Zohran Mamdani has opened commmunist-style government grocery stores in New York.

Every command-economy grocery scheme in history has driven headlong into a brick wall, but maybe will the Mayor succeed this time?

In a July 27 post on X, Mamdani wrote that called them his “five-borough municipal grocery stores” which will ensure that New Yorkers will get a “30 percent discount on eggs, milk, chicken, fresh produce and other everyday essentials.”

“In the wealthiest city in the richest country in the world, no one should have to wonder how they’ll afford the food they need to feed themselves or their families,” he added.

Mamdani, 33, born to wealthy, influential parents of Indian descent in Kampala, Uganda, lives in a rent-controlled apartment, describes himself as a “democratic socialist,” and is pushing policies including: free bus travel, universal childcare, a freeze on rent hikes for 1 million apartment and a pilot scheme for city-run grocery stores.

The New York City Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) boasted that Mamdani’s victory was “powered by an unprecedented volunteer effort.”

The DSA defines capitalism as “a system designed by the owning class to exploit the rest of us for their own profit” and says it must be replaced by democratic socialism, “a system where ordinary people have a real voice in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and society.”

The problem with food pricing in historical communist command economies characterized by state-set fixed costs is that they do not work. 

Don’t believe me? Go and call anyone from former the Soviet bloc and ask them about pervasive shortages, and rationing or parallel black markets. 

Republican Lisa McClain called Mandami’s scheme “communism. ”

She expects the city-run stores to undercut private retailers by 30 percent, driving independent grocers out of business until the municipal shops are the only option left. From there, she predicts shortages severe enough to force per-customer rationing, with daily rushes, hoarding and queues around the block. Quality will quietly decline too, she says wilted produce, thinner cuts, fewer choices, even as the subsidy bill balloons with no end in sight.

What’s stopping the guy who owns the grocery store down the road buying goods cheaper at that wholesale to resell at his place? 

READ MORE: Italian-American Group Accuses Mamdani of ‘Erasing’ Little Italy