A historic referendum asked voters in Maine if they wanted to replace their privately owned utilities with a publicly owned one.

The measure, called Question 3, prompted heated debate in the months leading up to the election. Central Maine Power and Versant Power, the state’s dominant utilities, poured more than $40 million into a campaign opposing the referendum, outspending Pine Tree Power advocates 34 to 1. Political groups funded by the utilities and their parent companies mailed flyers and aired ads on TV, radio, and social media, urging Mainers to reject the measure, which would have effectively put the two companies out of business.

  • Preston Maness ☭@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    Damn. Even the union (and the AFL-CIO!) didn’t want their community to have their own power. Marx continues to be burdened by the weight of being right all the time:

    [Unions] fail partially from an injudicious use of their power. They fail generally from limiting themselves to a guerrilla war against the effects of the existing system, instead of simultaneously trying to change it, instead of using their organised forces as a lever for the final emancipation of the working class…