The upheaval in Venezuela could not have come at a better time. As Zohran Mamdani and his ignorant followers celebrate his election as the first democratic socialist mayor of New York, they have Venezuela to guide them forward. It is a current-day living textbook on why socialism doesn’t work, and has never worked.
Is it fair to describe the Mamdani acolytes as ignorant? Absolutely. Anyone, and especially someone who has enjoyed the gift of an expensive and elitist education, as Mamdani has, should know the history of failed nations.
As a graduate of the prestigious Bronx High School of Science and Bowdoin College, Mamdani should have gleaned some understanding of how societies and economies function. It turns out that burrowing into Africana studies, the course followed by Mamdani at Bowdoin, did not teach the self-satisfied graduate much in the way of useful knowledge. Then again, Bowdoin’s courses in that discipline this term, including Dance & Politics of Sexiness; Race, Land, Settler Capitalism; Black Sexualities; and Thinking and Writing Caribbean, would probably not inform an undergraduate about, say, supply and demand.
Mamdani apparently failed to learn why the Soviet Union collapsed, why Cubans drive 1960s-era automobiles, and why Venezuela, not that long ago one of the richest nations on earth, has seen its economy shrink by roughly 80 percent since it was taken over by socialist Hugo Chávez.
The USSR, Cuba and Venezuela share the deadly plagues of socialist (or communist) ideology and practical failure. In the Soviet Union, millions died of starvation during the communist-provoked famines of 1931-1933 and 1947, thanks to the collectivization of farmlands and expropriation of grains. By the 20th century, fewer people were starving, but government-run grocery stores in the 1960s and 1970s featured empty shelves; people waited in line for hours for a loaf of bread. Top-down, corrupt mismanagement combined with an inefficient allocation of resources to keep the nation hungry.
Mamdani, ignorant of that history, is excited to institute government-run supermarkets in New York, a city abundantly served by private enterprises of all kinds, including food stores. He has obviously never read about the chronic deprivations brought about by government-run enterprises, or about the razor-thin margins earned by grocers in the cutthroat competitive industry.
Like the USSR, Venezuela was crippled by socialist-driven nationalizations, the expropriation of private property, endemic government mismanagement and corruption. Chávez became president in 1999 and instituted draconian controls on the allocation of capital, exchange rates and monetary policy. He also completed the nationalization of the country’s prolific oil industry, causing an almost immediate and prolonged downturn in production. The United Socialist Party of Venezuela, the party of Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, implemented redistributive policies that, in combination with a downturn in essential oil revenues, caused the collapse of the economy. When oil prices began to drop in 2014, the government printed money to keep the socialist dream alive, spurring hyperinflation.
During Chavez’ presidency, inflation rose from 24 percent to 41 percent; five years into Maduro’s reign, inflation peaked at 130,000 percent. The peso was essentially worthless and the economy went underground. Last year, inflation remained elevated at around 300 percent.
Gallup surveys from last summer found Venezuelans struggling to afford food and other necessities; the level of distress was higher than in any other Latin or South American country. More than half the country lives in “extreme poverty”; over 80 percent live in poverty, up from 33 percent when Maduro became president.
That is the legacy of socialism in Venezuela. Leftists used to cite the oil-rich nation as a model for their progressive policies, but the dismal record had led some to look elsewhere.
Shaun Scott, Democratic Socialist Congressman from Washington state, was asked recently which country had thrived under his party’s policies; he pointed to Cuba. Cuba! Where hundreds of thousands of citizens attempt to flee every year (more than 1 million, or 10 percent of the population, left in 2022-2023 alone) and where the government continues to suppress private enterprise, despite the collapse of its economy. Cuba, where real GDP per capita has precipitously declined over the past decade and companies are capped at 100 employees because the military, which controls the economy, is scared of competition.
Life-long leftists like Bernie Sanders used to cite Sweden as exemplifying the wonders of socialism, but that Scandinavian country’s experiment with income redistribution socialism abruptly ended in 1976.
Astrid Lindgren, the beloved author of the Pippi Longstocking books, discovered that under Sweden’s tax code she was paying a marginal tax of more than 100 percent – in other words, more than every extra dollar earned was going to the state. She then penned a satirical fairytale, “Pomperipossa in Monismania,” about a writer forced to pay outrageous taxes. It produced an uproar over Sweden’s tax regime and led to the ouster of the Social Democratic party, which had ruled for more than 40 years.
It’s one thing to entertain your classmates or political pals with pie-in-the-sky socialist visions, but a serious person granted the opportunity to manage one of the world’s largest cities should do their homework and study what has succeeded in the past. Before implementing radical policies, like creating government-run businesses, Zohran Mamdani should investigate the history of such undertakings. Similarly, it is beyond lazy to propose rent caps when a literal mountain of economic literature and actual experience shows such programs don’t work.
Mamdani’s decisions will make New Yorkers better or worse off; the cowardice and political insecurity of Gov. Kathy Hochul suggest she will provide no brake whatsoever on the young mayor’s ambitions. Ditto the coterie of untested ideologues (excluding police commissioner Jessica Tisch) with whom he has chosen to fill out his administration — another sign of intellectual laziness.
New Yorkers, having voted foolishly, may soon join the citizens of Venezuela as disillusioned eyewitnesses to the inevitable failures of socialism.
This article originally appeared on TheHill.com
