No.499281
Net-10 Yahoo G-checked Mamdani and the DSA as a whole with the NYC appearance. To show up in someone else's hood like that, and flex about it? What else can you call it but a G-check. He exposed that Mamdani has no real power. Mamdani is the largest representation of our organization, our being mine. If you're a power player and pull up in another territory, you gotta check in. Net-10 Yahoo didn't check in with Mamdani, he checked in with the NYPD. NYPD which Zohran has done basically nothing to reform. I mean, the chief of police is a true believer in Net-10 Yahoo's program. How can the NYPD be your guys when their main guy is running your opponent's program?
He retained Tisch to appeal to the moderates and in doing so surrendered control of the NYPD. He would have never had control over the NYPD even if he sacked Tisch for someone else, because the police are beholden to the private property relation. That's the thing, his shooters can never be his because the NYPD is effectively a private army for capital to protect the imperial metropole. Keep in mind, Zohran campaigned on a promise to arrest Net-10 Yahoo if he shows face in NYC. The G-check shows he cannot arrest and has effectively no power over his own shooters. This shows weakness across the entire American socialist movement. I cannot say that NYC is controlled by socialists, by my faction, if my faction does not control the shooters. And those shooters can never be ours, because they are fundamentally tied to the private property, extraction economy of capitalism. Not only did he G-check the mayor, he G-checked the entire American socialist movement, as if to say, "You say you control this block, but I'm standing here selling, so how can you?" And that's because we don't control that block or really any block. The electoralism is without real power.
Zohran, due to his position, and in order to save face, can never acknowledge that he doesn't control his shooters. His admin will peddle whatever excuse for this that they can. It is their position, it is how they must operate. But we should be open and honest about the limitations of electoral power in this capitalist controlled country. Being open about this only benefits our cause, only if our cause goes beyond the reformist politics of the rightist faction of the DSA. As the limits of electoralism are reached, the need for actual revolutionary politics becomes apparent. If the excuse is that Zohran cannot do anything about the NYPD because they would harm him, then the stakes are made clear and open for all to see. We must turn the structural weakness of our leader into a win for our propagandists. We should say what he cannot, while understanding that when his approval rate falls because of this, it's because the socialist bloc does not control the shooters, and because we have failed to enforce the power of the working class.
Many on the left are saying that the people who thought he had the power to arrest Net-10 Yahoo are fools, but he campaigned on this. I feel like there is a difference between "he never had power, why did you think this, come on bro, be so fr" and "he doesn't have power because the police serve capitalism, therefore our real enemy remains untouched and our organization should reach for more." Because the discussion is centered around the former and the former surrenders power, the latter claws for more power. Zohran cannot name the reality because of his position as a "prince." He has to save face to maintain the rest of his power. But we can name this reality and should be honest about it: the police serve capital, capital wants the genocide to continue, even with our electoral mandate we cannot fight capital, therefore further tactics are required. This is fundamentally different than the position I've typically seen, which defaults to a holier-than-thou "how could you think he could do anything?" rhetoric, despite his campaign promises. If a socialist cannot fulfill his promise to the people, that is a problem. However, the deed has been done. If the deed has been done, then we can do propaganda of that deed. We, the socialists of America, have control over the mayoralty of the largest city in the country. Impactful for recruiting, this is how I've broken the ice to my co-workers: "The mayor of NYC is a member!" But it is a showcase of our limp dick attitude towards power. In real time, we have confirmed that power does not grow from the ballot box.