Honestly feel this way. He died not too long after the Bernie 2020 campaign ended and when Covid was still in full swing.
Honestly in a way he was lucky because he didn't get to see all the fucking bullshit that came later (e.g. Biden, "the pandemic is over jack!", Gaza, etc.).
But his death kind of symbolized the start of the "blackpill" era for lack of a better term.
there was no leftism in the US for my entire life, before 2016 any critiques of capitalism would be met either with anger or blank stares. it was an incredibly fringe position to be a socialist. there's still no organized left but anti-capitalist rhetoric is infinitely more common among young people today than it was when I was growing up. so I wouldn't say the left has died, I'd say it's struggling to be born