On Class Solidarity
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave… oppressor and oppressed" ~ Karl Marx.
In the modern world, this historic class struggle is enforced by the machine that is law enforcement. When Jessica Tisch was appointed nypd commissioner by Eric Adams in 2024, he gave her the keys to the machine. She now functions as the top executive in charge of the police department, managing the department's budget and overseeing daily operations. She is meant to serve at the pleasure of the mayor and act as a bridge between the police and the public.
As a billionaire heir of the Loews Corporation dynasty, Jessica was raised in the bubble of the ruling class and occupies a position within it. Tisch began her career navigating nypd's counterterrorism and information technology bureaus before later serving as the commissioner of the Department of Sanitation. Despite her capitalist background, she retained her position as police commissioner of the nypd under Zohran Mamdani. Rather than acting as a “bridge” for the public, Tisch has acted as a buffer; using her position to further impose repression on the public through the police. This is made clear through her implementation of advanced surveillance and her aggressive advocacy for “data-driven policing.” She has weaponized this surveillance under the guise of public safety, effectively transforming technological innovation into a tool that reinforces the rule of her class, the bourgeoisie.
Data-driven policing often takes the form of predictive policing, a tool for enforcement that uses algorithmic software & automated surveillance to “predict, track, & intercept criminal activity.” This is best understood through these four tools:
Hotspot Policing: Feeding past crime records into algorithms to generate geographic maps predicting where crimes are most likely to occur next
Crime Sensing: Scanning open-source intelligence, scraping digital communication networks, and mining community intelligence
Surveillance Automation: Utilizing physical networks of License Plate Readers, gunshot-detection sensors, and automated facial recognition technology to monitor public spaces.
Accountability Systems: Platforms like CompStat that pool precinct data to judge police performance and enforce strict officer accountability
Police arrests are historically concentrated in predominantly black neighborhoods, resulting in 58% of the jail population being black people despite being 23% of the total NYC population. Because predictive policing relies entirely on this historically uneven enforcement, these heavily targeted neighborhoods generate the highest volume of data. Algorithms then identify those same neighborhoods as future “crime hotspots,” reinforcing the cycle of arrests. This is a clear form of class domination & racism. The pervasive surveillance infrastructure utilized by the nypd under commissioner Tisch is designed not for public safety, but for insulation. There is very little evidence that increased investment in surveillance technology correlates with lower crime rates; instead, it has resulted in severe privacy violations and deeper racial biases.
The application of these oppressive technologies extends far beyond the borders of NYC, showcasing a global alignment of ruling-class interests. This has been demonstrated in May 2026 when Jessica Tisch broke with Mayor Zohran Mamdani's boycott of the annual Israel Day Parade to serve as an honorary grand marshal. Her admiration of the apartheid regime shows a deep ideological connection; the surveillance systems deployed by the idf to monitor and suppress Palestine rely on the same AI-driven camera networks and predictive frameworks utilized by the nypd to contain marginalized communities here. This communication through tactics employed by the nypd and the idf demonstrates how global power structures share tactical tools to defend the capitalist world order.
Jessica Tisch is working strictly in service of her class interest therefore the betterment of the working class people of New York was never to be considered under her. The bourgeoisie relies on our submission to the elite & our mental subjugation; the nypd functions as a “guarantee” of our surrender. The nypd cannot be reformed into an institution that serves working-class interests; its function is to protect the existing social order and the class that benefits from it. To stand in true solidarity with the working class, we must fundamentally refuse to empower representatives of the ruling elite and its institutions. The actual socialist struggle demands absolute, unyielding solidarity with one another and a committed effort to dismantle the capitalist structures surrounding us. True class solidarity within the electoral ring requires the replacement of officials who weaponize the capitalist state against the people.
When Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor he decided, in true democratic socialist fashion, to retain Jessica Tisch as a way to appease the business class of NYC. He cites the historically low crime rates in the city and states, “I think we're working well together right now… and excited to keep that going.” Though many state the move to keep her was a political necessity it begs the question: when does compromising with the ruling class become a complete betrayal of the working class? This ideological conundrum was reflected in June 2026, when Tisch announced plans to hire 550 new officers, directly violating Mamdani's campaign promise to freeze the nypd headcount. The move provoked the first public condemnation from the NYC chapter of the democratic socialists of america (dsa), who raised that the expansion would use at least $70 million from city budgets. They state it is a direct "counter to the values of the socialist and working-class movement". Through this unprecedented backlash from his dsa base, on June 30 Mamdani pushed to cancel the headcount increase. This move showcasing Mamdani is pushed to act when his political survival is threatened, not when the working class continues to be threatened.
The capitulation is also evident in Mamdani’s handling of the nypd strategic response group (srg). Srg is a specialized task force in the nypd that is well-known for its violent attacks on protestors using military tactics under the guise of “crowd control.” Despite pledging to disband the unit during his campaign, Mayor Mamdani shielded the squad following their aggressive deployment during the June 2026 Knicks championship celebrations, claiming the nypd "handled themselves appropriately in delivering safety.”
As a working class representative, Mayor Mamdani holds an obligation to use his executive power in defense of the working class, the “everyday new yorker.” Law enforcement agencies like ice, idf, & the nypd all function as a repressive shield for the ruling elite. They ensure revolutionaries are swallowed by incarceration & shield against the eventual capture of the state. These institutions are necessary tools for the bourgeois that they spend billions on. Zohran has failed to agitate, disrupt, or counter the movements of Jessica Tisch and the nypd. Choosing to abdicate his responsibility and instead, has found ways to tamely work alongside the forces of capital.
The systemic limitations of mayoral power do not absolve Zohran from the decisions he has made. His choice to keep Jessica Tisch is a constant betrayal of the working class both locally and internationally. While he campaigned in solidarity with Palestinian resistance and even boycotting the May 2026 Israel Day Parade, his actions tell a different story.
He has remained silent as the nypd aggressively represses pro-Palestinian activists, while his administration has weaponized accusations of “antisemitism” against those protesting the sale of occupied Palestinian land while ignoring the state violence those protestors endure. Jessica Tisch could be replaced, it is fully in his authority, why live in a contradiction ripe for resolution?
This contradiction extends to his stance on Benjamin Netanyahu. Mamdani campaigned on upholding the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Netanyahu were to arrive in NYC, yet, before Bibi is scheduled to do so with the UN general assembly in September, Mamdani released a video explaining why he couldn’t. Instead of using it as an opportunity to identify the pressures he could apply, he focused primarily on what was beyond his authority. Even if he cannot enforce the warrant himself, he could refuse to politically legitimize Netanyahu’s visit by pressuring Tisch not to deploy the nypd for his protection. He could help ensure those that will take to the streets are not in danger of state repression. The question is not whether Mamdani has unlimited power, but whether he will use the powers at his disposal.
Electoral participation has been used as a revolutionary tactic before, but it has never been a substitute for working-class organization. As the dsa amasses historic electoral victories, the socialist movement in the states must not mistake winning office for liberation. Nor should it forget the U.S. electoral system must also be dismantled, not legitimized. Electoral power is valuable only when it advances independent working-class power rather than accommodating the institutions that preserve capitalist rule. History has made clear the design of U.S electoralism is to domesticate radical thought and breed reformists. Will that be the fate of Zohran Mamdani & the dsa? Through his actions, it seems it may be. Jessica Tisch continues to stand in solidarity with her class, can Zohran say the same?