Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural speech, delivered on Thursday, is shocking enough. He’d been warning that he was “elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist.” The more we hear of him he echoes Stalin, who told H.G. Wells in 1933 that “socialist society alone can firmly safeguard the interests of the individual.” Mr. Mamdani referenced the “frigidity of rugged individualism” and the “warmth of collectivism.”

That is Orwellian newspeak. It’s as absurd as the insistence that 2+2=5. A survivor of Soviet terror, the chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, writes on X that “The ‘warmth of collectivism’ is to freeze while those with heated dachas tell you how noble your sacrifice is.” To Mr. Mamdani’s promise in respect of collectivism the legal scholar Ilya Shapiro quips, “Ayn Rand called to ask for her villain’s speech back.” 

A plain repudiation of Mr. Mamdani’s ode to collectivism comes from Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who took to X to reflect that the “warmth of collectivism” somehow always requires coercion. “How many dead over the past 100 years due to collectivist ideologies?” One estimate — 100 million —  was given in 2017 by David Satter in the Wall Street Journal. He calls the Bolshevik revolution “the greatest plague in human history.”

Mr. Satter writes that “in countries where communism came to hold sway, it hollowed out society’s moral core, degrading the individual and turning him into a cog in the machinery of the state. Communists committed murder on such a scale as to all but eliminate the value of life and to destroy the individual conscience in survivors.” Senator Mike Lee quips in response to Mr. Mamdani that “Collectivism isn’t warm. It’s as cold as ice.”

As for the pitfalls of collectivism in America, we respectfully direct Hizzoner’s attention to the welfare scandal in Minnesota. These pages have noted the “cronyism and corruption that can arise when taxpayer-funded social welfare dollars are doled out without effective oversight.” As Orwell would have it, “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Collectivism is a handmaiden of abuse from Moscow to Minneapolis. 

No less appalling is Mr. Mamdani’s denigration of “rugged individualism.” That’s like taking a blowtorch to American bedrock. Mark Twain put it well — “a man’s first duty is to his own conscience and honor — the party and country come second to that, and never first.” He adds that  “It is not parties that make or save countries or that build them to greatness — it is clean men, clean ordinary citizens.”

Mr. Mamdani makes no secret of his political lineage. He was sworn in by Senator Bernie Sanders, and pride of place was given to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. His Election Night victory speech began with a citation to socialist Eugene Debs. The crowd at City Hall on Thursday was heard to chant “Tax the Rich.” Mr. Mamdani promises that and untold billions in spending. Forget about free lunch — it’s a free 24/7 buffet.   

Actor and singer Mandy Patinkin, who celebrated Hanukkah with Mr. Mamdani, tells the New York Times that his “optimism” about the new mayor led him to rewrite the lyrics of “Over the Rainbow.” Mr. Patinkin sang: “If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why, oh, why can’t — we?” The new ending, “as opposed to ‘I,’” Mr. Patinkin says, reflects “what I feel” about Mr. Mamdani. It suggests there is as little rhyme as there is reason to collectivism.