Ashley Smith responds to Todd Chretien's defense of Zohran Mamdani, arguing that conciliation and reformism are not enough to defeat Trump. I welcome Todd Chretien's “Mamdani's Fight is Our Fight” in response to my article, “After the Surreal Summit.” It is essential for the Left to openly debate our differences in all our publications. That way radicals can judge for themselves which arguments, strategies, and tactics are the best to advance our common struggle for reform and ultimately (…)

Todd Chretien argues that socialists must find ways to participate in “the Mamdani experiment”—and that Tempest member Ashley Smith's recent critique of Mamdani is a warning “from outside.” Chretien is co-chair of DSA in Maine. Democratic socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani and the New York City working-class movement's success in winning concrete reforms will shape the American Left to a significant degree for the coming period. Mamdani's victory in the Democratic primary in June and win in (…)

Ashley Smith analyzes the surreal, chummy meeting between the authoritarian Trump and NYC Mayor Elect and self-described democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani and argues that building mass class and social struggle is the only way forward. It was the most anticipated meeting at the White House since Donald Trump's confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Would Trump dress down and insult New York City Mayor Elect Zohran Mamdani? Would Mamdani give as good as got and (…)

While Mamdani's victory in the New York mayoral race signals a growing radicalism and challenges to Trump's agenda, his chummy meeting on November 21 with Trump at the White House sends a different message about what the Democrats are unwilling to do to stop Trump. Here the Tempest National Committee notes that the Democratic capitulation on the budget bill is just another indication that the Party has no solutions to the economic, social, political, and ecological crises facing the working (…)

Par son ampleur, cette manifestation a pris le pays par surprise. À commencer par le gouvernement et la majorité, mais aussi ses organisateurs de la droite réformiste. Dans la nuit de dimanche à lundi, de 60 000 à 90 000 personnes, selon les estimations, sont descendues dans la rue devant le « triangle du pouvoir » (parlement, conseil des ministres, présidence de la république) à Sofia. Des milliers de personnes ont aussi manifesté dans les grandes villes du pays : Plovdiv, Varna, Bourgas, (…)

The scale of this demonstration took the country by surprise. Starting with the government and its majority, but also its organisers from the reformist right. On Sunday night into Monday, between 60,000 and 90,000 people, according to estimates, took to the streets in front of the “triangle of power” (parliament, council of ministers, presidency) in Sofia. Thousands also demonstrated in the country's major cities: Plovdiv, Varna, Bourgas, Blagoevgrad, Pleven and Veliko Tarnovo, where (…)