BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
As armed working people deepened their control over the southern third of Albania, and rebels in Zaire accelerated their march to uproot the dictatorship there, supporters of the Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, and New International launched a seven-week drive March 8 to win new readers to the socialist press. In some areas, they were joined by recent subscribers who helped organize house meetings, went door-to-door in working-class communities, and set up literature tables. Supporters of the socialist press have taken a goal of selling 1,400 Militant subscriptions, 450 subscriptions to its Spanish-language sister magazine Perspectiva Mundial, and 600 copies of the Marxist magazine New International by April 26.

"We got help kicking off the sales drive from immigrant workers involved in a fight for a union contract at Case Farms, a poultry processing plant in Morganton, North Carolina," wrote Lisa Potash, a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees in Greensboro. "We called an activist in that fight who subscribed to the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial during the last drive and he agreed to join a team to sell in the Morganton area.

"When we arrived, he introduced us to a Mexican neighbor who now does construction work in the area. The neighbor bought a subscription to Perspectiva Mundial, and wanted to know what we thought were the reasons underlying the changes taking place in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Potash said they went to another household of two young immigrant workers from Mexico who are among a core of workers involved in fighting for a contract at the Case Farms plant. "I saw this paper in Washington, D.C., at the [immigrant rights] demonstration October 12," one worker remarked when they showed him Perspectiva Mundial. Both of the activists bought six-month subscriptions to Perspectiva Mundial.

"After an hour long discussion they decided to buy a copy of Nueva Internacional no. 3 to read more about the successes and shortcomings of the leadership of the Nicaraguan revolution," Potash stated. Potash said they sold another book, Wall Street enjuicia al socialismo (Socialism on trial), to the subscriber who originally invited them out.

Mary Nell Bockman, a airline ramp worker at USAir in Boston, told the Militant, "We found great sales opportunities when the student occupation broke out on the University of Massachusetts college campus at Amherst." Participants in the protest there bought two Militant subscriptions and two copies of the Marxist magazine New International.

"We also sold 20 single issues of the paper and 15 Pathfinder titles, including The Politics of Chicano Liberation, Feminism and the Marxist Movement, February 1965: The Final Speeches by Malcolm X, and Malcolm X Talks to Young People. Members of the Young Socialists and Socialist Workers Party set up a meeting there to discuss the fight for affirmative action and other political questions," said Bockman. "We are organizing a meeting for Young Socialist leader Patricia O'Beirne, who has been touring the country to build the YS convention in Atlanta scheduled for March 28-30."

Tony Kin, a YS member in Atlanta, said in a phone interview, "I joined a sales team in Athens, Georgia, where we set up a literature table on March 8 at the University of Georgia to build the Young Socialist convention. We sold two copies of the Militant and several pamphlets including Abortion Is a Woman's Right and Palestine and the Arabs' Fight for Liberation." Kin said he joined the YS last September and has worked at an auto parts plant for the last five weeks.

"We sold seven Militant subscriptions, eight subscriptions to Perspectiva Mundial, and three copies of New International during the first days of the sales drive," said rail worker Vanessa Knapton in Los Angeles. "One-third of our subscription sales were to co-workers, including two to members of the International Association of Machinists and one to a worker at the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad where I work." Knapton said Militant supporters who work at Hollander Home Fashions sold two subscriptions to their co-workers during the March 9 immigrants rights demonstration.

"One young subscriber joined us on sales teams the whole weekend," said Newark YS member David Berg. "She had previously bought The Changing Face of U.S. Politics - Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions. By the end of the weekend she bought Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War, 1956-58 by Che Guevara." Berg said she expressed interest in attending the YS convention and participated in a class sponsored by the Young Socialists and the Socialist Workers Party.

As the subscription campaign picks up steam, supporters are reminded that selling single issues of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial can lead to new subscribers. Airline worker Emily Fitzsimmons from Seattle wrote, "In the third week of February we sold some 50 copies of the Militant to striking musicians, including one six-month subscription renewal."

The Militant encourages readers to send in stories and photos of sales activities. Next week the Militant will print the results of the first week of the subscription drive.  
 
 
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