Zohran Mamdani Calling for “Seizing the Means of Production”

In accord with a key doctrine of communism, Zohran Mamdani stated in 2021 that “the end goal” is “seizing the means of production,” which “we firmly believe in.”

He also urged his colleagues to not abandon this issue and other positions that are “correct” and “right” even though “we do not have” a “groundswell of popular support” for them “at this very moment.”

Transcript of the excerpt shown in this video (from the 8:53 time stamp of the full video at https://www.youtube.com/live/9K7HDuoJ0MQ):

And the second thing I wanted to just make sure to discuss before passing it over to Oren is that we’re in a very interesting moment right now. I’m only 29 years old, so I can’t say that I have lived through enough history, but I can say that from my lifetime, it does feel as if the left is in a more ascendant position than we have been in recent years.

And what I wanted to make sure to say is that when we, when our position starts to change, when we start to accumulate power, when we start to elect individuals such as myself and my other slate mates into local office, we are started to be treated in a different way than we used to be.

And the way in which power engages us now, it is very critical for all of us to remember what it is that we are fighting for and to remember that our agenda is an agenda that must not be dictated by calculus, but by conviction.

And what I mean by that is that the many things that we believe, some of them are already popular in this moment right now. Right, if we’re talking about the cancelation of student debt, if we’re talking about Medicare for all, you know, these are issues which have the groundswell of popular support across this country.

But then there are also other issues that we firmly believe in, whether it’s BDS, right, or whether it is the end goal of seizing the means of production, where we do not have the same level of support at this very moment.

And what I want to say is that it is critical that the way that we organize, the way that we set up our set up our work and our priorities, that we do not leave any one issue for the other, that we do not meet a moment and only look at what people are ready for, but that we are doing both of these things in tandem because it is critical for us to both meet people where they’re at and to also organize for what is correct and for what is right, and to ensure that over time we can bring people to that issue. And that is the crux of the reason why I joined DSA in the first place.

Footage from the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is reproduced under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law for “purposes such as criticism” and “comment” (17 U.S.C. §107). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107