{"id":48057,"date":"2025-10-09T09:50:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T01:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/?p=48057"},"modified":"2025-10-09T09:50:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T01:50:25","slug":"united-states-zohran-in-the-lions-den-no-compromise-with-the-establishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2025\/10\/09\/48057\/","title":{"rendered":"United States: Zohran in the Lion\u2019s Den \u2014 No Compromise With The Establishment"},"content":{"rendered":"

So long as Zohran remains tethered to it, the Democratic Party will never stop its efforts to neutralize and sabotage any part of a working-class agenda<\/b><\/p>\n

Atalya Tamara, Socialist Alternative (ISA in the United States)<\/span><\/p>\n

(This article was first published on 7 September 2025)<\/span><\/p>\n

When Zohran Mamdani, the self-described socialist running for mayor of New York City won the Democratic primary outright with 56% of the vote, it sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party establishment and Wall Street. For millions of New Yorkers, it heightened expectations about making New York affordable, and taxing the rich and big business to do it. Zohran\u2019s win made national headlines and proved that running on a working-class platform is winnable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The campaign\u2019s 50,000 volunteer canvassers (including members of Socialist Alternative) will not only be vital for his win in November, but represents a starting point to build a movement that can win his demands. A mass movement organized around winning Zohran\u2019s program could also be mobilized to combat Trump and the right wing and inspire struggle nationally and internationally. Zohran\u2019s polling numbers, well ahead of corporate Democrat and former governor Andrew Cuomo and current \u201ccop mayor\u201d Eric Adams, reflects the enthusiasm for his pro-working class program, but it\u2019s a long way until Election Day.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Democratic Party is divided on how to approach Zohran\u2019s massive popularity. One section tried (and failed) to go after him for supporting Palestinian liberation and opposing Israel\u2019s genocidal war,\u00a0<\/span>including targeting him on stage<\/span><\/a>\u00a0during the primary debate. With that strategy backfiring, another wing of the party is prepared to work with him, so long as he stays in his lane (read as: collaborate, moderate, don\u2019t cause trouble).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Given the pressure that big business and the Democratic Party will exert to sabotage his agenda, we urgently need to build structures independent from the Democrats in order to win any of it. That\u2019s why members of Socialist Alternative are involved with groups like \u201cEducators for Zohran\u201d and are building new neighborhood working groups.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Big business is determined to prevent the implementation of Zohran\u2019s program, with some spending big to try to defeat him by backing Cuomo. Others are bracing for a Zohran win, doing everything they can to neutralize him in advance, including coopting him and watering down his program. Unfortunately, there are signs this strategy is working. Zohran has previously said he believes billionaires shouldn\u2019t exist, but since his primary win, he appears increasingly willing to work with them. Last month, he stated that his \u201cvision\u201d is one he wants \u201ceveryone to enjoy and benefit from,\u00a0<\/span>including billionaires<\/span><\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But Zohran won the primary because his platform spoke to the needs of working-class New Yorkers. As we draw nearer to Election Day and beyond, the Zohran campaign will need to be clear about who he actually needs on his side to implement his agenda, and who will stand in the way of getting it done.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can\u2019t serve two masters<\/b><\/p>\n

In July, Zohran met with Partnership for New York City, a vicious tool of big business representing giants like JP Morgan, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs. Even those most negative on Zohran were pleasantly surprised to find there\u2019s room to work with him.\u00a0<\/span>One top finance executive even said<\/span><\/a>, \u201cThe meeting was a net positive\u2026 [Zohran] wants to be the mayor of all New Yorkers.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the interests of workers and the interests of big business are incompatible. Working-class policies, like free childcare and rent freezes, clash with corporate profit needs. Rent freezes mean landlords make less, and free childcare requires taxing the rich. It is impossible to be the mayor of\u00a0<\/span>all<\/span><\/i>\u00a0New Yorkers, real estate billionaires and unhoused people alike. You can\u2019t serve two masters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Collaboration with big business not only undermines his platform but could jeopardize a victory by alienating those who are invigorated by the idea of actually taking on big business. Will people have confidence that he\u2019s going to follow through with his plan?<\/span><\/p>\n

Socialist Alternative thinks Zohran\u2019s decision to run within the Democratic Party was a mistake. We already see the pressure to bring establishment operatives into his campaign. Zohran has stated he wants to staff his administration with seasoned hands from \u201cacross the ideological spectrum.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Soon after his primary win, Zohran invited establishment strategists like Jeffrey Lerner and Patrick Gaspard onto\u00a0<\/span>his campaign team<\/span><\/a>, completely underestimating (or worse, accepting) the hostile pro-business political interests of the Democratic Party. These are not neutral actors who will simply carry out the political aims of the Zohran campaign but will instead use their positions to whittle down the program to what is acceptable to the billionaires.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If he keeps Democratic Party insiders in his campaign, his program will be undermined from the start. Instead, Zohran should only hire staff who are accountable to democratic structures in his campaign and understand that winning his platform will take an approach rooted in working-class struggle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ditch the Dems, fight the rich, and build working class power<\/b><\/p>\n

Socialists know that the interests of the working class and the capitalist class are irreconcilable. If Zohran has confidence that a working-class movement is the way to win real gains (which any socialist should!), he shouldn\u2019t meet with the capitalists at all. Collaboration with big business has only ever led to capitulation and diluting of any workers\u2019 gains. History shows that\u00a0<\/span>only<\/span><\/i>\u00a0a mass working-class movement can beat back the billionaires and win real gains for the working class, even more so today with Trump in the White House and an emboldened billionaire class everywhere.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Compromising is unacceptable when working-class New Yorkers face a massive housing shortage and sky-high rents. Instead, a Zohran administration would need to rely on the power of an independent movement outside of City Hall that can shut down business as usual. Working-class New Yorkers should get organized now to build neighborhood working groups\u00a0<\/span>independent of the Democratic Party<\/span><\/i>\u00a0that can fight for $30\/hr, rent freezes, free buses and childcare, and taxing the rich. Socialist Alternative has been actively signing New Yorkers up to get organized with neighborhood groups \u201cBed-Stuy for Zohran\u201d and \u201cHarlem for Zohran\u201d. We need working groups in many more neighborhoods, so\u00a0<\/span>reach out to us<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to get organized!<\/span><\/p>\n

If built on and spread, these new independent structures could become the basis for a new party of, by, and for the working class, independent from the Democrats and big business. This could start in NYC but then spread nationally. A glimpse of what\u2019s possible can be seen right now with Britain\u2019s new left party (see p.10).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So long as Zohran remains tethered to it, the Democratic Party will never stop its efforts to neutralize and sabotage any part of a working-class agenda. If he wins in November, Zohran needs to use that momentum to break with the Democrats and launch an independent working-class party, rooted in the movement that propelled his campaign. This working-class movement, completely decoupled from the interests of big business, is the only force that can be relied upon to run his campaign, staff his administration, and organize the movement that is the real engine for change.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Socialist Alternative says:<\/b><\/p>\n