US Revolutionaries must further arouse the multinational proletariat to reject bourgeois politics and engage in the revolutionary program. Just as the Bolsheviks rejected the Menshevist reformist tactics and won state power, we too must take the same route.
1 Young Voters Power Mamdani Victory, Shape Key 2025 Elections | CIRCLE
2 Median rent of NYC apartments reach record high $4,700 in June 2025: report – QNS
3 Mamdani say he has chosen Tisch as his police commissioner – but will she stay? | amNewYork
4 Zohran Mamdani Just Inherited the NYPD Surveillance State | WIRED
5 Lenin: The Denouement is At Hand
6 1199SEIU Endorses Zohran Mamdani :: 1199SEIU
7 Free mofongo? Mamdani dazzles Democratic insiders in San Juan – POLITICO
8 New York mayor-elect Mamdani ends trip to Puerto Rico with speech to trade unionists | AP News
