For these young socialists, it’s all about local control

Gustavo Gordillo is standing in a circle of democratic socialists at the Sixth Street Community Center in Manhattan’s East Village, preparing to take on ConEd. The electric utility giant has proposed a rate hike, and Mr. Gordillo is outlining a plan to canvas neighborhoods in Queens and urge residents to register their opposition.

ConEd’s CEO makes more than $8 million a year, he tells the group, and last year the company reported a net income of nearly $1.4 billion. A monopolistic corporation whose ostensible purpose is to provide power and heat to every home and business in New York City, it functions more like a tap on captive customers, he says, drawing out profits for shareholders.

He’s relatively new at this. A soft-spoken Yale grad, Mr. Gordillo always considered himself a socialist in a vague sort of way, but never thought it was a realistic path. But the shock of seeing Donald Trump elected president spurred him to become more politically

Consensus-based democracy“I think there should be some control”