Communist Zohran Mamdani admitted in 2021 the 'end goal' was 'seizing the means of production'

New York City's socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is a believer in the eradication of billionaires, the implementation of government run grocery stores, rent freezes per government fiat, free buses and childcare, $30 minimum wage, to pay for it by taxing the rich, and also in favor of "seizing the means of production."

Speaking in 2021 at the Young Democratic Socialists of America Organizing Conference, Mamdani said his goal is to "continue to elect more socialists" and to be "unapologetic about our socialism." In his next breath, he listed two key goals: boycotting Israel and "seizing the means of production."

The classic Marxist concept of "seizing the means of production" means that workers will rise up, take power from their "bosses," and lay claim to the property and industry of those bosses and owners. Part of that concept is to eradicate the bourgeoisie, or the middle class, by taking what is theirs and giving it to the lower classes. Historically, this has not been done peacefully but with violence, as in Maoist China, Soviet Russia, behind the Iron Block in Eastern Europe, Cuba, Chile, and other locations where communism and socialism have been implemented.

"What the purpose is about this entire project," Mamdani told the conference in 2021 in a video that's now gone viral, "it's not simply to raise class consciousness, but to win socialism. And obviously raising class consciousness is a critical part of that, but making sure that we have candidates that both understand that and are willing to put that forward at every which moment that they have, at every which opportunity that they're given."

"We have to continue to elect more socialists, and we have to ensure that we are unapologetic about our socialism. There are also other issues that we firmly believe in, whether it's BDS, right, or whether it's the end goal of seizing the means of production, where we do not have the same level of support at this very moment," he went on.

"And what I want to say is that it is critical, the way that we organize, the way that we set up our, you know, 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.

"The ramifications of victory here is the difference between life and death for so many of our brothers and sisters and family beyond the binary across this borough of Queens. It's the difference between having cash bail anymore. It's the difference between having sex work being decriminalized. And with every battle that we fight as socialists, we need to remember what the stakes are and ground ourselves in them and why those stakes are important and critical to us as individuals."

Those words should be terrifying to anyone who understands what they mean. He told Meet the Press' Kristen Welker on Sunday he doesn't "think that we should have billionaires." 

"I don't think that we should have billionaires because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality, and ultimately, what we need more of is equality across our city and across our statement across our country, and I look forward to work with everyone, including billionaires to make a city that is fairer for all of them."

He's been called a "lunatic communist" by President Trump, while Democrat endorsers have attempted to say that Mamdani is not exactly the thing he says he is. Politifact jumped out over the weekend and said that Mamdani is not a communist because he doesn't want the government to seize all grocery stores, just to implement a pilot project for a "handful" of government-run markets. 

Mamdani told MSNBC host Jen Psaki that he believes his socialist platform should be picked up by Democrats nationally and spread across the country. "I think ultimately, this is a campaign about inequality," he told her.

When Psaki asked, "You are a proud democratic socialist. Do you think that is a platform that would work for other candidates running in other parts of the country?"

Mamdani replied, "Absolutely."