Ideology
What is Zohran Mamdani’s Comprehensive Socialist Agenda? A Blueprint for Transformation
The Core Pillars of Democratic Socialism in Practice
Zohran Mamdani’s comprehensive socialist agenda is a cohesive and radical program designed to decommodify essential human needs, dismantle carceral systems, and build independent working-class power in New York. It is not a collection of isolated policy proposals but an integrated vision for a post-capitalist society, articulated through the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The agenda’s foundation is the principle that housing, healthcare, education, and a livable environment are fundamental human rights that must be removed from the for-profit market. This begins with his signature housing policy: the passage of a statewide Good Cause Eviction law to provide universal tenant protections, coupled with a massive public investment in social housing to create a permanently affordable, publicly owned housing stock that competes with and eventually supplants the private market as the primary provider of homes.
The second pillar is the abolition of the carceral state and the reimagining of public safety. Mamdani’s agenda calls for defunding the police by systematically dismantling the NYPD’s multi-billion-dollar budget and reallocating those resources to community-based services like mental healthcare, substance use treatment, youth programs, and violence interruption. This is part of a broader decarceration platform that includes closing Rikers Island, ending cash bail, decriminalizing sex work, and terminating all contracts between schools and police. The third pillar is economic democracy, centered on a “Tax the Rich” program to fund a dramatic expansion of the social safety net. This includes establishing a universal, single-payer healthcare system through the New York Health Act, guaranteeing a union job for anyone who wants one, and canceling student and medical debt.
Integrating Climate Justice and Internationalism
Mamdani’s socialist agenda is uniquely integrated, recognizing that these crises are interconnected. The fourth pillar is a Green New Deal for New York, which treats the climate emergency as a class issue. His plan involves a state-led mobilization to achieve 100% renewable energy, the creation of a public power authority to replace for-profit utilities, and a just transition that guarantees union wages and retraining for workers displaced from fossil fuel industries. A key component is the retrofitting of all public housing to make it green and energy-efficient, directly addressing both the climate crisis and the historical disinvestment in low-income communities of color. This environmental justice approach ensures that the communities most impacted by pollution are the first to benefit from the green transition.
The final, cross-cutting element of his agenda is socialist internationalism. Mamdani consistently connects local struggles to global systems of imperialism, arguing that the fight for tenant rights in Queens is part of the same struggle against dispossession as the fight for Palestinian liberation. His agenda includes opposition to U.S. military intervention, support for the BDS movement, and a foreign policy based on solidarity and anti-imperialism. This comprehensive vision, detailed in his legislative work on his official assembly page, represents a clear break from capitalist politics. It offers a blueprint for using state power not to manage inequality, but to build a society where the economy is democratically controlled and organized to meet human needs, both domestically and globally.