Praising the crimes of Stalinism: The DSA and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
During the past week, numerous prominent leaders of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have posted tweets celebrating the 1940 assassination of Leon Trotsky and portraying the murderer, the Stalinist GPU agent Ramon Mercader, as a hero.
Many of the tweets by DSA leaders are illustrated with photos and memes of an alpenstock, the weapon used by Mercader to murder Trotsky. Nickan Fayyazi, a member of the National Coordinating Committee of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), presents one such photo with the caption “this might come in handy today.”
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In 2018, Staten Island native Lorie Honor introduced former Rep. Max Rose, then a first-time Democratic candidate for Congress, to communities across Staten Island. She fundraised for his campaign as his director of community outreach and helped build the volunteer base that eventually led to Rose’s upset victory. Progressive grassroots groups, including the one Honor helped co-found, Staten Island Women Who March, are considered by local Democrats as being instrumental to Rose flipping the Republican-held seat. (Rose lost the seat to Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis last year.)
Now, equipped with the experience of running a successful grassroots campaign for a novice candidate, Honor is trying to replicate the feat herself: she is running for Staten Island borough president, a position no woman has ever held – and no Democrat has either since 1989.