A Romanian immigrant living in the United States has issued a powerful and personal warning to New Yorkers following the controversial inaugural address of the city's new mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Bogdan Laurentiu, who moved to the US in 2011, used social media to draw direct parallels between the mayor's vision and the oppressive communist regime that ruled his homeland for decades.
A Personal History Lesson on Collectivism
In a TikTok video viewed over 230,000 times, 38-year-old Laurentiu responded to Mayor Mamdani's pledge to replace 'individualism' with 'collectivism'. The new mayor, a 34-year-old Democratic Socialist, argued that individualism fosters greed, widens the gap between rich and poor, and drives up living costs. However, Laurentiu heard a dangerous echo of the past.
'These were the famous words spoken by every communist in history,' Laurentiu stated. He described how Romania suffered under the regimes of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nicolae Ceaușescu for over forty years. 'First, they confiscated private land. Then they used terror to enforce collectivism,' he explained, detailing arrests, beatings, humiliation, imprisonment, and executions of ordinary citizens.
From Prosperity to Poverty: The Economic Reality
Laurentiu outlined the devastating economic consequences of forced collectivism in Romania. The nation went from being Europe's number one grain exporter to suffering regular food shortages. Starting in 1949, the state seized private land from farmers, forcing them into state-run collectives where they lost all control over their work and produce.
Independent farmers were labelled as enemies because their self-sufficiency threatened state control, Laurentiu said. Their property was stripped away to make the population dependent on the government. Furthermore, free markets were banned in the 1940s, destroying Romania's economy and making daily life a struggle. 'Romanian collectivism was forced, violent, economically disastrous, morally corrupt, and designed to control, not help,' he concluded.
Ideological Debate and Political Backlash
Mayor Mamdani has firmly denied being a communist, aligning himself instead with Democratic Socialism, a philosophy shared by figures like US Senator Bernie Sanders. He maintains his goal is solidarity and addressing inequality in New York City.
However, his past comments about 'seizing the means of production' and the 'abolition of private property' have fueled critics' fears. Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly called Mamdani a 'communist' and threatened to withhold federal funding. The backlash has been fierce on social media too, with commentators like Megyn Kelly stating, 'No, actually, we are Americans, and we don’t believe in that s***.'
Laurentiu, who was an infant when Ceaușescu was overthrown in 1989, claims he has never met a Romanian in favour of communism. His message, which received a standing ovation from the late conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, is a simple caution from history: 'If you don't learn from history, nothing will save you.' The debate over collectivism versus individualism now sits at the heart of New York City's political future.
