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The error was the election of Mamdani as mayor.
John Reed was one of the foremost left-wing leaders during America’s early 20th-century Progressive Era and had much in common with today’s Democratic Socialists.John Silas “Jack” Reed was a Zohran Mamdani of his era. Both rose in left-wing American politics in their late twenties and early thirties, embraced socialism, and framed politics through class struggle and oppressor/oppressed themes. Both believed America’s political and capitalist systems had to be radically transformed -- or dismantled -- for working-class liberation. Were he alive today, Reed would likely see eye to eye with the NYC mayor....As correspondent for the socialist magazine The Masses, in August 1917 Reed sailed to Russia and supportively covered the Bolshevik insurgency, publishing what he saw in a book, Ten Days That Shook the World, which Lenin “unreservedly” recommended in its preface as “a truthful and most vivid exposition” of the first successful communist revolution.4 More confirmed in his views than ever, Reed naively wrote that after the Bolshevik coup “one hundred and sixty millions [sic] of the world’s most oppressed peoples suddenly achieved liberty.” After returning to the U.S., in 1919 he co-founded the Communist Labor Party of America, the predecessor to the Communist Party USA.If you don’t have time to deep dive into Jack Reed’s involvement in early 20th-century American political radicalism, stream the 1981 epic film Reds, produced, directed, co-written, and starring Warren Beatty as Reed with a stellar cast featuring Jack Nicholson as radical labor advocate and playwright Eugene O’Neill and Maureen Stapleton as anarcho-feminist Emma Goldman. Beatty tells Reed’s political story around his loosely committed and rocky romance with his wife, feminist artist Louise Bryant, portrayed by the late Diane Keaton. I saw the three-hour, twenty-minute picture as a young political science and Russian studies major and was struck by its attention to detail, accurate sets, and captivating character portrayals of radicals during the Progressive Era, down to Reed’s Proudhon-quote “Property is Theft” sign hanging on his apartment door.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist dream of government-run grocery stores is off to a bad start. He’s issued confusing statements about whether shoppers will have to show proof of residency to shop there, admitted that he will have private grocery companies — not the city — run the stores, and said the stores won’t all be open until 2029.But Mamdani is likely to face an even bigger problem if no legitimate grocer wants to get into bed with him.The “request for proposals” tacitly admits that his idea of government-run stores was stillborn, since he wants bids from private companies that have extensive experience running grocery stores, that have “existing supply chains,” and will “leverage an in-house merchandising organization.”...According to the RFP, to win a contract, companies must not only be in the grocery business already, but meet requirements such as:Have “strong reputations within their communities for delivering on public policy priorities of health, sustainability, community involvement, culturally responsive merchandising, and local and diverse sourcing.”Show how they will “engage local suppliers, small businesses and suppliers meeting high sustainability, labor, and health standards.”Figure out how to, “in a fair and equitable manner,” prevent customers from emptying the shelves of the “core” goods being sold at 30% below market prices.[\li]Work only with subcontractors who will “work with NYCEDC (New York City Economic Development Corporation) to establish appropriate [minority and women-owned business] participation goals and make good faith efforts to achieve them.”[\li]“Collaborate with NYCEDC to finalize the expected wages, benefit packages, labor practices and working conditions.”[\li]“Demonstrate experience maintaining labor peace.”[\li]Get approval from the city to open a store in a privately owned site, including “alignment with the Project’s affordability and operational requirements.”[\li]“Regularly report” to the city about how it’s complying with all the above.[\li]In other words, the city will tell them what they can and can’t sell and at what prices, how much they must pay workers, who they can do business with and where, and kowtow to the city’s socialist “public policy priorities.” And the city will presumably be able to yank a company’s license whenever it sees fit.
