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THEIR FAMILIES FLED SOVIET SOCIALISM. NOW THEY’RE KNOCKING DOORS
FOR MAMDANI.  
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Mariia Fedorova
October 2, 2025
The City
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_ A world away from their parents’ Iron Curtain upbringings, young
New Yorkers with roots from Poland to Turkmenistan are helping power
the Democratic mayoral nominee’s sunny socialist campaign. _

Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani canvass field leader
Magdalena Moranda hands out folders to volunteers outside Mimoza Cafe
in Astoria, Queens, Sept. 25, 2025, (Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY)

 

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In their bright T-shirts, the volunteers for Zohran Mamdani’s
campaign on a recent Saturday afternoon at McGolrick Park in
Greenpoint fit right in, part of a citywide cohort of canvassers
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50,000 strong and growing. 

But within their own families and communities of origin, the three are
outliers. Their families all fled socialism or fought against it in
the former Soviet Union, before emigrating to the United States. Now
as young adults born and raised in the U.S., they are working hard to
elect a candidate who calls himself a socialist.

Magdalena Morańda’s aunts and uncles fought in the Solidarność
movement against the Communist Party in Wrocław. Her parents left
Poland searching for something different. Their daughter, who grew up
in Ridgewood, now canvasses for Mamdani — and belongs to the
Democratic Socialists of America.

That part, she keeps quiet. “My parents do not know I’m in DSA. I
don’t think they’d approve of me being in a socialist
organization,” she said. When her mother calls while she’s with
fellow organizers, she simply says: “It’s my Zohran campaign
friends.”

Mamdani’s democratic socialism is of a different stripe than the
Soviet-era command economy, which was marked by periods of
totalitarian clampdowns. But for families that came out of old-school
socialism, the memories can be hard to shake.

Umit Muradi’s family history has roots in that world. His
Afghan-Turkic relatives survived the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in
1979. His grandparents had endured collectivization in Soviet
Turkmenistan in the 1940s, and the family’s life was marked by
famine, cultural suppression and religious restrictions. 

Even now, his own support for Mamdani sometimes surprises him.
“It’s pretty nuts, I’m not gonna lie.” In their Queens
apartment, politics was taboo, even dangerous. And socialism? “A
pipe dream, that’s not going to work. It can be manipulated and
taken over by a small group at the top.”

Then there’s Alex Rudnicki, raised in New Jersey in a Polish family
with roots in Ukraine. He absorbed the same lesson: “Growing up in
New Jersey and this New York area, the kind of common prevalence is
like: A lot of the politicians are very corrupt. They don’t have the
people’s best ideas in mind.”

Like Morańda and Muradi, he’s out in the field, supporting Mamdani
and his democratic socialist message. In their free time, they go door
to door, talking to strangers — sometimes invited inside, sometimes
met with mockery — selling the idea of a more activist government.

MAMDANI’S VISION

The next day, in Athens Square, Astoria — Mamdani’s home
neighborhood where he serves as a state Assembly member — Morańda
stands before a group of canvassers, many of whom are stepping into
politics for the first time. 

“I know a lot of you are nervous,” she said, addressing the crowd.
“You think, I’m not a policy expert. I don’t know the answer to
every question. But I want you to know something, you already know a
lot.”

She guided them through the key talking points of Mamdani’s
campaign, repeating them almost like a mantra: rent freezes, free and
fast buses, universal childcare — funded by higher taxes on the
wealthy. 

Umit Muradi is a canvassing team lead for Democratic nominee Zohran
Mamdani’s mayoral campaign in Southeast Queens, Sept. 25, 2025.
Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY

“You are already experts,” she said confidently.

For political theorist Rafael Khachaturian, this combination of
idealism and practicality is key. It’s a blend of left-wing ideas
with pragmatic organizing. “Democratic control by working people, a
stronger public sector, labor rights, minority protections, grassroots
participation,” he said. He noted that this kind of politics has
been forming since the anti-Vietnam War protests, and much more
recently found its home in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

The DSA began as a small organization in the 1980s. But after Bernie
Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, it exploded into a national
movement. Today, it boasts more than 80,000 members — most of whom
joined post-2016 — and active chapters in cities across the country.
Its 2024 platform, “Workers Deserve More
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32-hour workweek, Medicare for All, free college and housing — with
longer-term goals: curbing the power of the Supreme Court, breaking
the two-party system and opposing U.S. military interventions abroad.

Mamdani calls himself a democratic socialist — but says his platform
isn’t the same as the DSA’s. He doesn’t campaign on public
ownership or a 32-hour workweek. His tax proposals are narrower, aimed
at higher-income New Yorkers. While Mamdani has long been critical of
Israel and vowed to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
if he visits the city, his campaign mostly focused on local issues.

Back in 2020 [[link removed]], he
described socialism simply as “a commitment to dignity.” By 2025,
he quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on CNN
[[link removed]]: “A better
distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country.”

He’s been an active DSA member. But his message is tailored.

For Morańda, a fellow DSA member, that’s okay. “I’m a practical
person,” she said. “I know what he believes and the policies
he’s fighting for.” If he needs to adjust his position on policing
or business to win, Morańda said, she is “fine with it.” 

For Khachaturian, Mamdani’s blend — an affordability-first
message, delivered through a multicultural, New York lens — is what
makes him resonate. “Labor is tied to people’s lived
experiences,” he said.

For the three canvassers, that message is more than strategy. It’s
personal.

POLITICAL AWAKENINGS 

At 23, Morańda lives in eastern Astoria and works in social-justice
fundraising — a 9-to-5 job with an activist edge. Rising rents
pushed her out of Ridgewood. “Although I’m not a rent-stabilized
tenant, a rent freeze along with Zohran’s policies to crack down on
bad landlords and protect tenants makes me feel better about being
able to afford to stay in Queens,” she said. 

Her aunt wasn’t so lucky, moving to Maspeth, a half-hour from the
train or at the mercy of the Q39. Morańda takes the same bus to visit
family. “Fast and free buses would let me see them more often, and
make their lives easier. That makes me very excited.”

Morańda’s father, a carpenter, builds custom furniture for wealthy
Westchester and Manhattan clients. “He called me from Tribeca this
week and said, ‘I’m in this fancy apartment building,’” she
said. At home, the contrast hits starkly: the family lives on credit
card debt, paycheck to paycheck. “The most average American family
you can imagine,” Morańda said.

For Muradi, 27, politics also began with contradiction. “In New York
City, there’s a lot of discontent,” he said. Rising costs,
unaffordable child care — “And then there’s Joe Biden saying the
economy’s doing great. Maybe for the top 1%, but for everyone else?
We’re getting crushed.”

He grew up in South Ozone Park, spending weekends in Flushing’s
Afghan enclave — nicknamed Qalacha, or “fortress.” His dad
drives for Uber. His mom works double shifts in a nursing home.
“Material well-being comes first,” he said. His goal is simple:
retire his parents. After working in finance he moved back to Queens
and began volunteering for Mamdani. “People who’ve been on EBT,
WIC checks — that’s my world.”

Umit Muradi is a canvassing team lead for Democratic nominee Zohran
Mamdani’s mayoral campaign in Southeast Queens, Sept. 25, 2025.
Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY

Rudnicki, now in his thirties, says he grew disillusioned during the
Obama years, when the changes he’d hoped for never came. “Good
things happened, sure, but international. Violence in the name of
capitalism, military defense programs — that really soured me.” 

What initially drew him back into politics was hearing about things
like improved bus service and expanded child-care programs —
policies that, unlike what he was taught growing up, seemed to have
people’s lives in mind. “That’s really where it hit me: these
are the people trying to help those most in need. The people who
don’t have time to achieve the quote-unquote American dream or the
New York dream as well. That’s where it really got me.”

TALKING WITH MOM AND DAD

In Athens Square, Mamdani’s volunteers move in pairs. Each canvasser
carries a script, a list of their assigned streets and an app that
tracks every knock, every conversation. The app does more than log
addresses; it maps carefully designed “universes” of voters, lists
the campaign has prioritized for door-knocking and phone banking.
Volunteers hit not only “hard doors” where voters are hostile to
their candidate, and undecideds, but also those already leaning toward
Mamdani — to bolster not only their support but the volunteers’
morale.

“You might knock on a door already marked for Zohran and have a nice
conversation,” Morańda said, gesturing toward a Mamdani campaign
sign in a nearby window. 

Morańda knows how to read the neighborhood and tailor her pitch
accordingly. “I know what a rent-stabilized building looks like,”
she said. “I lead with the rent freeze.” If she sees a stroller on
the sidewalk, she’ll talk about universal child care. A building far
from the subway station means the promise of free buses comes first.

Morańda’s background in housing campaigns and work for upstate
Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha — whose win helped pass the Public
Renewables Act
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— shapes her approach. “That’s when I really saw how elections
could create real change for the working class,” she said. The focus
wasn’t on labels. “When I canvassed for Sarahana in rural Ulster
County, I never once said she was a socialist. People care about the
issues. If the label scares them, I want them to vote for her because
she cares.”

Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani canvass field leader
Magdalena Moranda speaks with volunteers outside Mimoza Cafe in
Astoria, Queens, Sept. 25, 2025. Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY

She credits Bernie Sanders with making “socialism” a more
approachable term, helping volunteers explain it to parents who fled
Europe’s socialist regimes. Rudnicki notices the difference when
relatives visit from Europe, invariably comparing the social safety
nets they left behind to the inequalities they see in the U.S.

Within Morańda’s family, the distinction is a continued source of
tension. Her father calls universal health care “socialism,” while
her mother calls it “basic human rights.” 

“She loved Bernie,” Morańda said of her mom. “For her, what’s
standard in Europe isn’t socialism.”

Khachaturian unpacks the nuance: European social safety nets coexist
with capitalism, softening its edges, while U.S. democratic socialism,
as embraced by Mamdani supporters, aims for systemic change adapted to
immediate needs. Maradi echoes this practical approach: “I see a lot
of things in real socialism that didn’t work.” However, he adds:
“Socialism doesn’t mean an authoritarian regime.”

This distinction is crucial in the debate, says Khachaturian. He grew
up in southern Brooklyn, the child of Russian parents from Georgia,
and observes the divide between older generations who lived under real
socialism — marked by universal literacy and economic stability, but
also political repression — and the aspirational socialism of
today’s youth. “There weren’t many opportunities to have a real
conversation about those things,” he said about his upbringing.
“Unless you were looking for someone to explain why they were
wrong.”

For some, however, the conversation is slowly shifting. Morańda’s
mother still dislikes the word “socialism” — but, Morańda
notes, “she likes all these socialist ideas.” Umit Muradi echoes
the same approach, trying to appeal with practical gains. 

Maradi’s father was skeptical at first. “My father was like, this
guy wants free buses. He was saying in Farsi, ‘This is crazy.’”
But over time, something began to change. Maradi’s father, who
encountered a cross-section of New York’s communities every day as
an Uber driver, found himself hearing more about Mamdani —
conversations sparked by passengers and fellow drivers. Eventually,
his father called before the Democratic primaries: “I need you to go
vote for Zohran Mamdani.” 

For Morańda, tensions still bubble during phone calls or parental
visits to her apartment in Astoria. “Because my mom doesn’t know
I’m in DSA or involved in all these ways, I don’t think she
understands how busy I am,” Morańda said. “I don’t think she
gets why my room is messy, why I have less time to do laundry.”

Every so often, Morańda’s mother teases her. “She’ll make a
joke: ‘Oh, you’re still out trying to change the world?’ And
I’m like, ‘Yes.’”

_THE CITY serves the people of New York through independent journalism
that holds the powerful to account, deepens democratic participation
and helps make sense of the greatest city in the world._

* DSA
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* Zohran Mamdani
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* Soviet Union
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