{"id":147770,"date":"2025-07-10T14:10:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T19:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldtribune.com\/?p=147770"},"modified":"2025-07-10T14:10:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T19:10:54","slug":"like-soviets-mamdani-and-bernie-sanders-insist-they-are-democratic-socialists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/like-soviets-mamdani-and-bernie-sanders-insist-they-are-democratic-socialists\/","title":{"rendered":"Like Soviets, Mamdani and Bernie Sanders insist they are \u2018democratic socialists\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>by<\/em><\/span> <span style=\"color: #006699;\"><strong>WorldTribune<\/strong> <span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>Staff<\/em><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>, July 10, 2025 <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldtribune.com\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Real World News<\/span><\/a><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Commies of a feather &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Examples: New York City Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.<\/p>\n<p>The so-called &#8220;fact checkers&#8221; over at PolitiFact insist that labeling Mamdani and Sanders as communists is \u201ca red scare tactic.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_147771\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-147771\" style=\"width: 450px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-147771\" src=\"https:\/\/www.worldtribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/mamsandrs.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"239\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-147771\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zohran Mamdani, left, and Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Writing for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfactsdaily.com\/communist-positions-of-zohran-mamdani-and-bernie-sanders\">JustFacts Daily<\/a> on July 10, James D. Agresti noted that PolitiFact\u2019s fact-check, co-authored by Ella Moore and Amy Sherman, &#8220;relies heavily on the opinions of &#8216;experts&#8217; and is bereft of primary sources on the doctrines of communism. It also downplays and ignores pivotal statements of Mamdani and Sanders.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The actual facts of this matter,&#8221; Agresti wrote, &#8220;show that the defining positions of Mamdani and Sanders accord with key elements of Karl Marx\u2019s Communist Manifesto, the Soviet Constitution, and the official Law of the Soviet State.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldtribune.com\/in-2021-communist-mamdani-publicly-called-for-seizing-the-means-of-production\/\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\">June 30 report<\/span><\/a>, <span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>WorldTribune<\/strong><\/span>.<span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>com<\/em><\/span> noted that\u00a0Mamdani, speaking at the Young Democratic Socialists of America Organizing Conference in June of 2021,\u00a0 told the crowd his goal was to \u201ccontinue to elect more socialists\u201d and to be \u201cunapologetic about our socialism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then, the socialist listed two key goals: Boycotting Israel and \u201cseizing the means of production.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sanders has said: &#8220;I believe that, in the long run, major industries in this state and nation should be publicly owned and controlled by the workers themselves.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Agresti notes that Mamdani and Sanders reject the label \u201ccommunist\u201d and differentiate themselves as \u201cdemocratic socialists,\u201d a narrative that PolitiFact uncritically repeats.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That argument falls apart in light of the fact that the Law of the Soviet State (1938) refers to the USSR as a &#8216;socialist democracy&#8217; more than 40 times,&#8221; Agresti wrote.<\/p>\n<p>A Harvard University Press book about communism explains that \u201cthe Russian Social Democrats, better known to history as the Bolsheviks, decided in November 1917 to call themselves \u2018Communists.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<p>The word \u201cBolshevik\u201d literally means \u201cone of the majority,\u201d and Bolsheviks were members of the \u201cRussian Social-Democratic Workers\u2019 Party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In short, Agresti continued, &#8220;Communists\u2019 descriptions of themselves as members of a &#8216;socialist democracy,&#8217; &#8216;Social Democrats,&#8217; and &#8216;Social-Democratic&#8217; are virtually identical to Mamdani\u2019s and Sanders\u2019 descriptions of themselves as &#8216;democratic socialists.&#8217; &#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The PolitiFact fact-checkers claim that, unlike communists, Mamdani \u201chasn\u2019t called for eliminating democracy\u201d and doesn\u2019t favor \u201cgovernment takeover of private property and control of industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Communist Manifesto calls for winning \u201cthe battle of democracy\u201d so that government controls all \u201ccommunication,\u201d \u201cproperty,\u201d \u201ctransport,\u201d \u201cfactories,\u201d \u201ccredit,\u201d and \u201cagriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In perfect accord with that goal, Mamdani is a self-described \u201cproud member\u201d of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which calls for using \u201cdemocracy\u201d to \u201ccollectively own the key economic drivers that dominate our lives, such as energy production and transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In stark contrast to Marx, Mamdani, and pre-national Sanders, the founders of the U.S. explicitly rejected &#8216;a pure democracy&#8217; where a majority can seize private property and use the power of government to do most anything they want. Conversely, the Soviets demanded this and approvingly called it &#8216;the dictatorship of the proletariat, a new Soviet democracy for all the toilers,&#8217; &#8221; Agresti noted.<\/p>\n<p>James Madison, the \u201cfather of the Constitution\u201d and primary author of the Bill of Rights, emphasized in the Federalist Papers that \u201csuch democracies\u201d are \u201cincompatible with personal security\u201d and have \u201cbeen as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Madison stated near the outset of the Constitutional Convention that their mission was to \u201cframe a republican system\u201d of government to protect the rights of individuals from the will of the majority. In accord with this principle, the founders created a democratic constitutional republic with strong checks on the power of government in order to \u201cguard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On healthcare, Agresti noted &#8220;there is no daylight between Mamdani, Sanders, and the Soviet Constitution on the issue.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani has written, \u201cWe need to abolish private insurance, institute single-payer &amp; nationalize the medical supply chain immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sanders has called for \u201cMedicare for All\u2014not some, or a few, or most\u201d but \u201cALL.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sanders has also asserted dozens of times that \u201chealthcare\u201d is a \u201cright,\u201d a claim rooted in the Soviet Constitution, which declares a \u201cright\u201d to \u201cmedical\u201d care.<\/p>\n<p>Spurning the right to keep and bear arms in the U.S. Constitution, Mamdani posted to X in 2022: \u201cWe need to ban all guns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That position is further to the left of the Soviet Union, which had very strict gun control but not a total ban.<\/p>\n<p>The Soviet Constitution praises the \u201coverthrow of the landlords and capitalists\u201d and declares that \u201cthe bulk of the dwelling houses in the cities and industrial localities, are state property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani starred in a 2021 video for the Gravel Institute in which he called for the full government takeover of housing.<\/p>\n<p>The Soviet Constitution mandates \u201cpublic enterprises in collective farms and cooperative organizations,\u201d and the Law of the Soviet State explains that the \u201cSoviets began to control the activity of various organs concerned with food supply and to employ revolutionary measures (of confiscation and requisition) in the struggle with speculation, and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani has vowed to \u201ccreate a network of city-owned grocery stores\u201d that won\u2019t \u201cpay rent or property taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Agresti noted: &#8220;Beyond the broad affinity of Mamdani and Sanders for communist policies, they are also quick to impugn the U.S. and its largely free market economy, even though it provides the highest average standard of living in the world. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mamdani and Sanders haven\u2019t endorsed darker aspects of communism mentioned in the Law of the Soviet State, like &#8216;depriving the bourgeoisie&#8217; of the ability to vote, outlawing &#8216;freedom of speech&#8217; for &#8216;the foes of socialism,&#8217; and having &#8216;the exploiter classes in the country&#8217; &#8216;liquidated.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Only by twisting and ignoring the doctrines of communism and the words of Mamdani and Sanders can PolitiFact conclusively assert that they are not communists. Instead, the facts are clear that Mamdani and Sanders have embraced many fundamental aspects of communism detailed in the Communist Manifesto, the Soviet Constitution, and the Law of the Soviet State.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/freepressfoundation.org\/fight-back\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #ad3434;\">Support<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"color: #333399;\"><a style=\"color: #333399;\" href=\"https:\/\/freepressfoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Free Press Foundation<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by WorldTribune Staff, July 10, 2025 Real World News Commies of a feather &#8230; Examples: New York City Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The so-called &#8220;fact checkers&#8221; over at PolitiFact insist that labeling Mamdani and Sanders as communists is \u201ca red scare tactic.\u201d Writing for JustFacts Daily on July 10, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":147771,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9,10,16,12,5],"tags":[103,104],"class_list":["post-147770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusives","category-rest-of-the-best","category-top-stories","category-u-s-politics","category-world-links","category-world-tribune","tag-like-soviets","tag-mamdani-and-bernie-sanders-insist-they-are-democratic-socialists","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}