Joshua B. Freeman is professor emeritus of history at Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. His books include Working-Class New York: Life and Labor Since World War II and the forthcoming Garden Apartments: The History of a Low-Rent Utopia.
Zohran Mamdani’s unexpectedly popular campaign is raising the question of what a socialist might accomplish as mayor of NYC. To answer it, it’s worth looking back on the successful mayoralty of ambitious New Dealer Fiorello La Guardia.
In discussions about the last global pandemic, the “Spanish flu,” we never hear about the strike wave that kicked off at the exact same time. But in 1919, one-fifth of American workers walked off the job. We shouldn’t be surprised that labor militancy is spreading during today’s coronavirus pandemic.
Mass unionization in the public sector wasn’t inevitable. New York labor leader Victor Gotbaum helped make it happen.
The resolution of New York City’s fiscal crisis became a template for neoliberals around the world.