PolitiFact runs cover for Zohran Mamdani’s socialist ideas

The organization posted to X on July 4, "Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, in 2021 used the phrase 'seizing the means of production.' He did not elaborate on that and we could not find evidence that it was part of his 2025 New York City mayoral platform."

"Seizing the means of production" is a classic Marxist phrase that means workers and the public should rise up against the capitalist "bosses" in the system and then make it shared publicly and has usually resulted in violence.

https://twitter.com/PolitiFact/status/1941112396086489199

The article linked in the post fact-checks President Donald Trump's comments, where Trump called Mamdani a communist. PolitiFact then went onto cite comments from his campaign spokesman Andrew Epstein who said that "there is nothing in his platform or in his record regarding seizing the means of production."

One of Mamdani's main policy prescriptions—which is reportedly based off an accounting error—is to install publicly run grocery stores in New York City.

The outlet also openly dismissed one of Mamdani's past posts online, in which he advocated for a leader such as Communist Party of India politician Arya Rajendran to be installed in New York City as mayor. PolitiFact wrote that Mamdani was "praising a young leader," but that "Mamdani’s point isn’t clear" when he said the communist politician would be a good fit to run New York City.

https://twitter.com/ZohranKMamdani/status/1342994554480418818

Mamdani's point, however, was very clear, as he wrote, "them: so what kind of mayor does nyc need right now?" and then gave the communist politician as an example by sharing a post from the official Communist Party of India social media account that touted Rajendran as a "Comrade."

The outlet went onto provide "context" to what Mamdani meant when he delivered a keynote to a college socialist group in 2021 in which he claimed the "end goal" was "seizing the means of production." This also happens to be the end goal of socialism (for some of the economy) and communism (for all of the economy).

"But then there are also other issues that we firmly believe in, whether it's BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of Israel), 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," Mamdani said at the time before going on to talk about how critical it is for those who are on the socialist left to organize around issues.

However, the outlet did not include the quote right before: "But then there are also other issues...," where Mamdani said that those who believe in socialism "have to continue to elect more socialists, and we have to ensure that we are unapologetic about our socialism."

The outlet then cited professors and "experts in the political parties" to further dismiss Mamdani's "end goal" linked to both communism and socialism. Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socailists party and advcocates for socialist concepts, such as city-run grocery stores, free buses and childcare, community schools, and community policing.