BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
"We left Des Moines the morning of October 17 and drove a
660-mile trip to an area in southwestern Kansas called the
`Golden Triangle,' where five huge meatpacking plants are
located," report Joseph Feinberg and Amy Roberts. "The plants
are located in three cities employing 10,000 workers who are
predominantly Mexican."
Feinberg said they talked to packinghouse workers and an activist farmer during their trip as they sold 17 copies of the Militant and two subscriptions, and 14 copies of Perspectiva Mundial and one PM subscription. They also sold three Pathfinder titles, including the pamphlets Farmers Face the Crisis of the 1990s and The 1985-86 Hormel Meat-Packers Strike in Austin, Minnesota.
The two socialist workers report various struggles over the past few years have left some plants unionized and others nonunion. "We sold the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial at the Excel meatpacking plant, at National Beef in Dodge City, and at the IBP plant in Garden City," they wrote. "We also went door to door in working-class neighborhoods with the socialist press and spoke with people about the conditions in the plants."
"One worker told us, `The bosses want more every day. They're never happy. I think the supervisors get bonuses and they're trying to kill us.'"
Feinberg and Roberts also reported that they met with Linda Hessman, a farmer who is an executive board member of the Kansas Farmers Union. "There are 17,000 farmers in the state, most of them facing crisis conditions due to low wheat prices. United with workers, they would make up a powerful political force."
Jacquith said she set up a campaign table with Socialist Workers candidate for governor of Alabama Kristin Meriam at a fund-raiser at the University of Montevallo. "We had a big poster opposing imperialist intervention in Yugoslavia and one of the musicians announced our presence and urged people to stop by our table. Several students did, including two people who bought subscriptions to the Militant. One young man purchased a subscription and a copy of The Truth about Yugoslavia and another student expressed interest in joining the socialist candidates on a team to the picket line of United Auto Workers members at Peterbilt in Nashville, Tennessee."
Jacquith added that one socialist worker in the Steelworkers union sold a subscription to a fellow unionist after she spoke at her local union meeting about why the "anti-import" crusade promoted by the steel bosses is reactionary and against workers' interests.
John Staggs from Philadelphia said supporters there received a big boost during their target week, selling nine new Militant subscriptions. "We sold a sub to a refinery worker who attended a meeting of 700 people that featured Sein Fein president Gerry Adams from Ireland. We also sold 40 copies of the paper and New International no. 11 at the event." Staggs reported another team of Militant supporters sold a copy of NI no. 11 to a driver at a bus barn of the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) that had been a major picketing site during the June strike of the Transit Workers Union against SEPTA.
"The third unionist, who joins in the shop floor struggles we have sometimes, wasn't able to hear Codina that day. I am trying to get around to others who participated to see if anyone else is interested in buying a book, paper, or subscription after the brief exchange. It was a very serious question and answer period. Clearly, people want to learn more about Cuba and get a different point of view. At least where I work I'm finding that a lot of the younger-than-30 generation doesn't know much about Cuba and mainly have a lot of questions about the big-business, Spanish-language media."