The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.31           September 15, 1997 
 
 
New Pathfinder Distribution Center Opens Up In Toronto  

BY ROBERT SIMMS
TORONTO - At meetings in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, some 115 supporters of Pathfinder celebrated the opening of the Pathfinder Press Distribution center in Toronto, and the recent publications of new titles by Pathfinder. These include Pombo: A Man of Che's `Guerrilla,' by Harry Villegas, who fought with Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevera in Bolivia and is today a general in Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces, and El rostro cambiante de la política en Estados Unidos, the Spanish translation of The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working- Class Politics and the Trade Unions by Jack Barnes.

The Montreal celebration, held August 16, also hailed the fighting spirit of the Teamsters striking against UPS in the United States. The Toronto and Vancouver meetings, which took place on August 23, celebrated the Teamsters' victory against "Big Brown."

Speaking at the Montreal and Vancouver meetings, Pathfinder Press Distribution business manager John Steele explained the significance of the new distribution center.

"The example set by the UPS strikers is one of many set by workers who are resisting the assault by employers and their governments around the world on our rights and living standards as they drive to increase profit rates," Steele said. "The growing fightback by working people makes revolutionary working-class ideas, born out of more than 150 years of class struggle, more important and attractive as workers and young people look for scientific answers to what is happening to them.

"The books we are celebrating are based on the experiences of revolutionary workers and farmers in Cuba, Bolivia, and other Latin American countries over the past three and a half decades, and class conscious workers in the unions in the United States over the past 20 years. The books and pamphlets explain how working people can forge the leadership we need to carry out a life and death struggle against the horrors of depression, fascism, and war that world capitalism is bringing us. Workers need these weapons and the other titles produced by Pathfinder to become even better, more committed fighters."

In order to more effectively get books like these into the hands of those in struggle on the picket lines, the campuses, and in the countryside, Pathfinder Press, based in New York, has been reorganizing over the past couple of years to build a more efficient "pipeline" for the editing, production, and distribution of books to working people and youth all over the world.

"Setting up the distribution center in Toronto is another piece of this pipeline," said Steele.

Speaking in Toronto, Kathy Logan explained that for the past nine years, outside fulfillment companies have handled the warehousing and order fulfillment for Pathfinder books in Canada. "By taking day-to-day responsibility for the distribution and promotion of Pathfinder books across Canada, through the new distribution center," said Logan, "supporters of Pathfinder will be able to monitor more closely and give more priority to getting Pathfinder books on to the shelves of chains like the Chapters superstores, Coles, Smithbooks, university bookstores, libraries, and independent bookstores. Most working people buy books at stores like these," she noted.

The importance of this was illustrated at all three meetings by comments made by many of the panelists - some of whom had recently returned from a world youth festival held in Havana, Cuba. They spoke about the plethora of books being published and discussed today about Ernesto Che Guevara, as the 30th anniversary of his October 9 murder by the Bolivian army in collaboration with the U.S. government nears. Almost without exception, these books give a false view of the origin and reasons behind the struggle waged in Bolivia under Che's leadership during 1966 - 67, and the relevance of the lessons of this struggle for today. By placing books like the one by Harry Villegas on bookstore shelves, working people will have access to the facts.

"Because the distribution center will be staffed by volunteers who will do the job of filling orders, packing and shipping books, billing, invoicing, maintaining the inventory and financial books, the distribution costs will be cheaper," Logan continued. "The most important aspect of the decision to establish the distribution operation will be bringing the day-to-day work of distributing Pathfinder books more to the center of the work of building the communist movement."

At all three meetings participants were urged to give donations of $1,000 or more to a $10,000 fund for the start up costs of the distribution center. This will pay for the renovations of the warehouse in the basement of the Pathfinder bookstore in Toronto, which were carried out by volunteers from several cities over a period of five weeks, as well as office equipment and supplies. To date $8,000 has been pledged.

The distribution center, which officially opened August 18, has begun filling orders to Pathfinder and other bookstores across the country.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home