In the history of municipal governments in New York State, there have been four mayors elected to office who were members of a socialist organization. George R. Lunn, elected mayor of Schenectady in 1912, was the first socialist mayor in the state’s history and has been assessed numerous times.^[1] David Dinkins, one time mayor of New York City in the early 1990s and member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), has had multiple pieces written on his municipal tenure.^[2] What of the other two? There was John H. Gibbons, mayor of Lackawanna, New York from 1920-1922, and the focus of this essay, Benjamin Nichols (1920-2007) of Ithaca. Nichols has the distinction of, at this moment, being the last person elected as a mayor in New York State who explicitly identified as a socialist. A longtime member of the DSA, Nichols served as mayor of Ithaca from 1989-1995. Nichols described his victory over his Republican challenger as “the start of a new era” for the city.^[3]

These are big words to live up to. Nichols’ life and political tenure has been detailed in shorter pieces including obituaries, a Wikipedia page, and a few other short pieces, but there has never been an in-depth, critical assessment of his time as mayor. This piece aims to fill that gap. This examination of Nichols’ mayoral tenure aims to serve as a teaching moment for those engaged in the modern struggle for socialism. This is especially pertinent given that more and more people are becoming aware of the fascist threat that capitalism presents in the form of a second Trump presidency, even if some, such as die-hard liberals, see it from a misguided view.

It should be noted that this is not exactly a definitive look at the mayoral career of Nichols. There have been gaps in coverage from online archives such as Fulton History and New York State Historic Newspapers, and the chance to visit Ithaca to investigate any physical archives concerning his political activities has so far eluded me. That said, this is as thorough of a piece as possible with the limited, but still decent number of sources available.

The Campaign

Prior to taking office, Nichols was a long-time faculty member of Cornell University, where he served as an engineering professor and reached the rank of professor emeritus in 1988. The child of two dedicated Communist Party USA (CPUSA) members, Nichols was involved in various progressive efforts on campus including activity in the University Senate, anti-Vietnam War efforts, and the development of a black studies program, among several other endeavors.^[4] Prior to his mayoral pursuit, Nichols was involved with both of Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaigns and was himself elected to the city’s common council in 1987 before deciding to embark on a mayoral campaign in 1989.^[5]

Nichols campaigned on, among other issues, affordable housing, rent control, abortion access, and for same-sex couples to be able to register as domestic partners with the city, which at the time was likely a more progressive plan than others in similar positions held at the time.^[6] Part of why Nichols was able to secure victory in the city’s Democratic primary is that, in conjunction with an influx of recent graduates from nearby Cornell settling in Ithaca, the political climate of the city saw a shift toward the left, or at least to the left of the Republicans. The base of support from recent graduates helped give the former professor the edge in his electoral pursuits. However, some in Ithaca rejected the policies and plans laid out by Nichols, including then-president of the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, Girard Oberrender Jr., who said, “any candidate that promotes laws that would interfere with private property, promotes big government and reduces freedom is not in the interest of people who improve the economy.”^[7] Obviously, Oberrender was talking about business owners and land developers. In a show of democratic socialism’s limitations that will be touched upon later, Nichols rebutted by saying that “at heart, he was a pragmatist.”

The first major step in his campaign was for Nichols to win the city’s Democratic primary. Nichols was up against the incumbent mayor of the city, John C. Gutenberger, who was looking to secure his fourth term in office. In the lead up to election day, the two candidates discussed the need for more affordable housing, youth programs, and other key issues Ithaca faced.^[8] On the matter of the youth, Nichols stated that to combat kids and teenagers getting involved with drugs and crime, there needed to be a proper apparatus to address the problems. Nichols here introduced his “Opportunities for Youth” commission. Nichols planned for this commission to “conduct public hearings and involve representatives from schools, police, labor groups, colleges, youth agencies, churches, and human rights organizations.” Nichols further claimed that Gutenberger’s own efforts to help young people had been unsuccessful, explaining that his commission “would focus on education, preparation for meaningful jobs and the certainty that jobs will be there when the youth need them.”^[9]

Though there was some contention in the primary, which required a recount, Nichols ultimately came out on top, beating Gutenberger 1,238 to 982.^[10] Officially the Democratic Party’s candidate for Mayor of Ithaca, Nichols was up against Republican nominee Jean Cookingham. Though the two ultimately were in agreement on many issues, another sign of Democratic Party entryism’s inherent faultiness, there were some points of contention. Cookingham for instance questioned Nichols’ abilities as a leader (which is funny given he had several leading roles in organizations at Cornell), in addition to questioning his unclear stance on certain infrastructural programs.^[11]

To many, Nichols’ chances of winning were slim to none because of his socialist views and affiliation with the DSA. Willard Dickerson, then the chairman of the city’s Republican committee, and Joan Portzline, then the chairwoman of the Tompkins County Republican Party, believed that Nichols wouldn’t receive the same kind of support he did in the primary election. Portzline cited the fact that moderate Democrats of the city, much like today, were wary of anything that even resembled the idea of socialism. Portzline subsequently stated that “If the population gets out to vote, they won’t elect a socialist.”^[12]

This red-baiting was put on further display when, during a live discussion between Nichols and Cookingham on the local news wherein they would answer viewer questions over the phone, one caller alleged that Nichols refused to recite the pledge of allegiance and thus disrespected the US flag. Nichols responded by saying that he did stand for and respect the flag, just that he “sometimes only partially completes the pledge because of his feelings at the moment.”^[13] Other sources of red-baiting came from the still-persisting Cold War attitudes of the late 1980s and the media’s supposed poor coverage of his ideals and aims.^[14] Nichols received a wide array of support from groups including trade unions, (Nichols’ campaign coordinator was even the president of a local United Automobile Workers (UAW) branch), minority groups, environmentalists, and Cornell faculty and students. Groups such as the Tompkins County Rainbow Coalition, the Tompkins County Coalition for Reproductive Choice, the Ithaca Building Trades Union, and members of the Finger Lakes Independence Center supported Nichols’ campaign.^[15] Through the support of these groups and the mass canvassing carried out by the Ithaca DSA, Benjamin Nichols successfully became the first ever socialist mayor in Ithaca’s history, beating Cookingham 2,630 to 2,428, and to this day, remains the last to be elected in state history.^[16]

Early Leadership: First Term

One of the first major accomplishments of Nichols’ first term didn’t even technically happen because of his new position. In October 1989, when he was still an alderman, Nichols drafted a resolution that guaranteed “the right of the individual, married or single, to be free of unwanted governmental intrusion into matters so private as the decision whether or not to bear a child.”^[17] This resolution also contained a clause allowing the city to boycott any businesses or companies that supported anti-abortion legislation and groups that routinely utilize terroristic methods to prevent women from getting abortions. The boycott clause was added by Alderwoman Susan Cummings. Some viewed the boycott clause as a problem that would eventually harm Ithaca financially. Writing for the Catholic Courier, the newspaper of the Catholic Diocese of Rochester, approximately two hours from Ithaca, one Father Paul Cuddy described the resolution as one that would guarantee the right to “the death of unborn children.”^[18] Cuddy also wished for the boycott to have an opposite effect and generate more sales for the boycotted businesses, citing his own defiance of a boycott against Domino’s Pizza for their then-owner’s pro-life stance. Over thirty years later, it appears that the boycott clause hasn’t had much of a negative effect on the city. This especially seems to be the case considering that, with the destructive overturning of Roe V. Wade in 2022, Ithaca declared itself to be a sanctuary city for those seeking abortions and other reproductive health services.^[19]

Within the first two months of his first term, Nichols established the “Opportunities for Youth” commission that he spoke of during the lead up to the party primary. Featuring members from the Rainbow Coalition, the Tompkins-Cortland Labor Coalition, the Ithaca school board, and various other organizations, this commission served to provide a concrete solution to a long-existing problem in the city. Nichols even stated; “We’re not going off in a new direction. We’re identifying programs that already exist, there’s a real need.”^[20] Serving young people ranging from ages 12 to 22, it was reported that the commission would consistently seek comments from the city’s youth in order to ensure that they were truly serving them and preparing them for brighter futures.

Early into his first term, Nichols laid out his worldview, the strategies of democratic socialism and the DSA, and his goals as mayor in a lecture given at the library of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in April of 1990. Nichols explained how the DSA utilizes the Democratic Party as a vessel for pushing progressive legislation and how his campaign was able to mobilize various groups around Ithaca.^[21] Nichols detailed his disdain for the tax cuts implemented by Ronald Reagan and, by extension, those that happened at the New York State level and also leveled criticisms of the hiring practices of the local paper, The Ithaca Journal. He likewise exclaimed the need for mutual housing projects to prevent private developers from gaining a housing monopoly in the city, detailed his plan to move away Ithaca away from its dependence on service-sector jobs by attracting “low pollution type manufacturers,” as he called them, and called for progressive changes to Ithaca’s income and property taxes. Speaking on the tax issue, Nichols stated that the people needed “a perestroika from below” concerning the implementation of income tax policies, particularly ones with a progressive character, which in essence called for returning income tax rates for wealthier individuals to pre-Reagan levels.^[22] John R. Snyder, a journalist who covered Nichols’ lecture, concluded his article by saying;

Overall, Benjamin Nichols’ stimulating lecture provoked thought about elements of a political campaign, the potential of candidates from third parties, and the future of socialist policies in the United States. Nichols admitted that the state and federal government are moving in a different direction than he and Ithaca are. Arguably the world is moving in a different direction as well. For these reasons, the career of Ithaca Mayor Benjamin Nichols is well worth watching as he treads, in the tradition of other third party political figures, against the tides of the greater society.^[23]

Steps of the Second Term

Nichols kicked off his second term as mayor by holding a voter registration drive in conjunction with a lecture from Jesse Jackson at Cornell in mid-February of 1992.^[24] Though that certainly isn’t all that pertained to 1992, sources on this particular part of Nichols’ time in office are (so far) scarce. The following year, though, things kicked off in a much more bombastic fashion,, when the city of Ithaca officially broke ground on its first ever mutual housing project on January 15, 1993. Nichols stated gleefully:

I am delighted that the effort to build high-quality, permanently affordable housing through the mutual housing concept is finally bearing fruit. The City of Ithaca has supported this project by making the Pogo Parcel available, through the use of Community Development Block Grant funds and through the work of our planning department. I’m looking forward to collaborating on development of even more mutual housing in the near future.^[25]

Much of Nichols’ initial campaign had also revolved around alleviating environmental problems. In a combination of his mayoral duties and his time as head of the city’s public works board, a program was implemented in conjunction with the group Recycle Ithaca’s Bikes to repair bicycles and provide them with new owners.^[26] Aside from reducing, reusing, and recycling, this initiative played a part in the larger city infrastructure. Nichols explained that there were aims to adopt cycling as a more prominent means of transportation in Ithaca on top of the goal of providing more public transport, seeking to create more bike lanes, bike racks, and other such bike-related infrastructure throughout the city.

Simultaneously concerning the realms of public health and culture, Nichols, in collaboration with Terry Nicholetti Garrison and David Levitsky of Cornell, declared September to be “Size Acceptance Month” in Ithaca. Mayor Nichols cut the cake on the first day to commemorate this new month-long celebration.^[27] Garrison and Levitsky, who co-authored the book FED UP! A Woman’s Guide to Freedom from the Diet/Weight Prison, spoke at the celebration on how the stigma against portly people stems from the misogynistic upholding of unattainable beauty standards that has affected the psyche and self-image of girls as young as nine, and that such societal pressures to be as thin as possible ultimately create an unhealthier populace due to the risk of developing eating disorders and other dangerous conditions.^[28]

1995: The Final Year of the Final Term

According to the available literature, the last year of Nichols’ tenure as mayor looks to have been his busiest. One of the first major challenges Nichols faced in 1995 came in the form of Walmart wanting to open a store in Ithaca. Walmart at this time aimed to build one of their superstores directly across from Buttermilk Falls State Park, a prominent camping and hiking spot in the city.^[29] In a 1995 letter to the editor for the Press-Republican, Rachel Rice referenced a statement from Mayor Nichols regarding the Walmart problem. Initially, he opposed bringing Walmart to the city on the basis of the negative effects the superstore would have on local downtown businesses, the unfair labor practices often found in the construction of these stores, the use of child sweatshop labor in countries providing Walmart products, such as Bangladesh, and the general idea that building a Walmart would ultimately not be in Ithaca’s best interest.^[30] However, Nichols, for one reason or another, eventually caved to the idea of constructing a Walmart, so long as it was in another area downtown rather than right across from a state park.^[31]

His next big challenge came when two men, Toshav and Phillip Storrs (née Greene), moved to Ithaca from Elmira in hopes of obtaining an official marriage certificate. However, the couple were turned down by the city clerk, who appealed to state law. Nichols swiftly encouraged the Ithaca Common Council to pass a resolution for the legalization of same-sex marriage, a means of urging New York State to legalize the institution.^[32] This would turn into a months-long battle for the couple to legally marry. The couple had Mayor Nichols’ blessing on the matter, but they still required, at least, the city government’s approval to go through with the matrimonial festivities. According to a piece from the New York Times, the city’s Deputy Clerk began to file a marriage license, but City Clerk Julie Conley Holcomb blocked the proceeding, again due to the law. When the Storrs challenged Holcomb to find anything that explicitly prohibited same-sex marriage in New York law, she directed them to city attorney Charles J. Guttman. Guttman shared Nichols’ support for their union, but still needed to find out if the city could legally marry them.^[33] It was determined later that year that, unfortunately, due to various legal reasons the two wouldn’t be able to secure a marriage license at the time. The Storrs contemplated suing to compel the license to be granted, but nothing indicates that this ever happened.^[34]

Nichols’ largest undertaking was when he challenged his former place of employment, Cornell University, concerning their financial contributions to Ithaca’s development. Seeking to develop a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) program, Nichols called on the university to increase their financial contributions to the city, citing a “moral and ethical” obligation on their part. Cornell saw this call as just another financial burden that would apparently cause layoffs and increases in tuition, citing reductions in state funding as a reason why they couldn’t contribute more. The University basically said that they were the crux of Ithaca’s success, and thus should be able to pay what they please. At the time this resolution was introduced, Nichols was seeking $2.5 million a year.^[35]

Mayor Nichols responded in kind to their refusal. When Cornell made plans to spend nearly $100 million to renovate certain buildings on its campus, Nichols blocked their building permits from going into effect until the university paid “more if its fair share for city services,” citing that Cornell was the largest user of said services.^[36] Although it put pressure on Cornell, this decision was unpopular with the contractors (carpenters, electricians, etc.) set to work on these renovation projects, who later conducted a protest against Nichols demanding that he grant the permits. Some time after this demonstration, Nichols officially approved the building permits. Nichols, however, claimed his decision had nothing to do with the protest, stating instead that he approved the permits as a show of good faith designed to accelerate discussions with Cornell about payments.^[37] After many months of discussions and disagreements, Nichols was able to convince Cornell to increase their yearly contribution initially from $143,000 to $250,000, with the goal of raising payments to $1,000,000 a year by 2007.^[38]

Municipal Socialism and DSA Entryism

Nichols’ campaign faced conditions that in many ways paralleled the 2016 US presidential election in. There was a general exhaustion with status-quo, moderate politics among voters in Ithaca, and many were calling for a change. In some form, the Nichols campaign can be compared to the Sanders campaign in that it proposed radical changes (well, radical by US standards) to properly address the problems faced by the working-class in the modern day on a major, tangible level.^[39] Nichols also has parallels with the Sanders campaign in that he was accused of being a communist and hit with classic lines from the proverbial red-baiting handbook.^[40] The final parallel is that, like Sanders, Nichols was ultimately more of a democratic reformist in the vein of, say, Michael Harrington, than a socialist in the more radical sense due to running on the Democratic Party ticket.^[41] Nichols was, however, very open about his affiliation with the DSA during his campaign.

For some time it could be argued that for the sake of pragmatism, using the Democratic Party as a vessel for groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America was a viable option for accomplishing at least some incremental reforms that would benefit the working-class, Black people, LGBTQ+ folk, and so on. One could argue that if the DSA was still closely involved with the candidate at hand, this may still be viable. But there are a few problems with this thesis. One major critique of Nichols’ time as Mayor is that despite the mass of support he had during his campaign from numerous progressive political groups, their involvement seemed to peter out after Nichols entered office. To quote Cornell professor and historian Spencer Beswick; “The campaign for mayor focused almost entirely on GOTV (Get Out The Vote) efforts: identifying supporters and getting them to the polls.”

And furthermore;

Although these GOTV efforts were successful in electing Nichols as an individual, they did not build a committed movement base that could support him and push him from the left. That meant that when he advanced legislation that alienated certain elements of his coalition, he had no mass base to turn to – or hold him accountable.^[42]

Another problem, connected to Nichols’ lack of a base, manifests in his registering with the Democratic Party. Despite considering himself a democratic socialist and being a member of the DSA, Nichols never made much of an effort to win people over to socialism in any form, according to his late wife Judith Van Allen.^[43] This is highlighted further by the fact that in his first mayoral campaign, even with the public knowledge that he was a member of the DSA, Nichols said that his socialist ideals were “incidental” for the city. None of his positions were described as “socialist” and, further showcasing the limitations that Democratic Party entryism places on progressive/more radical candidates, Nichols didn’t even run as a socialist candidate.^[44] In fact, Nichols said that despite his open connections with the DSA, he tried to downplay his socialist views during his campaign. Calling himself a pragmatist, as it was mentioned earlier, Nichols said that it was impossible to implement socialism on a local level.^[45] There is truth to this statement as will be touched upon in a moment, but the fact that Nichols didn't make any real effort to distinguish himself from run of the mill Democrats again falls into the vortex of contradictions that the DSA faces. Nichols’ “pragmatism” ultimately fell into simple liberalism, which again led him to fall down the same path as others who claim socialism but then fail to make it a concrete part of their political action, stating that;

It’s not that what I’d do as mayor would be so different than what another person would do if elected mayor. The issue for the city of Ithaca is not socialism. It’s housing, youth services, relationships with the county and Cornell, parking, and traffic. It would be possible for someone who calls himself a very liberal Democrat to support the same issues in the city.^[46]

News outlets such as the Ithaca Journal even stated that it was hard to find a real difference of opinion in how to run the city between the two candidates.^[47] After the initial campaign concluded and Nichols entered office, the DSA’s involvement with his administration seemed non-existent. This displays two things: a dogmatic adherence to electoralism via Democratic Party entryism, and, to a degree, a lack of connection with the DSA on the part of Benjamin Nichols. Modern parallels to this, albeit not on the same scale, can be made when looking at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s problems with the national DSA and what seems to be a stronger loyalty to the Democrats than the DSA on her part.^[48]

Nichols’ time as mayor is commendable for his continuation of the lost art of sewer socialism and for his ability to promote progressive ideas and policies for Ithaca, but he ultimately fell into the same missteps that many within the reformist camp have landed in, which subsequently highlights the limitations and contradictions of municipal socialism and democratic socialism.

On municipal socialism, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin perhaps best highlight the problems of this tactic. Speaking on the Fabians in London, Engels states:

Their socialism is municipal socialism; not the nation but the municipality is to become the owner of the means of production, at any rate for the time being. This socialism of theirs is then represented as an extreme but inevitable consequence of bourgeois Liberalism, and hence follow their tactics of not decisively opposing the Liberals as adversaries but of pushing them on towards socialist conclusions and therefore of intriguing with them, of permeating Liberalism with Socialism, of not putting up Socialist candidates against the Liberals but of fastening them on to the Liberals, forcing them upon them, or deceiving them into taking them. That in the course of this process they are either lied to and deceived themselves or else betray socialism, they do not of course realize.^[49]

Concerning a similar problem of Western-European socialist parties and the Mensheviks, Lenin states;

…people forget the narrow limits of so-called “municipal socialism” (in reality, municipal capitalism, as the English Social-Democrats properly point out in their controversies with the Fabians). They forget that so long as the bourgeoisie rules as a class it cannot allow any encroachment, even from the “municipal” point of view, upon the real foundations of its rule; that if the bourgeoisie allows, tolerates, “municipal socialism”, it is because the latter does not touch the foundations of its rule, does not interfere with the Important sources of its wealth, but extends only to the narrow sphere of local expenditure, which the bourgeoisie itself allows the “population” to manage. It does riot need more than a slight acquaintance with “municipal socialism” in the West to know that any attempt on the part of socialist municipalities to go a little beyond the boundaries of their normal, i. e., minor, petty activities, which give no substantial relief to the workers, any attempt to meddle with capital, is invariably vetoed in the most emphatic manner by the central authorities, of the bourgeois state.

Furthermore,

‘Municipal socialism’ means socialism in matters of local government. Anything that goes beyond the limits of local interests, beyond the limits of state administration, i. e., anything that affects the main sources of revenue of the ruling classes and the principal means of securing their rule, anything that affects not the administration of the state, but the structure of the state, thereby goes beyond the sphere of ‘municipal socialism.’^[50]

Political entryism through use of Democratic Party structures by the DSA requires some further exploration. During the days of Michael Harrington, when the Democratic Party could call itself “the party of the working class” with at least some merit, it makes sense in certain contexts to utilize their platform as a vessel to push progressive, socialist policies. Benjamin Nichols was lucky enough to beat the red-baiting carried out by his opponent and parts of the Ithaca population in his first election and to run as a Democrat before the party became more widely known as a party of capital to even the least class-conscious person. But things have changed.

To continue to work within the Democratic Party today would be an exercise in futility. The Democrats, despite their rhetorical assurance that they aim to serve the working and the so-called middle class, have served as nothing more than a vessel for the interests of capital and the economic-political status quo. Democratic politicians have become exceedingly intertwined with corporate donors over the last few decades, which was exacerbated in the lead up to the 2016 election.^[51] Centrist and center-left politicians, as seen for example in the 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns of Bernie Sanders, will fight tooth and nail to prevent someone who could meaningfully challenge the US’ status-quo politics from leading their party. This is done while funding far-right candidates as a method of making the status-quo seem more attractive.^[52]

Even then, it’s often that those same people seen as challengers to the status-quo end up embracing it, as seen by Sanders, AOC, and the problems of the “dirty break” and “party surrogate” theories some from the DSA have pushed.^[53] The flaws of this strategy have been highlighted multiple times, perhaps most importantly by members of the DSA. As early as 2018, though perhaps even earlier, members of the Democratic Socialists of America have been calling for the organization to work independently from the Democratic Party for numerous reasons. Some have cited the Democrat’s co-opting ideas from socialists and defanging them so that they can protect capitalism rather than challenge it, how the party has upheld imperialism, and as mentioned before, the party’s inability to embrace any sort of policies that go beyond lukewarm reformism and protecting the status-quo.^[54]

Final Thoughts

Nichols’ tenure as mayor, despite its flaws, should be admired for the progressive steps his administration took in developing Ithaca. Under Nichols’ watch, Ithaca enshrined reproductive rights, championed same-sex marriage, established a housing program that’s still in effect to this day, and worked to provide disenfranchised young people with education and job-training programs. Not to mention the fact that Nichols was able to secure a political victory, even a small one, under a form of the socialist banner in the post-Soviet era. The flaws of his time in office, though, can also be found in some of the strategies presented by the contemporary DSA and some of the politicians that they’ve endorsed in the past. The DSA either loses its involvement with a politician which leads to said politician losing a base to support/hold them accountable, or said politician dives deeper into the Democratic Party apparatus.

Municipal victories shouldn’t be thrown to the wayside; on the contrary, they should be sought as a means of educating the public and, if successful, working to create meaningful change contrary to the capitalist status-quo, even if it can only be done in small doses. However, these need to be done with a broader socialist coalition, not with a party that wants nothing to do with us. In order to secure more victories like that of Nichols, George R. Lunn, and others on both small and large scales, the DSA needs to establish its own independent party, or at the least work more closely with actual socialist parties on a larger scale.^[55] Particular chapters of the DSA and the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) have worked together for actions such as pro-Palestine protests, why not on elections? Why not promote any candidates who are running for office via an actual socialist party instead of the Democrats? Why not at the least seek wider collaboration with democratic socialist political parties such as the Socialist Party USA (SPUSA) for example? Maybe there’s something I’m missing and the DSA has started to implement this on a certain level outside of the actions of individual chapters, but everything seems to point to them sticking to the Democratic Party entryism that Michael Harrington espoused upon establishing the organization.

Zohran Mamdani is currently running for Mayor of New York City as a democratic socialist with the support of the NYC-DSA.^[56] Mamdani’s campaign has focused on several factors of everyday life for New Yorkers, such as universal childcare, better public transport, and rent freezes. Some have compared him to Morris Hillquit, a prominent member of the Socialist Party until his death in 1933, who also ran for various municipal offices.^[57] However, the problem with Hillquit is that, as a member of the reformist Old Guard of the party that later split from the SPA in 1936, Hillquit rejected actual revolution in all its forms. Hillquit and the Old Guard were ardent reformists who saw electoral campaigns as the be-all-end-all for building socialism. By the time of this split, the Old Guard had effectively given up on socialism and formed the Social Democratic Federation of the United States.^[58]

There are also two members of the Ithaca DSA running for the city’s common council with the endorsement of the DSA’s national body.^[59] One of them, Hannah Shvets, is also a member of the CPUSA. What Mamdani, Shvets, and Defendini need to learn from Nichols’ time as Mayor, in addition to past instances of municipal victory for socialists, is to be unapologetic in their socialist views and identities. Concessions will have to be made working within the capitalist framework, yes, but they should not let those limitations come to define their worldviews. Any reforms fought for or successfully implemented by any of these individuals should be pursued from the dual mindset of easing the pain of capitalism for their constituents and for political education designed to help create a genuine socialist movement. Hopefully they can build upon Nichols’ legacy of progressive politics and socialist aspirations in the city while also learning from his and the DSA’s mistakes.

1. The most recent assessment being Bill Buell’s George Lunn: The 1912 Socialist Victory in Schenectady (The Troy Book Makers, 2019).

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2. Retrospectives on David Dinkins are divided. Some have shown him high praise such as Ross Barkan’s “Mayor David Dinkins Was Better than Those Who Came after Him,” Jacobin, November 24, 2020, https://jacobin.com/2020/11/mayor-david-dinkins-new-york-city-obituary, while others have heavily critiqued his time as Mayor, such as Fred Mazelis’s “The DSA Pays Tribute to David Dinkins,” World Socialist Web Site, December 2, 2020, https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/12/03/dink-d03.html.

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3. “Rabideau Elected P’burgh Mayor,” The Adirondack Daily Enterprise, November 8, 1989. https://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=ade19891108-01.1.4&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------.

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4. Bill Steele, “Ben Nichols, Professor Emeritus, Former Mayor of Ithaca and Lifelong Activist, Dies at 87,” Cornell Chronicle, November 26, 2007, https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2007/11/professor-emeritus-ben-nichols-dies-87; “Ben Nichols – Ithaca Journal Obituary,” Stories about Ben Nichols, December 19, 2007, https://bennichols.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/add-your-story/; “A Call to Political Action,” The Cornell Daily Sun, May 14, 1970, https://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/?a=d&d=CDS19700514.2.33.1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------.

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5. “Ben Nichols – Ithaca Journal Obituary.”

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6. Harry Fleischman, “DSAers Win Elections Nationwide,” Democratic Left, vol. XVIII, no 1, 1990. 7, https://dlarchive.dsausa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/DL_1990_V018_01_final.pdf.

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7. “Socialist About to Win Liberal Isle in Rural Sea,” The New York Times, November 1, 1989.

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8. “Did Someone Say Housing?,” The Ithaca Journal (NY), June 2, 1989; Kathy Hovis, “Nichols Targets City Youths: Candidate Says He’d Form Commission,” The Ithaca Journal, August 31, 1989.

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9. “Nichols Targets City Youths.”

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10. Joel Simonetti, “Nichols Routs Gutenberger Despite Early Tally Mix-Up,” The Ithaca Journal, September 13, 1989.

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11. Kathy Hovis, “Ithaca Mayoral Candidates Say Issues Are Clear,” The Ithaca Journal, November 1, 1989.

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12. Joel Simonetti, “Mayoral Candidates Take Their Final Jabs,” The Ithaca Journal, October 31, 1989.

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13. “Ithaca Mayoral Candidates Say Issues Are Clear.”

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14. Frances Dinkelspiel, “State’s Only Socialist Mayor Vows to Steer Ithaca to Left,” The Post-Standard, November 9, 1989.

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15. “Rainbow Coalition Endorses Nichols for Mayor,” The Ithaca Journal, August 23, 1989; “Reproductive Choice Coalition Endorses Nichols,” The Ithaca Journal, September 29, 1989; “People With Disabilities Meet, Support Nichols,” The Ithaca Journal, October 6, 1989; “Trades Unions Endorse Nichols,” The Ithaca Journal, October 19, 1989.

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16. Fleischman, “DSAers Win Elections Nationwide.”; “Socialist Mayoral Candidate Wins in Close Ithaca Election,” The Journal (Ogdensburg, NY), November 8, 1989, https://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=jou19891108-01.1.3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------; Chris Swingle and Kathy Hovis, “Dem’s Nichols Beats Cookingham: Nichols Wins By 202; 250 Ballots Out,” The Ithaca Journal, November 8, 1989. This statement could be out of date if Zohran Mamandi, a member of the DSA, is able to win the New York City mayoral election later this year. For now though, Nichols still holds the distinction.

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17. “Ithaca Council Takes Stand,” Salamanca Press, January 25, 1990.

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18. Father Paul Cuddy, “Ithaca’s Proposed Pro-Choice Boycott May Backfire,” Catholic Courier, March 8, 1990, https://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=ctc19900308-01.1.17&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------.

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19. Lorien Tyne, “City of Ithaca Protects Abortion Access with Sanctuary Law,” The Ithacan, September 12, 2022, https://theithacan.org/44455/news/city-of-ithaca-protects-abortion-access-with-sanctuary-law/; Eva Salzman, “New Bill Declares Ithaca a Sanctuary City for Abortions and Reproductive Healthcare,” The Ithaca Voice, July 7, 2022, https://ithacavoice.org/2022/07/new-bill-declares-ithaca-a-sanctuary-city-for-abortions-and-reproductive-healthcare/.

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20. Kathy Hovis, “Nichols Appoints Commission to Help Youth Fight Problems,” The Ithaca Journal, February 27, 1990.

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21. John R. Snyder, “A Socialist Perspective,” The Herald (Hobart and William Smith Colleges), April 20, 1990, https://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=her19900420-01.1.1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------; The viability of utilizing the Democratic Party is going to be discussed later on.

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22. Ibid.

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23. Ibid; It is interesting that Snyder refers to Nichols as a “third party candidate,” considering that the DSA isn’t a political party and he ran as a Democrat.

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24. “Jackson ‘Registers Cornell,’” The Palladium-Times (Oswego County, NY), February 12, 1992, https://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=pal19920212-01.1.5&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------.

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25. “Mutual Housing Takes Shape in Ithaca,” 14850 Magazine, May 1993, https://www.14850.com/archive/9305/news.html; This program continues to operate via Ithaca Neighborhood Housing and the Ithaca Housing Authority.

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26. “Recycling Then Cycling: Youths Rebuild Old Bikes,” The New York Times, August 9, 1993.

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27. “Fat Is Fine in Ithaca,” Salamanca Press, September 1, 1993.; Garrison is the founder of Cornell’s Diet/Weight Liberation Project, and Levitsky is a professor of psychology and nutrition at Cornell.

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28. Hillary Appelman, “Larger People Lobby for Fairness,” Press-Republican (Plattsburgh, NY), September 1, 1993, https://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=prre19930901-01.1.5&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------.

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29. Katy Odell-Wilson, “Ti Board to Decide,” The Adirondack Daily Enterprise, October 27-29, 1995, https://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=ade19951027-01.1.1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------.

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30. Rachel Rice, “Consequences of Wal-Mart,” Press-Republican, May 5, 1995, https://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=prre19950505-01.1.4&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------.

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31. Odell-Wilson, “Ti Board to Decide”; This Walmart is still in business today and has likely weakened the infrastructure of small/local business in Ithaca at least to a certain degree.

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32. “Gays Denied Marriage License,” Salamanca Press, June 9, 1995.

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33. David W. Dunlap, “For Better or Worse, A Marital Milestone: Ithaca Officials Endorse a Gay Union,” The New York Times, July 27, 1995; “Lack of Marriage License Doesn’t Stop Gay Men in New York From Exchanging Vows,” Jet, August 28, 1995, 37, https://books.google.com/books?id=pzgDAAAAMBAJ.

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34. David W. Dunlap, “Ithaca Denies Gay Men a Marriage License,” The New York Times, December 4, 1995.

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35. Josh Fineman, “Discussions Continue Between City and U. Over Payment Plan,” The Daily Pennsylvanian, February 13, 1995, https://www.thedp.com/article/1995/02/discussions_continue_between_city_and_u._over_payment_plan.

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36. “Ithaca’s Mayor Blocks Cornell Construction Projects,” The New York Times, May 3, 1995.

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37. Ibid.; “Dispute Over Taxes and Building at Cornell University Is Resolved,” The New York Times, June 10, 1995; “When the Mayor of Ithaca Stood Up To Cornell,” Ithacating in Cornell Heights, April 23, 2012, https://ithacating.com/2012/04/23/when-the-mayor-of-ithaca-stood-up-to-cornell/.

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38. “Cornell Increases Payments to Ithaca for City Services,” The New York Times, November 1, 1995.

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39. “Bernie Sanders for President,” The Nation, January 14, 2016, https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/bernie-sanders-for-president/.

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40. “Trump Calls Bernie Sanders ‘Maniac’ and ‘Socialist-Slash-Communist,’” ABC News, October 14, 2015, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-calls-bernie-sanders-maniac-socialist-slash-communist/story?id=34484030; Dan Roberts, “Sanders Smeared as Communist Sympathiser as Clinton Allies Sling Mud,” The Guardian, January 22, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/22/bernie-sanders-communist-sympathiser-hillary-clinton-us-election-2016.

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41. C.J. Atkins, “Sanders, Socialism, Social Democracy-What Does It All Mean?,” People’s World, June 14, 2019, https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/sanders-socialism-social-democracy-what-does-it-all-mean/.

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42. Spencer Beswick, “Learning from Ithaca’s Socialist Mayor: Electoralism and Movement Building,” Empty Hands History, December 8, 2021, https://emptyhandshistory.com/learning-from-ithacas-socialist-mayor-electoralism-and-movement-building/.

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43. Ibid.

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44. “Mayoral Candidates Take Their Final Jabs.”

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45. “State’s Only Socialist Mayor Vows to Steer Ithaca to Left.”

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46. Joel Simonetti, “Nichols Wants to Help Youth, Poor,” The Ithaca Journal, October 31, 1989.

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47. Ibid.

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48. Ibid; Curtis Robinson, “Ocasio-Cortez Is Committed to the Democratic Party, Not DSA,” Democratic Left, May 28, 2024, https://www.dsausa.org/democratic-left/ocasio-cortez-is-committed-to-the-democratic-party-not-dsa/.

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49. Friedrich Engels, "Letter to Friedrich Adolph Sorge," January 18, 1893, Marxists Internet Archive, https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1893/letters/93_01_18.htm.

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50. Vladimir Lenin, “Municipalization of the Land and Municipal Socialism” in The Agrarian Programme of Social Democracy in the First Russian Revolution, 1905-1907 (Progress Publishers, 1977), https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1907/agrprogr/ch04s7.htm.

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51. Paul Heideman, “Democrats: The Party of American Capital,” Jacobin, November 11, 2024, https://jacobin.com/2024/11/democrats-capital-tech-fundraising-trump.

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52. Daniel Finn, “The Center Cannot Hold, and It Doesn’t Seem to Care,” Jacobin, January 7, 2025, https://jacobin.com/2025/01/center-left-electability-far-right; Mark Linker, “Bernie Sanders Has Been Betrayed By the Democratic Party,” The Snapper, November 22, 2024, https://blogs.millersville.edu/thesnapper/2024/11/22/bernie-sanders-has-been-betrayed-by-the-democratic-party/; Luca P., “Defend Democracy, Not Democrats,” The Call, December 21, 2022, https://socialistcall.com/2022/12/21/dsa-strategy-socialist-majority-caucus/; Hamilton Nolan, “The Democrats Are Purposely Boosting Far-Right Republicans. This Will Backfire,” The Guardian, October 3, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/03/the-democrats-are-purposely-boosting-far-right-republicans-this-will-backfire.

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53. Schuyler Mitchell, “Why Did AOC and Bernie Sanders Keep Backing Biden in His Campaign’s Last Days?,” Truthout, July 25, 2024, https://truthout.org/articles/why-did-aoc-and-bernie-sanders-keep-backing-biden-in-his-campaigns-last-days/; Andy Sernatinger and Emma Wilde Botta, “Strange Alchemy: The Party Surrogate and Socialist Politics in DSA,” Tempest, June 5, 2021, https://tempestmag.org/2021/06/strange-alchemy/.

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54. Tiffany K and Zack K, “DSA: It’s Time to Abandon the Democrats,” Left Voice, April 20, 2018, https://www.leftvoice.org/dsa-it-s-time-to-abandon-the-democrats/; Luca P. “Defend Democracy, Not Democrats.”

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55. Oren Schweitzer, “Getting to Work on Acting Like an Independent Party,” Socialist Forum, Fall 2023, https://socialistforum.dsausa.org/issues/fall-2023/getting-to-work-on-acting-like-an-independent-party/.

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56. “Zohran Mamdani for New York City Mayor”, https://socialists.nyc/zohran-mayor-nyc-dsa/.

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57. Charlie Dulik, “When Socialists Run for NYC Mayor, Good Things Can Happen,” Jacobin, December 19, 2024, https://jacobin.com/2024/12/mamdani-hillquit-nyc-mayor-socialists.

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58. For a good overview of this split and what led up to it see Jacob A. Zumoff, “The Left in the United States and the Decline of the Socialist Party of America, 1934–1935.” Labour / Le Travail 85 (2020): 165–98, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26976141.

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59. Gabriel Munoz, “Hannah Shvets ’27 Launches Common Council Campaign, Focuses on Labor and Housing Reform,” The Cornell Daily Sun, February 8, 2025, https://www.cornellsun.com/article/2025/02/hannah-shvets-27-launches-common-council-campaign-focuses-on-labor-and-housing-reform; Judy Lucas, “Former Alderperson Jorge Defendini Launches Campaign for First Ward Seat ,” The Ithaca Voice, January 24, 2025, https://ithacavoice.org/2025/01/former-alderperson-jorge-defendini-launches-campaign-for-first-ward-seat/.

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