BY PAUL MAILHOT
After the first full week of the Militant Fund drive, supporters of the socialist press are nearly at the $17,000 mark, and many areas report plans to get on schedule next week. The 10-week effort began on September 23 and will end December 3. To be on target for this scoreboard, supporters in each city should have sent in 10 percent of their goal.
Because the Militant is a working-class newspaper, it cannot depend on the contributions of wealthy individuals or big advertisers to survive. Hundreds and hundreds of donations from workers, farmers, and youth make it possible to keep the paper coming out and presenting a working-class voice in politics.
While we are off to a good start, backers of the Militant should strive to keep up the momentum, keep on schedule, and even get ahead. The funds are needed now!
The staff of the Militant and its sister Spanish-language monthly publication Perspectiva Mundial are getting a lot of help from supporters in Brooklyn, New York, to organize the drive to raise over $125,000. Every week volunteers from Brooklyn take responsibility for entering payments on a computer and keeping track of our progress. A special team is on hand Tuesday evenings after 5:00 p.m. to make sure the payments that arrive by express mail to meet the weekly deadline are entered in time for publication in the Militant chart.
"Careful attention is paid to each individual contribution," said Nancy Rosenstock, an airline worker and member of the International Association of Machinists in Brooklyn who is coordinating the volunteer work. "Checking the name, address, pledge, and amount of every payment that comes in is a big job. But if it is done well we can really chart the progress we are making and where we need to step up our efforts."
Supporters of the Militant Fund in Brooklyn also put together information for the column that will accompany each week's scoreboard. The aim of the weekly column is to share ideas on how the drive is being organized in local areas - events that are being planned for the fund, what unionists and young people have to say about the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial, and plans for reaching out to new people to raise money.
To help local areas keep better track of the collection of pledges in their areas, the Brooklyn volunteers plan to send out periodic mailings to all fund coordinators with updated lists of contributors and payments, along with forms to facilitate sending in regular payments.
Many supporters are now planning for special Militant Fund rallies to boost financial support for the socialist press. In some cases national speakers will be available for these events, but supporters in local areas will want to draw primarily on worker correspondents in your region who have been reporting on developments in the class struggle for the Militant from Cuba, Japan, Mexico, and other countries, as well as from labor battles in the United States. Around the world, Militant supporters who have recently traveled to Ireland for sales and reporting, to India for a Cuba solidarity conference, to the Cuba Lives youth festival, and elsewhere are potential Militant Fund speakers.
Putting a program together that includes a talk on the big political developments that the Militant covers every week, along with short speeches by supporters of the paper, will be a big boost to our fund-raising efforts.
Just a reminder: All checks, made out to the "Militant Fund," should be received at the Militant Business Office no later than 5:00 p.m. on Tuesdays to be counted in the scoreboard. Inquiries about the fund and notes for upcoming Militant articles should be faxed to the Pathfinder Bookstore in Brooklyn at (718) 399-3492.