u/Onystep

I’ve seen a lot of confusion lately around why parts of the socialist/communist left are criticizing Zohran Mamdani, and I think both sides of the discussion are kind of talking past each other.

I think it’s fair to say that social democracy has historically functioned as a response within capitalism to moments of capitalist crisis.
Social democratic projects have rarely transformed the underlying power structure; more often they’ve helped stabilize it by conceding the historical minimum reforms necessary, given the balance of forces at the time, to keep working-class unrest at bay.

That critique is valid. And we must continue doing so.

A social democrat is not a revolutionary socialist. Mamdani is not going to overthrow capitalism or usher in socialism through electoral office. And I understand why some on the left are frustrated when people start treating modest reforms as the endpoint of politics.

But I also think some people are missing the dialectical side of this.

If reforms materially improve the lives of working-class New Yorkers; housing, transportation, wages, healthcare, labor protections; that matters. Socialists shouldn’t become so detached from material reality that we dismiss gains simply because they fall short of revolution.
Marx himself supported struggles for immediate reforms when they strengthened working-class organization and consciousness.

The point is not to mistake reforms for liberation, but to understand them as terrain of struggle.

And honestly, one of the most important things here is that Mamdani has helped renew interest in socialism among people who otherwise would never engage with these ideas at all. (Got this line of thought from another redditor, if you read this, thank you)

That creates opportunities to build class consciousness, organize, educate, and push politics further left.

Critical support does not mean abandoning critique. It means understanding political developments historically instead of morally.

Or as Marx put it: “The emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves.” Not a bourgeois politician.

Edit: I see a some people upset because I used AI, I speak and think in Spanish better than I can in English, if using AI to translate my thoughts is going to make it less relevant then that just exposes some of the problems the left has to have a dialog when they don't like what they are reading and recurring to whatever fallacy to undermine others' opinions, leave that to right wingers.