Living in Zohran Mamdani's America

Wall Street Journal

a day ago

How did socialism rise from the dead, and what can we do about it? In light of Zohran Mamdani's victory in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, Journal writers weigh in:
Did socialism ever really die? The closing lines of Albert Camus's novel 'The Plague,' an allegory of the rise and fall of fascism, could have described the endurance of socialism: The narrator realizes 'that the plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good; that it can lie dormant for years and years in furniture and linen chests; that it bides its time in bedrooms, cellars, trunks, and bookshelves; and that perhaps the day would come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it would rouse up its rats again and send them forth to die in a happy city.'
New York City may be where the plague of socialism returns after biding its time in Ivory Tower bookshelves. So what can we do about it? The most effective antidote may be to let progressives experience the pestilence firsthand. Socialism's strongest opponents in America are immigrants who suffered under it in their native countries. Its most enthusiastic supporters are well-to-do young people who have never experienced privation and don't know what life was like behind the Iron Curtain—nor are they taught about it in school. When Mr. Mamdani's $30-an-hour minimum wage means they have to pay $30 for an espresso martini—or worse still, watch their neighborhood Trader Joe's close—they'll sober up.
—Ms. Finley is a member of the Journal's editorial board. She writes the weekly 'Life Science' column.