Bernie Sanders: The Working Classes' Candidate

Abstract

This thesis is the story of Bernie Sanders, the Socialist Mayor of Burlington and his campaign for Governor of Vermont in 1986. The campaign is used as a prism to explore his version of socialist politics and policies within a capitalist state. The policies which Sanders developed in this campaign for lowering property taxes for middle and lower income people, increasing social spending, increasing citizen participation and raising the taxes for wealthy people and corporations are examined in detail. Sanders claims that city governments can work for poor and working class people, however this thesis demonstrates the difficulties leftists have in getting elected and in implementing policies whenever they do win. In conclusion, I examine the questions about left participation in the electoral process, the autonomy of the state, and what socialist municipal and state policies should be.