New York election spurs communist memories
November has been an important month in my life, marked by many family birthdays and two life-changing events. Most recently, a heart ailment on Nov. 4, 2024, and, 50 years ago in 1975, being chosen as one of 12 American journalists sent on a goodwill exchange to the then USSR.
It was a sub-zero day, and I was standing by the Kremlin Wall with 11 other journalists watching the day-long Nov. 7 military parade. President Brezhnev was a short distance away on Lenin’s tomb. The parade featured a vast military force with armored troop carriers, soldiers, tanks and missiles.
Following the impressive military display, the working people’s demonstration. It featured youth organizations in bright colors, Olympic athletes in uniforms, and thousands of workers carrying signs, floats and picture displays. I wrote at the time, “It looked like humanity passing by…the Soviets turned out by the hundreds of thousands to salute Lenin, the military, the revolution, the Communist Central Committee, and whatever else walked by that day.”
As we shivered in the cold, our constant Communist caretakers gave us hot wine in leather flasks to keep us warm.
Not to dwell on my complete USSR experience, but the recent election of the openly democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York reminded me of my time with the Communists.
The USSR was a primitive place, controlled by the KGB, and the people were poor and oppressed. What Mamdani will learn, or already knows, is that the Communists all had jobs; they had to work under the orders of the ruling Central Committee.
I asked our hosts what happens if people don’t show up for work. They said, “The committee calls upon them.” Each person has an identification and a skill level based on their job, from the street sweeper at the low end of the pay scale to the factory workers and lumberjacks, who are paid more than physicians. The Soviets took care of the blue-collar worker at the highest pay level. Journalists were close to the bottom.
I don’t believe that, while some have labeled Mamdani a “commie,” it’s unclear whether he meets the definition. Becoming a Communist requires a major commitment to join the only ruling political party. Anyone can be a Socialist, but Communists are committed to their extreme Marxist beliefs.
Mamdani shares many of their doctrines: the belief that the government should run everything from housing and transportation to medical and childcare, operate government grocery stores, and raise taxes on the rich.
In Russia, everything was controlled and owned by the government. There was no private land; all property belonged to the state. That was the situation in Russia 50 years ago because the oligarch communists, making up only 13 percent of the country, hadn’t taken over the dismantling of the former USSR and seized the wealth for themselves. Over the past 50 years, Russians have learned about the success of capitalism and free enterprise, but a harsh government still remains under Putin.
I haven’t been back in 50 years, but the Russians have prospered thanks to mineral and oil wealth and limited free enterprise. However, as we know, they lost their breadbasket in Ukraine but recovered their vacation retreats after seizing Crimea.
Before we left, we spent a week at the State Department learning about the USSR—the history, protocol, the dangers of the KGB, and what to do and what not to do. Ten years ago, I went to Cuba with the National Newspaper Association to lecture at the Jose Marti School of Journalism. Cuba is another example of a failed socialist/Communist country, poverty-ridden and struggling. The people in Cuba were actually going hungry and begging for food and money.
It will be interesting to see what unfolds in New York City.