The Rise of America’s Young Socialists—From the 2008 Financial Crisis to Mamdani

Well before Lehman Brothers collapsed and capitalism quaked, Gabe Tobias had an arresting view of what would become the global financial crisis. It was in Santa Ana, Calif., where Tobias was working as a community organizer after finishing college in 2006. He was meant to be advising low-income families on healthcare. Soon, though, his work changed. Acorn, the nonprofit that employed him, began to see rashes of families, particularly Hispanic immigrants, complaining that they were being forced out of their homes. The culprit was adjustable-rate mortgages they had signed up for but scarcely understood. “It was devastating,” Tobias recalled. “They...