Mamdani with Sanders and AOC. Not a good sign. Source
Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retied
HEO/GED
10-27-25
I watched some clips of the last public debate between Andrew Cuomo who is now running as an independent, Zohran Mamdani, the Democrat and Republican Curtis Silwa, the main contenders in the New York City mayoral race. As of this writing, Mamdani is ahead of both Cuomo and Silwa. You can watch some clips of the debate and the blatant racism Mamdani faced in the debate here, from two New Yorkers who have a You Tube Channel called Due Dissidence.
As of this writing, Polls give Mamdani around 45% of the vote, ahead of his main rival, Andrew Cuomo, at roughly 30%, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican, between 15% and 20%.
I don’t intend to go in to the details of Mamdani’s platform but it is a mild reform platform and you can read more about it here. But the major NYC unions have endorsed him including SEIU, and AFSCME District Council 37, the largest union body in the city and a council of my former union. The New York Central Labor Council AFL-CIO has also endorsed Mamdani. It really looks like a Muslim immigrant could be the next mayor of one of the most important cities in the country and the world. So both New York and London England will have Muslim mayors; and both of them have to put up with racial abuse and the nastiness that emanates from the foul mouthed Donald Trump, the convicted felon and serial sexual abuser who is the President of the US.
When discussions about racism, sexism or any other issues relating to discrimination and the inequality in society are forced in to the open and reluctantly covered by the capitalist media, the general focus is on how backward and prejudiced the working classes are, particularly the white working class; it’s their fault. But, leaving aside Trump’s assault, watch that clip in the video I linked to and we see who the real racists are. I will tell you from my experience, and I worked with plenty of blue-collar white workers as that’s my background; such blatant racism, which couldn’t be obscured by their efforts to accuse Mamdani himself of being a racist and anti-semite, would not have been tolerated in my years as an activist in the trade union movement and my own local Afscme 444.
Look at the response to Mamdani’s candidacy from the billionaires and multi- millionaires that, in truth, are the unelected rulers of the US. According to Forbes, “26 billionaires and members of billion-dollar families from around the country have sunk at least $100,000 each into supporting Cuomo…” In all, they have spent, “over $22 million to back opposition campaigns, flooding the airwaves and mailboxes of Big Apple residents with anti-Mamdani messages” Forbes adds.
Wow! What new Yorkers could do with $22 million.
Trump and others have threatened to deport Mamdani who said he’ll arrest Israeli genocider Netanyahu if he sets foot in New York City in accordance with the ICJ ruling. What we can see here is that if a politician speaks to the needs of the working and middle classes of this country, they will win our support. In my union with overwhelmingly a male blue-collar membership, majority white, we had women, black, Latino and a lesbian president. I am not saying prejudiced ideas disappear overnight but we are drawn to those that fight for our interests and in the course of the struggle, we begin to see that prejudices, that are introduced in to society from the people that are opposing Mamdani, are against our material interests.
What Can Mamdani Accomplish?
And here is where we get to the nitty gritty as they say. It is refreshing to hear what Mamdani is saying, after all, he is standing up for working class people against the billionaires and the rich; he is tapping in to a real mood out there. And do not let the capitalist mass media fool you, there is a lot of anger against the wealthy in US society and a huge percentage of Americans want the government to do more for them. A Pew poll in 2021 found that 87% of Americans believed that the government should play a role in ensuring clean air and water; 64% said it should ensure health insurance for everyone and 43% said it should provide high speed Internet access. WSJ 8-13-14-22
A Gallup poll in 2023 found that, “Sixty-three percent of U.S. adults currently agree with the statement that the Republican and Democratic parties do ‘such a poor job’ of representing the American people that a third major party is needed.’”
So there is no surprise that there was a great deal of excitement after Alexandra Ocasio Cortez defeated the machine Democrat, James Crowley, a possible successor to Nancy Pelosi, in the 2018 Congressional election. Cortez was calling for racial, generational and ideological changes as she took on the Democratic Party machine. She was an organizer for Bernie Sanders before her Congress run.
But she has joined the very machine she claimed to oppose. She is now a rising star in the Democratic Party with a bright future; she has betrayed them as far as working people are concerned.
But AOC’s (as she’s more familiarly known) betrayal is not due to character flaws. It’s not necessarily dishonesty either and many union leaders start off as militants or opposing the present union bureaucracy’s class collaboration campaigning around program that speaks to workers needs. What changes them?
Rooted in the Working Class
Mamdani is facing a powerful foe; the entire US ruling class. He cannot underestimate the degree the unelected rulers of the US will go to in order to preserve their position in society and keep the gravy train running.
His first mistake is that he’s in the Democratic Party. This is the other billionaires party and the same billionaires that sat in the front row at Trump’s inauguration will be in the front row at some Democrat’s inauguration if that party wins the White House in 2028.
Believe me, I understand and sympathize with his position. On top of the animosity that comes from a mild reform platform that wants to bring some relief to working people, he is a Muslim, an immigrant, and brown skinned; they are using all of that against him.
But he has already made a huge mistake having a private meeting with the Partnership for New York City, 350 member organization representing banks, law firms and corporations.
I am a realist also. As an unpaid rank and file union official I met with my employers. I negotiated with my employers. But myself and others in the leadership of our local union at the time were vociferous opponents of the Team Concept. This is the view that workers and bosses (union and management) are on the same team, we have the same economic interests. In the workplace it has many names, labor/management committees, quality of life circles, or interest based bargaining. It is a disaster for workers and is at the root of the betrayals and concessions the present heads of organized labor force on their members.
So when we meet with our class enemies we meet with them not as equal participants in the economy and politics of life but as opponents engaged in a struggle over influence in society. In the case of politics we are independent of the bosses, we are not on the same team intending to meet a happy compromise, or what I was once told is a win, win situation. There is no such thing.
We meet independently of them and how well we fare is dependent on the balance of class forces; how well organized are we? How conscious are our troops? Are they organized to take direct action and use that most powerful of weapons to attain our immediate goals, shutting down economic activity and profit making to achieve these goals at least partially.
From what I understand, Mamdani requested the meetings with the guys spending millions to make him disappear. It’s clear he wants to convince them they will be safe. He said he wants to, “…work with the business community.”. But they do not want to work with him as things stand. They will work with him if he pledges to put their interests above those of the people who are presently supporting him
The last meeting was, according to the NY Times, behind closed doors with no news media present, and more than 100 executives attended. This is not a good sign and unless he retreats from this position, and the Democratic Party, he will end up in the same position as Sanders and AOC, part of the problem not a solution.
It’s impossible for one person like myself who is not on the ground in this situation to give an extensive opinion on strategy other than what I have already stated, but I can say this. Leaving aside the problem of being in the Democratic Party Mamdani has tremendous support and that support should be organized in to functioning groupings throughout the city and should spread beyond New York.
They should not simply be a voting bloc and as far as meeting with the enemy that’s fine. But it should be in the open and rather than meeting with the corporate leaders in their offices they should be invited to meetings organized in the communities where they can put their ideas forward and Mamdani and his supporters theirs. Meeting the enemy on their terms is the beginning of the end for Mamdani.
Mamdani’s time would be better spent in the communities building community/ worker power and activity preparing to hurt the moneyed interests where it matters most---the pocket book.
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