New York’s Inauguration Turns Cold and Crammed: A Socialist Reality Check

New York City’s socialist supporters received an early lesson in what real socialism entails as their chosen leader, Zohran Mamdani, was sworn in as mayor on New Year’s Day.

Mamdani’s campaign staff described the event as an “Inauguration for a New Era Block Party,” promising viewing areas along the historic Canyon of Heroes where “tens of thousands to gather and participate in the ceremony, ensuring the day belongs to all New Yorkers.”

Instead, witnesses reported that approximately 10,000 supporters braved freezing temperatures outside City Hall. They were crammed into several barricaded pens without access to bathrooms or food concession stands.

Standing in mid-20s temperatures, many stood in security screening lines that lasted up to 90 minutes. After passing through security, they were forced to stand behind metal barriers and watch the ceremony on large screens—a scenario critics likened to being confined to a cold, public cattle pen.

Mamdani’s website had warned attendees there would be no portable restrooms due to safety concerns. However, those without an immediate reason to leave faced the challenge of exiting the secure area for bathroom access and then re-entering the lines again if they wished to join their comrades inside.

In contrast, 4,000 invited insiders sat comfortably in City Hall’s outdoor plaza, where bathroom access was readily available and temperatures were more manageable. Critics described these privileged attendees as part of a “nomenklatura”—a term from Soviet history referring to an elite with special rights and privileges.

“I’m not disappointed,” said Shane Turner, a Mamdani devotee from Brooklyn. “I came here to witness history. The past four years felt like hell under the previous mayor.”