"We were very well received," said Fowler. Fifty-six workers bought copies of the Militant. Several team members had traveled many miles to bring solidarity to the Continental General Tire picket lines on many occasions over the year of the strike. "Maybe 10," said Fowler when asked how many times socialist workers from Atlanta have made the trip. They have sold "around 14 introductory subscriptions to the Militant" over the last 12 months.

"Four workers have renewed their subscriptions," said Fowler. One who took out a six-month subscription was "a member of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) at Eastern airlines who struck for 686 days in 1989-91." Earlier this year he had bought a copy of the Pathfinder book The Eastern Airlines Strike by Ernie Mailhot and others. "Every month he goes to a meeting of ex-Eastern strikers, and the book's been going hand-to-hand." This USWA member also bought a copy of New International no. 11 featuring "U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War."

Another worker who is Native American has taken out a year's subscription to the Militant, and already owns Capitalism's World Disorder. Several members of his family are farmers.

"Outside the meeting we sold the one copy of Capitalism's World Disorder to a striker I had met on the parade on the 3,000-strong Labor Day parade in Charlotte," Fowler continued. "We ended up talking not so much about the strike as about the September 10 ruling by a federal judge to end busing in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district. All his kids grew up in the Charlotte school system and benefited from busing. Under this desegregation measure, a lot of kids who were Black were bused from the city to the suburbs, and students from white families went the other way. Without busing, the city schools will be overcrowded, and there will be empty classrooms in the suburbs.

"This guy is attuned to the Militant's view that we should defend affirmative action measures, and he was very interested in Capitalism's World Disorder. "

Many store owners who cater to a working-class clientele appreciate meeting face to face socialists selling Pathfinder books.

This was underlined in the story reported by Andy Buchanan, a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) Local 1733 in Paterson, New Jersey. Along with Elena Tate from the New York Young Socialists, Buchanan traveled to Eastern Pennsylvania September 19-20. "We visited a bookstore in the town of Jim Thorpe, tucked away in the mountains in the southeastern corner of the coalfields. We came on the store by accident," said Buchanan in a note to the Militant.

"The owner told us that he had just decided to build up the bookstore part of his business, particularly with titles on the coalfield and its history. He took one look at the newly-reprinted pamphlet Coal Miners on Strike about the 1977 coal strike (see ad on page 11), and ordered five copies. We showed him Capitalism's World Disorder and drew his attention to the picture of the Jeddo miners strike last year. The Jeddo mine is about 15 miles north of Jim Thorpe. We got into quite a discussion about the idea that a sea-change in working-class politics is already behind us and what that means for the possibilities of selling books to workers.

"We told him that we were getting out to small towns and to stores like his because there is a demand from workers for the ideas in Pathfinder books. Just that morning, we told him, we had been talking on the picket line to steelworkers on strike against ZCA in nearby Palmerton, and they had given us some leads on other stores to visit. He ordered two copies of Capitalism's World Disorder. The store owner was clearly impressed by this approach to selling books. He told us 'You've got all these 1-800 numbers and web-sites, but I'll give my business to someone who visits and talks to me any day.'

"He ended up paying up front for an order of nearly $250, including several books on women's liberation and labor history, and five copies of the pamphlet Genocide Against the Indians by George Novack. We were able to leave the two copies of Capitalism's World Disorder with him when we left."

Over the next couple of weeks the Militant will carry reports from teams in the Western coalfields, Southern Georgia and Tidewater, Virginia areas. Other reports of promotion and placement of Capitalism's World Disorder are welcome.  
 
 
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