Burlington, Vermont

When the voters of Burlington, Vermont, went to the polls on March 5, 1985, they overwhelmingly re-elected Mayor Bernard Sanders, an avowed socialist, for a third term. Both the Democrats and Republicans tried to field candidates and campaigns that would undercut Sanders, but most of their efforts backfired. "Sanders is just too popular," acknowledged one inside Democrat. That the Sanders administration has remained afloat and survived in spite of the macro restraints imposed on this small municipality has been, at times, like defying gravity. But recently, the very success of Sanders has raised questions about what the process of survival does to the nature of socialism. For example, does the process of survival within a capitalist system necessarily dilute the socialism? And further, what—besides repair potholes, plant trees, and publicly point out the endless contradictions of American foreign policy—can a socialist mayor do?This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website

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