The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.19           May 17, 1999 
 
 
`I Want That Book!' Says Amtrak Worker  

BY FRANK FORRESTAL
PITTSBURGH - "I sold a copy of The Militant to a co-worker at Amtrak who took a copy of Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-class Politics at the Millennium to look through. He showed the paper and the book to another worker, a block operator who is from Grenada and went to college in Cuba," reports Ellie García from Newark. "When I ran into him later, he told me the two of them read the Militant together, and the other worker still had his paper.

"When I was finally introduced to the block operator, the first thing he said was `I want that book!' I pulled a copy out of my workbag and he bought it on the spot. We exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet again outside of work."

Seth Galinsky, also from Newark, invited a Teamster union member over for dinner who he met while walking the picket line of a recently ended strike against the Hertz car rental company. The evening ended with the Teamster putting a down- payment on a copy of Capitalism's World Disorder and a Pathfinder Readers Club membership. The two workers also made plans to join a solidarity rally for shipyard strikers in Newport News, Virginia.

Socialist workers in Pittsburgh have also stepped up their efforts to sell Capitalism's World Disorder, part of an international campaign. A team drove out to the University of Pennsylvania at Edinboro to set up a table in the Student Union. Two people came by, a man and a woman, who were very excited to see the Pathfinder book table. They said, "We can't find books like this around here. We need to add these to our library." They bought a subscription to the Militant newspaper, a copy of Capitalism's World Disorder, and joined the Pathfinder Readers Club. When all was said and done, they purchased $180 worth of books, including five different issues of the Marxist magazine New International.

*****
BY MAURICE WILLIAMS

Together with the campaign to sell 1,500 copies of Capitalism's World Disorder by June 14, socialist workers and young socialists launched a drive on May Day to sell introductory subscriptions to the Militant and its Spanish- language sister magazine Perspectiva Mundial, as well as copies of New International. The results of the first week of the eight-week campaign will appear in the next issue.

From Stockholm, Sweden, Anita Ostling reports, "We had a May Day mobilization here where we sold 51 copies of the Militant - in fact we sold out. We campaigned against the imperialist intervention in Yugoslavia and in favor of Kosova's independence. We also sold two Militant subscriptions, two Perspectiva Mundial subscriptions, and three copies of New International. Tomorrow [May 4] we will have a street meeting as part of the Communist League's election campaign for the European Parliament, where our candidates will speak through loudspeakers in the city center. On May 6 there is a rally outside parliament organized by the broad left to protest the bombings of Yugoslavia. There are no demands for Kosova's independence, though. We will bring the banner we raised in the May Day demonstration: `Stop the bombings, NATO out of the Balkans, For Kosova's independence, Open the borders!' On May 8 we are planning a forum where Catharina Tirsén will speak having just returned from the Militant reporting team in the Balkans."

The Militant encourages its supporters to send in stories about their sales, and photos too. Remember, the deadline for sending in subscriptions and sales reports is noon each Tuesday.

*****
BY SALM KOLIS

PITTSBURGH - A co-worker in the steel mill where I work, Joyce, got a copy of the Militant newspaper, and I encouraged her to read about the striking shipyard workers in Newport News Virginia. A couple days later, when I ran into her she said, "I read the speech by Fidel Castro about fighting racism. We need leaders like that here!" So I decided to follow-up with a discussion about Capitalism's World Disorder. I gave her a copy to take home and look through over her days off, which she did.

"I took your advice," said Joyce, "and looked through the index. What caught my eye was the section in `What the 1992 Elections Revealed' on `Assault on the value of labor power.' What it explains about the economic insecurity of capitalism is just what we see here at LTV." What finally cinched the sale was a discussion of the campaign to sell the 1,500 copies of the book and the special sale price of $20.

 
 
 
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