The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.32           September 20, 1999 
 
 
Pathfinder Reprint Project Volunteers Make Strides Forward  

BY TOM TOMASKO
OAKLAND, California - The effort to keep all of Pathfinder Press's books and pamphlets in print took some strides forward at the recent Active Workers Conference in Oberlin, Ohio, August 5-8. Thirteen more supporters of the communist movement volunteered to work on the project.

Pathfinder installed an Agfa Gallileo computer-to-plate machine last year that can create printing plates rapidly from a computer file, with less labor and skill than earlier prepress methods. To use this equipment, a book or pamphlet must be in a digital form. However, the majority of Pathfinder's titles only exist on the paper they are printed on. About 110 volunteers in seven countries are involved in a complex and detailed effort to turn the printed books into digital ones.

This reporter participated in the rolling panels that covered the sweep of union, farm, and other struggles that conference participants are involved in, and efforts to produce and distribute the Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, and Pathfinder's books and discuss their ideas. "We have a sense of renewal, a reinvigoration that will help us when we are staring at computer screens for hours on end," said this reporter during a summary of the conference at the Saturday night rally. "We have heard stories here of workers who first came in contact with these revolutionary books on a picket line and now are here today. Whether you are a person who has received a book on a picket line or a campus literature table or the person who brought the book there, you know that the ideas contained in them can change the course of a person's life, show them a different future than they had imagined for themselves. What more motivation do you need to be involved in a campaign to keep these books in print?"

The Reprint Project also put itself on a firm financial foundation during the course of the conference. The project is self-financing. Each person involved is responsible for his or her own computer, software, Internet access and other expenses. Collectively the project also needs to pay for graphical work for book covers and inside photos. There are also costs incurred for using an Internet database where volunteers both receive new work and post finished work. The project needs $1,000 a month in small contributions from those who work on the project. At the beginning of the conference $675 a month was pledged. By the end the goal was surpassed, with pledges totaling $1,077 a month.

On Sunday, August 8, 66 project volunteers held four workshops for those participating in scanning books, proofreading, formatting, and graphics. This was the first time many had met face-to-face to work on common problems.

Jerry Gardner, a member of the three-person steering committee of the project in San Francisco who organizes the formatting said, "A team of five experienced formatters was appointed to take responsibility, in turn, for the quality of each reprint - a big step toward achieving consistency in the quality standards of every book."

The scan workshop focused on finishing scanning all remaining books and pamphlets by January 1, 2000. There are about 50 books and a dozen pamphlets left that need to be put in digital form, ready to be proofread. "Once this is done," said Warren Simons, who heads up scanning, "the dozen of us can throw ourselves into other aspects of the project, thereby increasing the pace."

Currently, the project is getting 4-5 books a month ready for reprint and trying to reach a goal of 10 a month.

On September 1 the Reprint Project delivered to Pathfinder Press a compact disk with The History of the Russian Revolution by Leon Trotsky. A central leader of the communist movement in Russia, Trotsky describes the role of the Bolshevik party in leading the working class and peasantry to take political power in October 1917 and open the road to a worldwide struggle for socialism. Until now this important, 1,350-page book existed only on film and paper. Having a digital version will make the book easier, cheaper and quicker to reprint.

In August project volunteers also turned over to Pathfinder Democracy and Revolution by George Novack, Problems of Women's Liberation by Evelyn Reed, and Socialism and Man in Cuba by Ernesto Che Guevara. In September six titles are projected to be completed. So far 45 books and pamphlets have been converted to CDs.

In addition to getting ready for reprint the largest book in Pathfinder's arsenal, the project volunteers also made another conquest. They successfully organized a team of 18 people over seven weeks who worked to reproduce the index for such a huge book. A book prepared for reprint often is reformatted with different page numbers. Each time this happens an index with new page numbers has to be produced.

Based upon the experience with History, the project has assigned two people to organize teams of volunteers on an as- needed basis to tackle more indices, insure quality control and to organize the indexing months ahead of time.

The photos on this page show the process through which a book is converted to digital format.

If you wish to join in the effort to keep Pathfinder's titles in print, please contact Ruth Cheney, the chairperson of the project, by E-mail at ruthchen@flash.net.

Tom Tomasko is a member of the Reprint Project steering committee and of International Association of Machinists Local 1781.

 
 
 
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