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So Van Deusen was in the Green Mountain Anarchist Collective. Here is what they said 15 years ago in their manifesto Neither Washington Nor Stowe:

"The future re-establishment of direct democracy in the Green Mountains will, in a large part, rely on the extension of the power of Town Meeting, though be it a power aimed at utilitarian ends – not economic chauvinism. But how will this be achieved? One thing is clear, the politicians in Montpelier will not simply hand it to us. Our only chance at winning will be through the coordination of a statewide movement, based in the towns, which seeks to extend our local authority with or without the approval of Montpelier. Imagine if you will a statewide effort to place a resolution on the majority of Town Meeting agendas which declared that:

"‘When and if fifty percent, plus one, towns/cities representing a majority of Vermonters pass any given resolution, all local revenue and cooperation will be withheld from the State government until such time as that resolution becomes the common practice of the land.’

"It will be through such an effort that we will begin to reclaim our democratic traditions that have been obscured through 200 years of capitalist centralization and upper class domination of the political system. In order for us to do this, we must begin to bring such self-empowering resolutions to our various Town Meetings."

Here is what Van Deusen's coalition within the Vermont AFL-CIO is saying now (in their program):

"We have seen the Democratic & Republican Parties time and again fail to sufficiently represent the interests of Organized Labor and working people generally in Montpelier (and in Washington DC). Even when they have done right by us, it often is years after Vermonters demanded action. We have also witnessed the disproportionate influence wielded by corporate lobbyists in the Statehouse. In short, even though working people constitute the great majority of Vermonters, our voice is often drowned out by big moneyed interests. We therefore propose a change in our Vermont Constitution whereby the people shall be empowered to circumvent the politicians in the Statehouse through a Town Meeting based referendum system."

Truth be told this is not so different. Here it is significant that 15 years after the Green Mountain Anarchist Collective (and their membership in NEFAC) it is not 10 or 20 anarchists calling for this, but instead credible union leaders representing 1000s of workers (from IBEW, AFSCME, UFCW, etc.). Seems Van Deusen has been building a political base in Vermont, under the radar, over the last decade and a half. Its hard for me not to be impressed. And even if we, as anarchists, often take issues with mainstream unions (and union leaders that seem to blindly follow the capitalist Democrats) it strikes me that something else is at work here. Perhaps, if they win, this can be a turning point in mass worker organizations; at least seeking to go somewhere that U.S. labor has not gone since the early days of the CIO.

I wish Van Deusen and his allies well. If I was a union member in Vermont, I would support them. But from a distance I will watch this, and I will be interested to see what happens, and what they are able to do, after they win.

Here is a link to the Green Mountain Anarchist Collective manifesto from back in the day (its worth a read):
http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/green-mountain-anarchist-collecti...