Mamdani’s victory shows that there is hope - Bruce Whitehead
First Tuesday – November polling day in the US – is usually a disappointing one for Americans and for the world which waits upon every whim of the earth’s most powerful country. It's often more of the same. But this week, you might call it the First First Tuesday – the first time a real socialist won a substantial US election on a platform of taking from the rich and giving to the poor.
New York's new mayor Zohran Mamdani calls himself a democratic socialist, a phrase to reassure voters he won't impose social justice in a police state – there will still be elections. His socialism addresses the fundamental flaws of so-called “democracy” – that it is easily gamed by powerful groups to marginalise smaller parties, and that governments with parliamentary majorities are elected by minorities with barely a third of the vote; last year Starmer won on 33 per cent but Corbyn lost with 40 per cent in 2017.
Starmer’s “loveless landslide” should have rung alarm bells in Labour's cabinet. “Only a third want you. Act now to fix that!” Instead, Rachel Reeves “fixed” the damage done by tax-cutting Tories by hammering the poorest with cuts in winter fuel allowances and benefits for vulnerable people.
The signs are that she hasn't learned anything, and this month's budget will likely continue to tip the balance further in favour of the wealthiest.
But Mamdani's victory shows that there is hope. Waking up on Wednesday, the news reminded me of my excitement in 2017 as a Labour Conference delegate in Brighton. On a sunny September evening the garden of the Quaker meeting house rang with applause for speakers urging us to “rise like lions and shake off our chains” since “we are many and they are few”. Dylan's lines, “music in the cafes... revolution in the air” reverberated in my ears. It all ended in smears and factional sabotage by Blairites who hate socialists.
This evening we can re-ignite that hope. Join YourParty.uk and come to our first Edinburgh Assembly, in Tollcross Central Hall at 5pm.