Want Soviet Bread Lines? Vote for Zohran Mamdani

He says he wants government grocery stores. That idea has been tried many times.

By John Catsimatidis
June 30, 2025 12:42 pm ET


WSJ Opinion:

As owner of Gristedes and D’Agostino’s—this city’s oldest and largest independent supermarket chains—I’ve spent my life keeping shelves stocked, workers employed and families fed. That’s what capitalism does. It works. It builds. It feeds. And it empowers.

Now comes Zohran Mamdani with a delusional notion in the name of radical socialism that would destroy everything we’ve built. His “public grocery” proposal—a government-run alternative to private supermarkets—would collapse our food supply, kill private industry, and drag us down a path toward the bread lines of the old Soviet Union.

Everything Mr. Mamdani is suggesting was already done by Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Fidel Castro in Cuba. Both nationalized their food-distribution systems in the name of “equity” and “access.” What followed was poverty, rationing and hunger. Grocery-store shelves were stripped bare. Citizens stood in lines for hours to get a loaf of bread or a bag of rice—if there was any food left at all.

Mr. Mamdani wants to replace supermarkets with state-run food stores. That’s not progressive, it’s oppressive. He wants bureaucrats to decide what you eat, when you eat, and where you get it. He wants to rip away the livelihoods of hardworking grocers—many of them immigrants, like my parents.

Supermarkets operate on thin margins, complex logistics and decades of supply-chain expertise. We coordinate daily with hundreds of vendors, farmers, manufacturers and local producers to bring fresh, affordable food to millions. Mr. Mamdani would disrupt that infrastructure, destroying small businesses and jobs. And who’s going to manage these public grocery stores? The same government that can’t fix the subways or public housing?

Capitalism may not be perfect, but it’s the only system that feeds the world. Under Mr. Mamdani’s vision, the corner bodega, the family-owned deli and the community supermarket would all disappear—replaced by government outposts that decide what’s available and when. That isn’t a vision of equity. It’s a blueprint for collapse.

We should support grocers in underserved neighborhoods, not destroy the entire system. We need tax incentives for food access, not forced takeovers of private enterprise.

I came to this country as a 6-month-old Greek immigrant and built a business that feeds a city. That’s the American Dream. Mr. Mamdani’s dream would turn into the nightmare of a ration line.

Mr. Catsimatidis is owner and CEO of the Red Apple Group.

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