Episode Details

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to build 5 government-owned supermarkets for the 5 boroughs of his city, and charge 30% less for food. 

In the late 1950’s, during China’s Great Leap Forward, the Chinese Communist Party set up free communal canteens across the country.  Families, children and adults were given three meals a day in the commune’s “big socialist food hall.”

The canteens were symbols of Chairman Mao’s promise of equality and the end of scarcity under socialism.

In the beginning, 80% of the food for the canteens was produced on private farms.  But then those farms were collectivized, and while the canteens initially served good food, and lots of it, the quality and quantity quickly deteriorated. 

The combination of collectivization, unrealistic production goals, and poor distribution soon lead to the transformation of Mao’s Great Leap Forward into “Mao’s Great Famine.”  During this time, the Chinese people resorted to eating raw seeds, tree bark, dirt, and in some cases, each other.  Many tens of millions starved to death.

Today, as we look across the five bouroughs of New York City, we wonder:

Can Mayor Mamdani succeed where Chairman Mao failed?