BY DAVID BERG
NEWARK, New Jersey - The $110,000 Militant Fund follows a strong tradition in revolutionary movements around the world. In every case, workers and farmers have been the backbone of raising money for the revolutionary press.

In the struggle in which working people overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship in Cuba, for example, the July 26 Movement raised funds to print and distribute thousands of copies of Fidel Castro's History Will Absolve Me while he and other revolutionaries were in prison in 1954.

In his book Time Was on Our Side, Cuban historian Mario Mencía quotes an account by July 26 Movement member José Valmaña, head of the fund-raising effort for this revolutionary manifesto. "Centavo by centavo and peso by peso, hundreds of pesos are being collected to print the pamphlet," Valmaña wrote at the time. Mencía notes that "after exhausting and often risky efforts, it became clear that the funds, meticulously controlled by Treasurer Valmaña, were insufficient to pay for 100,000 copies, as Fidel had suggested, or even a much more modest run."

Mencía adds, "they then resorted to the popular device of holding a raffle - for two TV sets. Numbered tickets were printed up and sold for a peso each, but the buyers were told that there weren't any prizes this time, for the money was to be used in the drive against the tyranny. Since the amount involved was small, the `non-raffle' proved attractive, and it may be said that the first edition of History Will Absolve Me was financed chiefly by anonymous people with very little means." The Cuban revolutionaries collected 2,000 pesos that allowed them to do an initial printing of 27,500 copies.

Today, supporters of the Militant are using similar means to finance the socialist press - from raffles and fund- raising meetings to appeals to co-workers on the job. Contributions range from $1,000 to a few dollars. Enthusiastic about the Militant's firsthand coverage of the explosive developments in Kosovo and elsewhere in the Balkans, for instance, a garment worker in Philadelphia recently gave $5 for a copy of the paper telling Militant supporters to keep the change as a contribution.

A sign of the potential to raise funds is the fact that hundreds of industrial workers engaged in union struggles in several parts of North America have purchased the Militant as they put up resistance to the bosses' attacks - from auto workers in Iowa and paperworkers in British Columbia to workers at Caterpillar and Case Corp. in central Illinois.

This bubbling resistance and increased opportunities to win workers and youth to the communist movement were major themes at the socialist conference and second session of the Communist League convention, held in Toronto April 11-12. Participants at the gathering, which included Militant supporters from the United States, gave more than $2,000 to the fund and pledged an additional $2,000.

At the midpoint of the eight-week international Militant Fund, $32,650 has been received - but we should be at $55,000. As the chart on this page indicates, Militant supporters now have to take special steps and devote detailed attention to raise the $110,000 in full and on time.

Contributions can be made out to the Militant Fund, and sent to 410 West Street, New York, New York, 10014.  
 
 
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