The Mamdani victory rally. Corporate America is terrified what Mamdani might set loose.

Zohran Mamdani has helped set off a revolt among New York City’s youth and even beyond. Now, a layer of the Democratic Party leadership and their talking heads want to “support” him like a rope “supports” a hanging man. Beware the wolf in sheep’s clothing!

Well before the election, Corporate New York City was coalescing through “Partnership for New York” to promote Cuomo as the Mamdani alternative. Trump, too, was in Cuomo’s corner. They were the clear and present danger. The more insidious threat was the snake that tried to blend into the grass – the corporate “backers” of Mamdani.

Democratic Party leadership
Once it had become clear that Mamdani was probably going to win in November, some of those very same CEOs who had been spending tens of millions of dollars in a futile attempt to defeat Mamdani  started to reach out to him. They hope that they can moderate what he does both before and after he takes office. Billionaire investment banker Robert Wolf, for example, is a member of Partnership for New York City. Wolf started reaching out to Mamdani shortly after Mamdani won the primary last summer. Wolf actually met with him in August. He says he has been texting back-and-forth with Mamdani since that meeting. “Zohran, to me, is more of a progressive capitalist,” Wolf said to a New York Times reporter. Even hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, who spent some $2 million of his own money to defeat Mamdani and in many ways spearheaded the effort to defeat Mamdani, reached out to him on Tuesday night and wrote “if I can help NYC, just let me know what I can do.”

Charlamagne tha God told the talking heads: “Shut the fuck up. The man just won. After you win, yes you’re going to talk loud…. He took a victory lap and he deserved to take a victory lap because he won. I just don’t understand how in the era of Trump we’re telling people how to talk. The language of politics is dead and Donald Trump killed it. And you know when you can really talk that talk? After you win.”

On the night of his victory Mamdani gave a riproaring speech. Everyone who has not listened to it should do so here. It was a breath of fresh air compared to the dull platitudes offered by the likes of Mikie Sherrill, who won the governor’s race right across the river in New Jersey. Listen to it here.  Mamdani’s speech enthused the crowd and will help drive it forward. Without the movement, Mamdani’s plans will go nowhere.

That was exactly why Democratic Party talking heads like CNN’s David Axelrod and Van Jones panned the speech. He “shouted” too much, they said. In other words, he aroused his base. Charlemagne tha God responded by telling them “shut the fuck up. The man won, and when you win, you’re supposed to talk loud.”

The capitalists’ main concerns
The main worry of the Democrats and their corporate backers is not so much the specific economic reforms that Mamdani proposes. While those reforms will help hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, the reforms are not that radical. For example, the city of Baltimore already has a free bus service. And as far as taxing the rich, Mamdani himself has repeatedly pointed out that the state of New Jersey already has a tax rate similar to what he proposes.

The main reasons why the CEO’s and their representatives were horrified at his primary victory, and why they are now trying to bring him into the fold are the following:

1. From David Axelrod and Van Jones to Robert Wolf and Bill Ackman, the US capitalist class and their representatives have deep, deep worries about what Mamdani may be setting loose in American society. They are worried that all the pent-up anger over the many years of economic attacks may finally start to find an organized expression in the Mamdani Movement. These CEO’s and the class they belong to – the capitalist class – will put every effort into watering the movement down if they cannot crush it outright. An important part of that effort will continue to be the effort to bring the leader of that movement, Zohran Mamdani, into the Democratic Party mainstream.

They probably are also terrified that the coming attacks from Donald Trump will breed a resistance that may get out of hand.

2. Another main reason for concern on the part of the CEO’s  is Mamdani’s principled opposition to Zionism itself. Not just opposition to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, but to the very idea of a state that privileges any ethnic or religious group, in this case a “Jewish” state. (See this speech of Joe Biden to see why Israel is so important to US capitalism. And no, it’s not that “the Jews” run the U.S. government.)

3. Finally, there is an ideological issue that is causing great concern for the US capitalist class: According to a Cato Institute/YouGov poll taken in May of 2025, 62% of Americans between 18 and 29 years old hold a favorable view of socialism. Mamdani’s support for socialism will strengthen that attitude.

So, on the issue of wanting to have a real open battle against the economic attacks of US capitalism and against the attacks of Trump and Project 2025, on the issue of Zionism, and on the issue of capitalism itself, Mandani reflects the attitude of probably the majority of young people in this country. His election will help move that forward.

Plan: “kill it with kindness”
These are the reasons why, having found that they cannot defeat the Mamdani Movement outright in a New York City election, they are now forced to retreat to Plan B, which is “kill it with kindness”.

Will their efforts to infiltrate and control the Mamdani Movement succeed?

The first step in that direction was taken by the Democratic Party representatives within the working class, the union leadership. Once Mamdani decisively won the primary last summer, one union after another endorsed him. This was done with the acceptance of the leadership of those unions, but once it happened, it increased Mamdani’s inroads into the unions’ rank and file. Something similar happened within the black community. (Of course, there are many overlaps between the black community and union members.) Seeing the handwriting on the wall, many top Democrats themselves jumped on board as election day drew close. New York State governor Kathy Hochul endorsed Mamdani and even spoke at one of his election rallies. In part, she did that because she is running for reelection next year, and she will face the challenger from the left. However, having done so, this will make it more difficult for her to resist the state tax increases on the billionaires and the corporations that New York City will need to finance some of Mamdani’s programs, such as free buses and free childcare. Even House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a lukewarm and reluctant endorsement to Mamdani. Jeffries too will probably be facing a primary challenge from the left next year. For some, however, their endorsement of Mamdani had nothing to do with their personal careers. For example, representative Jerrold Nadler endorsed Mamdani. Nadler is retiring at the end of this term in office. His endorsement is part of the general effort to bring Mamdani closer into the fold, to moderate what he stands for and does.

How to defeat these wolves in sheep’s clothing
The pressures on Mamdani are enormous and will become even greater once he actually takes office. Within the Mamdani Movement there will be general opposition to conceding to these pressures. But the question is to what extent will that opposition be organized. That is crucial because a smaller organized force, one which is clear on its goals and a strategy, will almost always overcome a much larger unorganized force which is not clear on exactly what is happening and how to defeat it.

At the heart of the problem lies one of the two main political parties in the United States, the Democratic Party. Consider what that party is: On the one hand it has people like billionaire and Partnership for New York City member Robert Wolf. He is also a major fundraiser for the Democrats. On the other hand are both leaders in the wider black community such as Al Sharpton, and also the entire union leadership. It’s true that most young people and many not-so-young people hardly even think about the unions. We should think about why that is, but with 14.3 million members, the unions even in their weakened state are the only mass organizations of working class people that we have ever known in this country. In sum, the Democratic Party is a party of both the capitalists and the workers plus a lot of people in between. In the past, this sort of party used to be called a popular front. Such combinations are always, always, always dominated by the capitalist class.

Mamdani Movement and the unions
It is impossible to know exactly how this will play out in the months and years to come, but it is hard to see how a successful resistance to Trump and Project 2025 can be mounted without a workplace struggle, a struggle for workers to actually shut down production in New York City and nationally. Oaklandsocialist discussed the details of how Trump can be resisted, including this strategy in more depth, in our previous article.  Such a shut-down cannot happen without a heated struggle

Utility workers for Con Ed. They have the power to shut down the city!

inside the unions. The rank and file would not only be demanding a real struggle against Trump; inevitably this would also lead to a demand for a real struggle against the employers on the job. The union leadership has based itself on containing such demands, so this threatens their very position. The Democratic Party would also be horrified at such a movement and would try to undermine it tooth and nail. There is also the role of DSA, which is tied to the union bureaucracy as well as many in the Democratic Party. The DSA leadership would try its best to avert such a campaign.

What would be the view of Mamdani himself? A key question is how he will relate to the union bureaucracy and whether he will encourage a revolt of the rank and file against that bureaucracy. It’s impossible to know for sure in advance, but one thing is certain: To have an impact, an organized struggle is necessary. Now is the time to start thinking about, discussing, and organizing around these issues. In addition to discussing among themselves, groups of Mamdani supporters can start to reach out to and talk with workers around the city, including Amazon workers, city workers, transit workers, workers at Con Ed, etc. That could be a start.

Needed: working class party
In conclusion: what is necessary is an organized and independent opposition to the influence of the Democratic Party leadership within the Mamdani Movement. Such a campaign would tend to lead towards the creation of a working class alternative to the Democratic Party itself – an independent working class party. There would be many stops along the way, but the rebellion against the party of Kathy Hochul, Andrew Cuomo, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer is in the cards. That party may bend, it may temporarily become more “progressive”, but in all of history there never has been a case of such a capitalist-controlled popular front being taken over by the working class. It won’t happen with the Democrats either. US workers need their own party. And if people think the election of Mamdani caused tremors, the rise of a mass working class party would transform US and therefore world politics.

For more on these points, see The Mamdani Movement can change New York City and defeat Trump/Project 2025 

Coming next in this series: The working class, the socialist movement and Zohran Mamdani. In this article we will discuss the crisis in the working class, the effect of that crisis on the socialist movement, and what role Zohran Mamdani can play in transforming the socialist movement. We urge readers to subscribe to Oaklandsocialist to be sure not to miss this and future articles. Subscriptions are free and your contact information doesn’t get passed on to anybody else.