BY NAOMI CRAINE
"We had our best week so far in the month of February, selling 75 copies of the Militant, eight copies of New International, 12 Perspectiva Mundials, and seven of the booklet Celebrating the Homecoming of Ernesto Che Guevara's Reinforcement Brigade to Cuba," writes Angel Lariscy from Miami. These were sold from tables in the Black community, other working-class neighborhoods, a couple of campuses, and at various political events. "Members of the International Association of Machinists at three workplaces sold seven Militants, three copies of Perspectiva Mundial, two copies of New International, and a Che booklet."

In fact, sales worldwide of the Militant last month were at their highest level in two years, reports the paper's business manager, Maurice Williams. "The last time bundles were so high was in March 1996, when Washington stepped up its threats against the Cuban revolution after the Cuban air force shot down two planes flown by right-wing provocateurs from Miami who invaded Cuban air space," he said.

To keep up the momentum of these sales, supporters of the socialist press are extending by two weeks the campaign to sell single copies of the Militant and its Spanish-language sister publication Perspectiva Mundial; issue no. 7 of New International, featuring "The Opening Guns of World War III: Washington's Assault on Iraq"; and Che Guevara's Reinforcement Brigade, a recently published collection of articles reprinted from the Militant. Socialist workers and youth have raised their goals for these publications accordingly.

The single-issue sales campaign will run through the first weekend of an eight-week campaign to sell new subscriptions to the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial, as well as copies of all the issues of the Marxist magazine New International. That sales drive will run from March 14 - May 10. Goals adopted by supporters in different cities and unions will be printed in the next issue.

From now until the end of the subscription drive, there will be a special offer on Celebrating the Homecoming of Ernesto Che Guevara's Reinforcement Brigade to Cuba and Pathfinder Press Was Born with the October Revolution, another new booklet published by the Militant. Anyone who buys a new subscription or renewal for the Militant or Perspectiva Mundial can get these pamphlets for $5 each, nearly half off the $8 cover price.

The stories below highlight some of the best sales at plant gates and on the job.

United Auto Workers (UAW) members at Case Corp. bought 26 copies of the issue of the Militant featuring coverage of the recent contract rejection by UAW workers at Caterpillar. A team of Militant supporters sold outside the plant gate for one hour at the company's Burlington, Iowa, factory March 3. Case is a major producer of agricultural and construction equipment.

Supporters of the Militant in Des Moines organized the sale after learning of contract talks now under way between Case and the UAW. The current agreement there, covering 3,300 workers at four plants in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, expires March 29. An outfit in Des Moines has been recruiting scabs in the event of a strike.

The plant gate team caught the attention of many workers with signs saying, "U.S. Hands Off Iraq and the Teamsters Union," and "Read About the UAW Contract Fight at Caterpillar in The Militant."

The unionists explained that a big issue in the negotiations is opposition to forced overtime at the Burlington facility. The company has imposed mandatory overtime at the other three plants. A two-tier wage scale is already in place. Workers reported that scab recruiting is going on in Burlington and Peoria, Illinois, as well.

After buying a copy of the Militant, one worker thanked the team "for coming down to get our side - we don't get much support from other newspapers."

The next evening seven workers at the Bridgestone-Firestone tire plant in Des Moines bought copies of the same issue of the Militant from a team outside that factory.

Ray Parsons is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 310 in Des Moines.

Members of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) have substantially increased sales on the job through our campaign against imperialism and its wars.

In New York socialists are regularly selling to workers at the garment manufacturer Lord West, both on the job and through a once-a-week team outside the plant. Wendy Lyons, a presser at the company, was a candidate for the Socialist Workers Party in 1997. During her campaign many co-workers saw her on a televised debate.

Lyons has sold six copies on the job of Celebrating the Homecoming of Ernesto Che Guevara's Reinforcement Brigade to Cuba. She says, "Some of the sales come from work over the past few months, discussing important developments in Cuba that have been in the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial. This discussion was a big part of why I have been consistently selling our press over the last few months - especially Perspectiva Mundial, since most workers read Spanish. I had also used the video of the interment ceremony for Che and his fellow combatants, where Cuban president Fidel Castro gives the speech that is reprinted in the reinforcement brigade booklet."

Lyons points out that sales are based on the fact that "the booklet gives you more information on the contributions and example of Che Guevara, but more importantly, you learn about the strength of the Cuban revolution today and the breadth of its leadership.

It shows that there is an alternative to the system that breeds war and fascism - that there is a course to take power out of the hands of the war makers. The people who are buying the booklet are also the ones arguing against the U.S. war drive in the big debate going on at work. What is being demonstrated by the developments in Cuba gives them more confidence."

Gale Shangold, who works at Hollander Home Fashion in Los Angeles, reports selling three copies of New International no. 7 on the job. "I was discussing the politics of the magazine with a co-worker, and a woman who had bought a copy earlier came over to join the discussion." She was reading the article by Mary Alice Waters, "1945: When U.S. Troops said `No!" which relates the hidden story of the GI revolt at the end of World War II, and explained how good it was, Shangold said. This helped convince the first worker to get a copy of the magazine. A regular sale at the plant gate by socialists who work in other industries, has also been effective in getting Perspectiva Mundial into the hands of union members at Hollander. Six of Shangold's co-workers have purchased copies of the paper from the team.

Juan Antonio Villanueva, a Young Socialist and a presser at Hart, Shaftner and Marx in Chicago, says he began stepping up sales on the job, "by putting the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial down on the lunch table where I eat. Workers would stop by, look at the paper, and get into discussions. Several purchased copies. I found that as Washington increased the war drive against Iraq, a number of workers started looking for an explanation of what was going on. Some who had said they weren't interested in politics before decided to get copies of the paper to see what we had to say."

Greg McCartan is a member of UNITE in Boston.

TORONTO - Last week 16 copies of Militant issue no. 9 were sold on the shop floor, during all three shifts, by supporters of the paper who work at the IAM-organized Ford Electronics plant. This was the week after the Iraq-UN agreement was announced. We expressed our opinion that there was no peace and that this is another step in the buildup for war against Iraq suggesting to co-workers that if they wanted to find out the roots of the confrontation between the Iraqi people and imperialism, they needed to read the article by Jonathan Silberman on the decades-long fight by the Iraqi people against imperialist domination. This convinced many to buy the issue.

John Steele is a member of the International Association of Machinists.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home