Dear friend,
This election season, what little democracy working and oppressed people have left is under renewed attack. Racist gerrymandering has already disenfranchised millions of Black voters in the South, and Trump issues new threats to interfere in the elections almost daily.
What will stop Trump if he does try to sabotage the elections? Only our combined might as the working class. A statewide one-day work stoppage beat back the ICE invasion of Minnesota. And a national general strike would have the power to block Trump from invalidating the midterm results.
Our number one election recommendation is that the labor movement and community organizations prepare for a coordinated general strike if Trump tries to steal the elections. The Supreme Court will likely only pave the way for Trump. The one power that can stop him in his tracks is our ability as organized workers to shut down production and profits.
This is why funneling the power of our unions and movements into the Democratic Party is so perilous. As Mayor Mamdani has shown (in recent cases, including literally shaking hands with Trump), everyone who enters the Democratic Party ends up serving imperialism, big money, and the police.
CANDIDATES
Support for the many Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates who have unseated established incumbents reflects growing working-class frustration with duplicitous Democratic leaders who have backed genocide. But the energy generated by that discontent is best directed at building an independent party for working people, not at trying to reform a party that will always serve billionaires and the capitalist status quo first. We do not recommend any candidate running as a Democrat.
There is only one anti-capitalist candidate appearing on the NYC ballot. In the Bronx’s 15th Congressional District, we give critical support to Andre Easton of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), running against incumbent Ritchie Torres.
FSP’s front row seat to Torres’ betrayal of workingclass New Yorkers extends back to 2017 when as a City Council Member, he gutted his own police reform bill to win favor with the NYPD and the Democratic establishment, who later helped him ascend to Congress. He has since become a rabid Zionist and red-baiting attack dog against the Palestinian movement and the Left, taking more than $1.4 million from the pro-Israel lobby.
Andre Easton is a Bronx teacher running with an openly socialist platform that calls for taxing the rich, slashing the Pentagon budget, and a $30 minimum wage. Some concerning gaps, however, mar his campaign. His public platform oddly offers almost no criticism of the Democrats as a capitalist party, and the PSL’s defense of repressive regimes like those in Russia and North Korea is also unsupportable.
We warn against Jose Vega, who is running on the “Speak the Truth Party” line but still identifies with the LaRouche movement. LaRouche’s followers present themselves as pro-working class and anti-war, but they’re deeply embedded in the far-right and make heroes of both Putin and Trump. Avoid their dangerous and deceptive politics.
BALLOT PROPOSALS
Around the world, capitalist democracy is becoming more centralized and less democratic. That holds true even with a DSA mayor in City Hall.
There are five New York City charter amendments on the ballot this year by Mayor Mamdani’s Charter Revision Commission. Charter Commissions are panels of appointees who are supposed to hold robust public hearings and then put forth proposals on the ballot for changes to our city constitution.
FSP members and police accountability activists mobilized during a City Council-convened Charter Revision Commission in 2019 to push for an Elected Civilian Review Board, rallying widespread support. The commission, serving the council’s power brokers, refused to put real police reform before voters, but our pressure won a ballot measure with modest improvements to the existing review board, which passed overwhelmingly.
Since then, mayors have increasingly used Charter Revision Commissions to control what reaches the ballot and what stays off of it. Under city law, a commission’s proposals bump every other charter amendment off of the ballot that year.
In 2024, Mayor Eric Adams used exactly this maneuver to block a City Council measure that would have required council approval of his political appointees. These commissions are always empaneled with an agenda and stacked with loyalists, who then rush public hearings and bring proposals with a PR campaign to mask their actual effects. Often, small and big changes get bundled into one question so they’re harder to judge and easier to slip past voters.
The proposals of Mamdani’s “Commission on Government Efficiency” are no different. They all generally work to expedite plans by developers at the expense of City Council and community oversight. With the exception of Question 4, which we take no position on, we recommend a NO vote on the whole slate.
As revolutionary socialists, we are not against development. We are against development that serves big business with no public oversight. What New York needs is transformative public housing, transportation and social services, built by taxing the rich, and democratically controlled by the working class.
We also need measures to end mayors’ abuse of Charter Revision Commissions and to lower the barriers for communities to put their own initiatives on the ballot.
Question #1: Speed Up Process for Granting a Revocable Consent to Use Public Spaces – Vote NO
This measure fast-tracks private use of public space, like sidewalk cafes, planters, and ramps. It does this by removing the mandatory public hearings and the City Council’s power to reject sidewalk cafes. The new process doesn’t guarantee the public adequate notice. Disabled New Yorkers already struggle to get around sidewalks cluttered by businesses and property owners, and this could make it worse. Cutting democracy in the name of efficiency puts business and private property owners ahead of the community. Vote NO.
Question #2: Reduce City Contractor Paperwork; Require Regular Meetings of Procurement Policy Board – Vote NO
This proposal sounds like simple red tape cutting. In fact, it weakens oversight of how the city hands out contracts. Some businesses and NGOs renewing contracts would no longer have to submit full documentation, and the mayor could delegate certain contract approvals. Less scrutiny makes it easier for corrupt or poorly performing companies to collect public money. Vote NO.
Question #3: Speed Up Street Safety Projects, Disposition of Unused City Property, Office Leasing – Vote NO
This is a textbook bundle: unrelated changes packed into one question, all of them reducing public input and transparency. The city could sell unused public property with only the mayor-appointed City Planning Commission signing off, and no City Council approval. Bus lanes, bike lanes, and major road projects could also move forward with less review. Public land belongs to the public. It should not be quietly handed to private developers. Vote NO.
Question #4: Simplify Building Permitting and Move Waterfront Permitting to Department of Buildings – No Position
This bundled measure creates a single permit hub for developers and property owners to gain approval from multiple agencies. It also moves waterfront permitting to the Department of Buildings. This measure mostly helps developers but could make it easier for some workingclass homeowners to obtain permits. With so little at stake for working people either way, we take no position.
Question #5: Set Contribution Targets for Rainy Day Fund – Vote NO
In 2019, voters approved creating a city Rainy Day Fund. Back then, we noted that even City Hall knows crashes are inevitable under capitalism! This measure would set required targets for saving into that fund, increase the executive branch’s control of it, and reduce City Council input. Locking in savings targets means less money for the services working people need now.
Rainy Day Fund or not, the whole budgeting process pits workingclass needs against each other and leaves the ultra-rich untaxed. What we need is more public jobs and services today, paid for by taxing corporations and the rich, not cuts now to save for later. Vote NO.
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If you have any feedback or questions about our electoral recommendations–or any of the vital issues not on the ballot–we’d love to hear from you at the email address or phone number above. We plan to hold a public event post-election day evaluating the results and discussing the priorities and path forward for the working class. The FSP is committed to building united fronts: democratically organized, workingclass-led vehicles that will enable all of the oppressed to wield collective strength against the brutality of the ruling class. We look forward to working with you.
In solidarity,
Nga Bui
Organizer
Freedom Socialist Party NYC
