BY GREG McCARTAN
NEWARK, New JerseySocialists
who are members of the Oil, Chemical, and
Atomic Workers (OCAW) met here June 1-2. They decided to put two campaigns at
the center of their work over the coming
weeks: Organizing to defend the Cuban
revolution by building the U.S.-Cuba Youth
Exchange, and selling at least 48 Pathfmder
books a month on the job along with meeting
their goal of selling 35 subscriptions to
the Militant to co-workers.
"This will take a concentrated effort that
is carefully organized," said Jerry Freiwirth,
an OCAW member from Houston who presented
a report on these campaigns to the
meeting. "We have found over the last several months the space is there to sell revolutionary
literature on the job, discuss the
Cuban revolution, and increase the readership
of the Militant among members of our
union."
Communist workers will also lead their
branches in carrying out a battle plan to meet
the international goal of selling 1,100 subscriptions
to the Militant by June 16. This
effort, by getting out with literature tables,
selling door-to-door in working class communities,
participating in political events,
and keeping Pathfinder Bookstores open
more hours will also increase sales of books
and pamphlets distributed by Pathfmder.
With Pathfmder sales figures in for May,
socialists in Stockholm led the way by selling
123 percent of their goal of books sold through the Pathfinder Bookshops. Socialists
in New Zealand organized to meet 109
percent of their goal of selling 93 books.
Socialists in the OCAW discussed the
impact among coworkers of three members
of their union from Houston participating in
a delegation of workers from the United
States to the 17th congress of the Cuban
workers federation.
This work has widened possibilities for
distributing books on Cuba and other revolutionary
struggles to OCAW members,
Freiwirth explained. By building the July
youth brigade and responding to new assaults
by Washington, such as stepping up
enforcement of the economic embargo of
Cuba, socialists can find workers interested
in reading books such as To Speak the Truth,
which contain speeches by Fidel Castro and Emesto Che Guevara.
Freiwirth noted that after getting off
to a strong start earlier in the year, sales
of Pathfinder titles by socialists in the
OCAW to their co-workers had lagged,
and the subscription drive for the Militant
got off to a slow start. This is true
of the overall book and Militant sales
drive. "We need to organize to campaign like we did with Episodes of the
Cuban Revolutionary War: 1956-58,"
said Freiwirth, noting that some 50 copies of the book had been purchased by
co-workers earlier in the year."
Socialists discussed that events in
the Mideast, with the continued
struggle of the Palestinian people, the
Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, and
the recent elections in Israel can translate into sales of books and pamphlets
by Pathfinder along with the
Militant.
Unionists are also discussing what road the labor
movement should take in the
1996 elections. One manifestation is the June 6-9 founding convention of the "U.S.
Labor Party," a formation
backed by a wing of the
AFL-CIO officialdom. The
new formation does not represent a break from the framework of capitalist politics, but
aims primarily to reverse the
declining influence of the labor tops in the Democratic
Party.
Socialists can utilize a
range of literature to point to
how relying on organized
strength and mobilizations of
the vast majority, the labor
movement can break from
political subordination to the
parties of the wealthy minority and chart an independent
working-class political
course to fight for power.
The lessons of earlier attempts to take such a road
can be found in Teamster Rebellion and Revolutionary
Continuity by Farrell Dobbs;
Trade Unions in the Epoch
of Imperialist Decay with
writings by Leon Trotsky
and Karl Marx; the Transitional
Program for Socialist
Revolution by Trotsky;
and two Education for Socialist Bulletins, Independent
Black Political Action and The
National Black Independent Political Party.
Protests by workers in Europe for a shorter workweek in face of
growing unemployment make The
Action Program to Confront the
Coming Economic Crisis and New
International no. 10 especially
good weapons in socialists' political
arsenal. This is also true for
books and pamphlets by revolutionary
leaders Thomas Sankara and
Nelson Mandela in light of continued
turmoil in Africa.
In addition, the "cultural war," as
ultrarightist Patrick Buchanan has
dubbed it, continues to be at the center of political
debate in
bourgeois
politics.
Pathfinder
titles that
take up
these issues, such
as those on
women's
liberation
and defendin
abortion
rights, The
Changing Face of U.S. Politics:
Working Class
Politics
and the
Trade
Unions, and the Politics of Chicano Liberation,
which discuss the central place of
the fight for affirmative action in uniting the
working class.
Bob Bruce from Houston described a
good response from people attending a June
1 AFL-CIO sponsored event, "America
Needs a Raise." Some 300 people attended
the program. After the meeting, workers purchased
Teamster Rebellion, Mother Jones Speaks, The Eastern Airlines Strike; and
Eugene V. Debs Speaks. One person bought
a subscription to the Militant.
In Atlanta, unionists bought seven subscriptions
and 11 single copies of the Militant
at a regional conference of the Union of
Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Workers
Employees (UNITE). Seven books and
pamphlets were sold as well, reports UNITE
member Arlene Rubinstein, with the most
popular title being the Action Program.
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