WATCH: Zohran Mamdani Calls for ‘Seizing the Means of Production’ and ‘Unapologetic’ Socialism
New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani touted his “end goal of seizing the means of production” during a 2021 Young Democratic Socialists of America conference.
In his remarks, Mamdani asserted that the Left “is in a more ascendant position” before making an argument for refusing to moderate on the issues.
“What I wanted to make sure to say is that when we-, when our position starts to change, when we start to accumulate power, when we start to elect individuals such as myself and my other slate mates into local office, we are started to be treated in a different way than we used to be. And the way in which power engages us now, it is very critical for all of us to remember what it is that we are fighting for, and to remember that our agenda is an agenda that must not be dictated by calculus, but by conviction,” said Mamdani. “And what I mean by that is that the many things that we believe, some of them are already popular in this moment. Right now, if we’re talking about the cancelation of student debt, if we’re talking about Medicare for all ,you know, these are issues which have the groundswell of popular support across this country. But then 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.”
“And what I want to say is that it is critical, the way that we organize, the way that we set up our, 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 organizing organize for what is correct and for what is right, and to ensure that over time we can bring people to that issue,” he continued.
At other points in the same speech, Mamdani argued that the DSA endorsement process should “make it very clear” that the organization’s goal is to “win socialism,” and that “we have to continue to elect more socialists, and we have to ensure that we are unapologetic about our socialism.”
The seizure of the means of production is a key concept of Marxism in which the working class takes control of the tools that capitalists use to create goods and services.
