It’s understandable to be concerned about the Islamic Democratic Socialists of America and their recent electoral successes. These are politicians with two platforms: tyrannical collective socialism that would make Stalin proud, and hating Jews.

But, ironically, it is the Soviet Union and its history that deflates my concern for the rise of the Mamdani-esq politician.

Have you ever heard of Grigory Zinoviev? What about Nikolai Bukharin? Does the name Lev Kamenev ring any bells?

In fact, let’s move further abroad than the Soviet Union. Have you ever heard of Ernst Rohm, Noureddin Kianouri, or Buenaventura Durruti?

In fact, let’s move further back into the depths of history. Are you familiar with the name Jacques Pierre Brissot?

I don’t blame you. These were the purged revolutionaries; the failed alliances. And make no mistake, alliances of extremists always fail, because extremism is just as incompatible with other extremism as it is with moderation and stability.

A quick perusal of the beginnings of the Russian Revolution will yield exactly zero mentions of one Josef Stalin (or his actual name, which I won’t even attempt to spell). The great revolutionaries who led alongside Lenin........

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