The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.39           November 2, 1998 
 
 
Sell The `Militant,' Build YS Convention!: Letter to our readers on two-week campaign to meet subscription goals  
Dear Reader,

With about two weeks to go in the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial subscription drive, a change of course is needed to get on a real campaign to reach our goals of selling 1,300 Militant and 400 PM subscriptions, together with 1,300 copies of the Marxist magazine New International. The main challenge is meeting the Militant subscription goal. As the chart on page 5 indicates, we need to sell another 663 Militant subscriptions by the November 8 deadline. This is possible if a concerted drive is organized every single day for the next 15 days, involving every single supporter of the Militant - members of the Socialist Workers Party, communist leagues, and Young Socialists; friends of the communist movement; and other readers.

This two-week special sales effort fits well with campaigning for Socialist Workers candidates through the November 3 elections in the United States and engaging in other political activities that can convince young people to join the Young Socialists and come to the YS convention in Los Angeles in December (see ad on this page).

As every page of news reports in the Militant underscores, there are more than enough political opportunities in the class struggle to do this -from the protests across the United States against the murder of Matthew Shepard, to the stepped-up immigrant rights actions, demonstrations against police brutality, actions by Black farmers fighting discrimination, high school walkouts in defense of affirmative action, and activities leading up to the December 10 events to demand freedom for the 15 Puerto Rican political prisoners. Defensive labor struggles show no signs of abating, from the Kaiser Aluminum strike to the latest union-organizing fight by McDonald's workers in Virginia.

By getting involved in these political activities, Militant supporters will meet young people attracted to the fighting capacity of the working class and to making a socialist revolution. In the course of working with them, each of these youth should be invited to the YS convention.

As depression conditions spread throughout the world capitalist system and struggles heat up, it becomes increasingly apparent to many more people that there are two forces in society who know that the question of power will be settled in the streets - the vanguard of the working class and the ultraright. Class polarization and rightist forces are growing in every imperialist country today. They are fed by the politics of resentment and by attempts by liberal politicians to narrow democratic rights, as in the case of Matthew Shepard. And they are increasingly organizing thug assaults in the streets.

There's nothing the working class and its vanguard can do to prevent the capitalist system from entering a depression, but what vanguard workers do to prepare for the coming battles will be decisive in whether fascist forces can triumph over the working-class fight for socialism in the coming years.

Winning new subscribers to the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial and building the YS convention is part of this preparation.

As the article on page 5 shows, regional sales teams so far have done well in reaching industrial and farm workers, but have often missed the opportunity to get out to campuses as well. The final two weeks of the subscription campaign can be used effectively to meet not only young workers and farmers but students on campus, begin doing political work alongside them, and in this way convince them to go to the December YS convention in Los Angeles.

Meetings of the SWP's fractions in six industrial unions are holding national meetings over the October 24-25 weekend. They will discuss and organize to carry out the special two-week sales effort. And Militant supporters in each city will map a day-to-day battle plan to meet the goals of the subscription drive before this weekend.

We urge every reader to join in this effort. You can do so by contacting the numbers listed on page 12.

Naomi Craine

`Militant' Editor

 
 
 
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