The term “Red Diaper Baby” refers to children raised by parents dedicated to the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) or other radical leftist movements. “Red” denotes communism, while “diaper baby” emphasizes early exposure to ideological indoctrination.
These children are often immersed from a young age in socialist, anti-American, and Marxist worldviews, frequently attending union rallies, radical schools, or political protests alongside their activist parents.
Today, the term “Red Diaper Baby” has become a relevant lens for examining the intergenerational transmission of radical ideology within the Democratic Party’s leadership, many of whom have been molded by beliefs of radical parental figures. Before examining the case of Zohran Mamdani, let’s look at a few key figures.
Kamala Harris: Kamala’s father, Donald Harris, is a self-described Marxist economist who taught at Stanford University and has frequently critiqued capitalism in support of democratic socialism.
Donald Harris has long critiqued free market systems and praised socialist alternatives. In his 1978 book, Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution, dedicated to Kamala, Harris argued that Marx’s model “remains today as a powerful basis” for analyzing the growth dynamics of capitalist economies.
Barack Obama: In his best-selling memoir Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama describes his childhood mentorship under Frank Marshall Davis, a card-carrying CPUSA member and one of the first “Black Bolsheviks” in 1930s Chicago.
In the 1940s, Davis was sent to Hawaii by COMINTERN to organize a dockworkers strike aimed at expelling the U.S. navy from Hawaii – a move designed to open up Southeast Asia to Soviet expansion.
Davis became a journalist for the communist newspaper The Honolulu Record in Hawaii. Davis was later subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he invoked the Fifth Amendment.
In my 2012 documentary Dreams from My Real Father, I presented extensive evidence that Davis, whom Obama resembles to a tee, was not only Obama’s ideological mentor but also his biological father.
Pete Buttigieg: Buttigieg’s father, Joseph Buttigieg, was a Marxist professor of English at the University of Notre Dame. Joseph Buttigieg was a leading promotor of Antonio Gramsci, the Italian communist whose theories of cultural hegemony made him a founding figure in Western Marxist theory. Gramsci argued Marxists could achieve power by reshaping cultural norms and values.
Joseph Buttigieg founded the International Gramsci Society and translated Gramsci’s work, The Prison Notebooks, making Gramsci’s Marxist theories widely accessible and cementing Buttigieg’s status as a key figure in disseminating Gramscian Marxism in the United States.
Rep. Jamie Raskin: Raskin’s father Marcus Raskin co‑founded the Institute for Policy Studies, a prominent left‑progressive think thank that advocated for redistribution of wealth and anti-capitalist policies during the Cold War and Vietnam eras. He called for the transformation of capitalism and U.S. global power through nonviolent revolution. Raskin supported many socialist-aligned global movements, particularly in Latin America, and advocated for the term “radical democracy” over “communism” to make communism more acceptable.
David Axelrod: The long-time Obama advisor’s radical political roots can be traced back to his mother, Myril Axelrod, who worked as a journalist for PM, a progressive communist New York City newspaper that operated from 1940 to 1948. PM was known for its explicitly pro-labor and staunchly leftist editorial stance. Axelrod became a key architect of Obama’s rise to power, helping to craft his US senate and presidential campaigns.
Zohran Mamdani: Zohran’s father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a Columbia University professor whose scholarship revolves around Marxist and anti-colonial theory. Mamdani has praised Frantz Fanon’s theories of decolonization, racial identity, and revolutionary violence. His analysis of state power, violence, and identity politics follows a historical materialist approach – an intellectual offshoot of Marxism. Mamdani’s book, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, which he dedicated to Zohran, critiques the “war on terror” as a racialized, imperialist project. The book is described as “a brilliant look at the rise of political Islam”. Active in Pan-African and Third World solidarity movements, Mamdani has offered sympathetic critiques of leftist regimes in Africa.
Children of radical leftist parents – the “Red Diaper Babies” – are typically raised in households where anti-capitalism, anti-Americanism, and class struggle are not only discussed but revered as moral imperatives.
Ideological conformity in these homes is often non-negotiable, and deviation can result in emotional withdrawal of affection by parents. As a result, “Red Diaper Baby” children may internalize the idea that parental love and approval depend on radical political ideology and loyalty to Marxist ideas.
As adults, history shows that many “Red Diaper Babies” feel compelled to continue their parent’s ideological mission, becoming progressive leaders, academics, or activists.
Some are driven by the need to earn validation from their radical parents, while others may be driven by guilt over abandoning the cause. In both cases, the psychological impact of growing up under radical ideological pressures stifles any independent thought.
Today, the influence of “Red Diaper Baby” legacies is an unmistakably presence in the Democratic Party’s most visible figures, and continues to expand with Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy for mayor of New York City.
Joel Gilbert is a Los Angeles-based film producer and president of Highway 61 Entertainment. He is the producer of the new film Roseanne Barr Is America. He is also the producer of the films: Dreams from My Real Father and There’s No Place Like Utopia and many other films. Gilbert is on Twitter: @JoelSGilbert.
The post Born to Revolution: The “Red Diaper Baby” Roots of Zohran Mamdani and Today’s Leading Democrats appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.