Zohran Mamdani’s ‘chilling’ call for ‘seizing the means of production’ draws outrage from communist refugees: ‘Dangerous and scary’ 

Several communist refugees and New York pols expressed outrage Monday after a clip resurfaced of presumptive Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani noting that one of his goals is “seizing the means of production.”  

“After [the] Red October Socialist Revolution in 1917, Bolsheviks seized means of production, jailed or killed business owners, eliminated freedoms & took over private farms & food stores,” former Brooklyn Councilman and communist refugee Ari Kagan wrote on X. “I would never imagine NYC would consider this failed & dangerous government model.” 

Kagan, a Belarus native who grew up under Soviet-style communism, further told The Post that the clip of Mamdani grinning as he parrots communist godfather Karl Marx’s marching orders is “chilling.” 

“It’s very chilling to hear that,” the former council member said. “It’s dangerous and scary. A majority of New Yorkers have to reject this man.”

“I remember government-run stores in Minsk. There were long lines,” Kagan recalled. 

Mamdani is a double whammy for Kagan, who is Jewish.

“He’s a Hamas sympathizer,” the ex-councilman declared. 

In the resurfaced clip – from a 2021 Young Democratic Socialists of America conference – Mamdani argues that the “purpose” of “this entire project” is “not simply to raise class consciousness, but to win socialism” and elect leaders who are “unapologetic about our socialism.” 

The mayoral candidate, a self-described Democratic Socialist, notes that certain issues socialists “firmly believe in,” such as boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel and “the end goal of seizing the means of production” are unpopular at the moment but should still be championed. 

“It is critical to the way that we organize, the way that we set up our, you know, set up our work and our priorities that we do not leave any one issue for the other; that we do not meet a moment and only look at what people are ready for, but that we are doing both of these things in tandem, because it is critical for us to both meet people where they’re at and to also organize for what is correct and for what is right, and to ensure that over time we can bring people to that issue,” Mamdani said. 

Last week, after Mamdani’s stunning upset in New York’s Democratic mayoral primary, President Trump described the presumptive nominee as a “100% Communist Lunatic.”

Mamdani has insisted that he is not a communist. 

“No, I am not,” he responded, when asked directly by NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” on Sunday. 

“I call myself a democratic socialist, in many ways, inspired by the words of [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.] from decades ago, who said, ‘Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism: There has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country,’” Mamdani added. 

Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a native of former Soviet-controlled Ukraine, argued that Mamdani was being deceptive about his true politics. 

“This is exactly why Zohran’s whole song-and-dance about `democratic socialism’ somehow being different from communism is pure deception,” Vernikov argued, when asked about the resurfaced clip. “Those of us who grew up under communism know this all too well. Our home countries were destroyed by ideas that came dressed in pleasant, persuasive packaging.”

“New Yorkers need to wake up before it’s too late.”

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), whose mother fled the communist regime installed in Cuba by late dictator Fidel Castro, said the clip of Mamdani is the “scariest thing” she’s heard the controversial mayoral candidate mutter. 

“Of all his left-wing rhetoric, this is the scariest thing Mamdani has said and it’s straight out of Karl Marx’s Communist playbook,” Malliotakis said. 

“My mother fled a country that `seized the means of production’ and now my relatives have no medicine, no property and rationed rice and beans in Cuba,” the 11th District rep added. “Venezuela also `seized it means of production’ and a quarter of its population fled and those who remain are living in poverty and misery.” 

“What I really don’t understand is why immigrants would come to this country if they hate our form of government and economy so much,” Malliotakis continued. “His family could’ve chosen any other country in the world including Cuba or Venezuela if they love socialism and communism so much.”

Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino similarly argued that Mamdani’s comments were “straight out of the Communist Manifesto.”

“There’s no way to spin that. He’s obviously a full-blown communist, and we cannot have someone like this in charge of America’s largest and most important economic center,” Paladino argued. “Between this and everything else we know about him, it’s obvious that Zohran doesn’t hold a single identifiable American value.” 

“Clearly he lied on his immigration application, and he has no business being here. It’s time for this experiment to end. It’s time to review Zohran’s naturalization status. And it may be time to look seriously at the Communist Control Act again,” she warned. 

The Post has reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment.