Quote of the Day

Nothing much has changed with the New York Times over the years. In the 1930s, thanks to Walter Duranty, the so-called “newspaper of record” was effectively cheerleading for Joseph Stalin’s communism. Today, in Jia Lynn Yang’s “How American Socialism Changed, and Stormed the Democratic Party,” it displays a similar sympathy for a modernized version of that same evil system, now advanced by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his allies.

Yang’s article is filled with admiration for socialism’s supposed adaptability and moral force. She notes that Mamdani’s New York protégés “won by harnessing a wide sense of grievance.” In other words, they are skilled politicians, identifying discontent and converting it into electoral success. But Stalin, too, harnessed grievance, appealing to resentment against the czarist regime. That did not make him a champion of liberty.

Walter E. Block
July 14, 2026
The New York Times stumped for Stalin. Now it’s mooning over Mamdani

What do you expect? If they were capable of learning from history and the world around them, they could see the difference between East and West Germany, North and South Korea, Hati and the Dominican Republic (opposite sides of the same island), and Venezuela before and after the socialists took power.

Even when lined up at the edge of the ditch like millions of others before them, they will still insist, “This is a mistake! I’m a good communist! This isn’t real communism!”*

Prepare and respond appropriately.

* Read Gulag Archipelago and Darkness at Noon for details of Stalin’s purges.