BY LINDA JOYCE
MEXICO CITY - As the U.S. government was going through the annual process of "certifying" Mexico in the so-called "war on drugs," supporters of Pathfinder Press were participating in the 18th annual Mexico City book fair February 22 - March 2.

Many workers and young people did a double take and then were delighted when they saw workers and youth from the United States offering revolutionary books for sale. Others were not surprised, and came to the book fair precisely to find Pathfinder books. "I came last year, and also in `95, and I bought the Communist Manifesto," explained 16-year-old Marco Lara, a high school student in Mexico City, as he looked through the books at the Pathfinder Press booth at the International Book Fair. His latest selections were Pathfinder's Spanish-language editions of Malcolm X Speaks and Abortion Is a Woman's Right.

Other young people met Pathfinder representatives from 10 U.S. cities and Mexico at several of the local universities during the week of the book fair; speaking in classrooms, displaying books on campus tables, and visiting libraries.

The book fair, held in the Ministry of Mining, was packed with people every day. More than 100,000 workers, students and book professionals came to visit the booths set up by several hundred book distributors, publishers, and bookstores. Cuban distributors had a large room for their literature. Pathfinder representatives had hours of discussions, some of which continued into the night after the book fair closed at 9 p.m. Many signed up to be involved in a group of young people who are meeting to read and discuss the ideas in the revolutionary books they are buying each year from Pathfinder.

Alonso García, 20, said that he had visited Cuba and was very interested in Pathfinder's books on the Cuban revolution. He said, "Cuba and Mexico have a common history, a common account of tragedies. Cuba is the only country that has broken from its colonial past. I admire Cuba because within its own limitations it has generated its own social, political and economic theory. Other countries fall, but Cuba hasn't."

García and his friend Darío Tzihuari, bought the Spanish-language issue of New International magazine focused on "Che Guevara, Cuba and the Road to Socialism," as well as Peru's Shining Path, Evolution of a Stalinist Sect, in Spanish. Like many people here, they commented that the "certification" of Mexico was hypocritical on the part of the U.S.- the biggest consumer of drugs in the world.

Pathfinder representatives also took the books out to plant gates, picket lines, and sit-ins. At the Chrysler Mexico truck assembly plant, Pathfinder representatives had been asked to leave the plant earlier in the week by two unfriendly union officials. Before this happened, several workers had indicated they wanted to buy books, and said to come back on pay day.

So on Friday three Pathfinder representatives set up a display of books near the bus stop on the main street in front of the plant. Dozens of workers from the Chrysler plant of 3,000 and the nearby Modelo brewery of 6,000, stopped to talk and buy books. Many said the books really caught their eye. One was upset at the treatment the team had received earlier in the week.

After three hours in a mid-afternoon sun, the team had sold 157 pesos (about $20) worth of literature, including a copy of Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War, by Ernesto Che Guevara, in English. This time, the company sent out a photographer, an executive, and some menacing goons to harass the team, which was packing up to leave anyway.

On their way back to the fair, they stopped to talk to garment workers on strike at London Suits, a few blocks from the assembly plant. For two years workers have been guarding the plant so the owner could not remove the machinery. They explained that the government shut the plant down when the boss refused to pay the various taxes he owed and had taken out of their paychecks for over eight years. Some of the women had worked for minimum wage for over 40 years.

"He used to tell us what a family we were!" scoffed Josefina Machuca. "We went to see [President Ernesto] Zedillo, but were sent to all kind of government agencies that did nothing. Our union, the CTM, did nothing. But we have to fight, join up with other workers and shout!"

A highlight of the week was the special reception that Pathfinder Press held in a large meeting hall at the book fair site March 1. Ruth Nebbia, a rail worker from New York, talked about the importance of the newest Pathfinder Press releases in Spanish: The Second Declaration of Havana and Lenin's Final Fight, 1922-23. More than 120 people filled every available space in the room to join in the discussion.

Carlos Ribero, 20, a worker in a radiator plant, said, "I've been coming here for the last three years. We need to do something out of this forum."

Altogether, sales of Pathfinder literature totaled more than $1,700. The top seller was Malcolm X Speaks. Fifty people bought the book in Spanish, and everything by Malcolm X in English and Spanish sold out. Twenty-seven copies of The Second Declaration of Havana were sold, even though the shipment of the just-released pamphlet did not arrive in Mexico City until the last weekend of the fair. Twenty-three copies of The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara were sold, and other titles on the Cuban revolution were popular. Three people bought full sets of the Spanish-language edition of the Marxist theoretical magazine New International.

Linda Joyce is a member of United Auto Workers Local 882 in Atlanta. Craig Honts, a member of United Transportation Union Local 1-674 in Los Angeles, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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