In a little 2″ x 2″ box on my computer screen, I watched a man who calls himself Sebastian B. argue that we shouldn’t bristle at the word comrade.
“I was also once a little bit like, ‘Comrade is a little cringe,’ ” he said with a shrug from somewhere in New York City. “I’m not a Soviet.” Sebastian B. went on to explain that even though his parents had fled a Communist country, the word has value.
“It really encapsulates our commitment to treating each other with the respect and honor and dedication and kindness that we expect this world to have,” he said.
This is DSA 101, a 90-minute introductory course offered by the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the same group that propelled Zohran Mamdani to victory in his campaign for New York City mayor. My fellow comrades on the video call included a Cornell professor, a Google engineer, and a Johnson & Johnson communications manager. They listened dutifully, occasionally firing off heart emojis while Sebastian told participants that their job was not over now that Mamdani had won.
“Just because we elected Zohran doesn’t mean that we achieved a socialist city,” he said. “Our work is only just continuing and just beginning.”
