In order to keep each book in print with as little labor as possible, and to be able to respond to political opportunities in a timely fashion, Pathfinder has adopted state-of-the-art technology that allows a publisher to create inexpensive printing plates quickly. However, the books need first be in electronic form.

The Pathfinder Reprint Project is a concerted effort by 100 individuals in eight countries contributing their voluntary labor to convert all of Pathfinder's titles to electronic form.

This complicated and time-consuming task is being sustained through the political understanding and consciousness of the volunteers—an awareness buoyed by the knowledge that the brewing capitalist crisis will generate working-class resistance. The fighters for that resistance will be able to find ideas and solutions for their struggles in Pathfinder's books.

Our goal is to have all of the books and pamphlets scanned into computers and ready for proofreading by January 2000. From February 1998 to November 1999, 203 books and pamphlets were scanned. Some books were already in digital form. Pathfinder also prints a series of Education for Socialists bulletins which will be scanned during the year 2000.

There are only 18 books and one pamphlet to go to meet the January 1 target. A team of 12 volunteers is completing the job.

While the end is in sight, it is still a challenge to work on so many books in one month. The biggest difficulty is that four titles in French, the Nouvelle International series—translations of the Marxist magazine New International—need to be scanned. Only two of the scanning volunteers are French speakers.

In November the Reprint Project developed a series of posters to be used in bookstores and bookfairs. Greg Sack, who works on creating digital covers and graphics for books, designed three posters in English and three in Spanish that illustrate Pathfinder's reason for existence: to publish the speeches and writings—in their own words—of revolutionary and working-class leaders and to get these into the hands of fighting workers, farmers, and youth. The Spanish poster series is being used at the international book fair in Guadalajara, Mexico (see article above).

The project faces two other challenges in its campaign to convert books to electronic form. One is that it needs more people who can proofread in Spanish.

There are three out-of-print books—Revolución traicionada (The Revolution Betrayed) by Leon Trotsky, Socialismo y el hombre en Cuba (Socialism and Man in Cuba) by Ernesto Che Guevara, and El ascenso y el ocaso de la revolución nicaragüense (The rise and fall of the Nicaraguan revolution), in Nueva Internacional—that Pathfinder wants to have available by the Havana bookfair in February 2000. If more people who can proofread in Spanish volunteer in December, these books can be reprinted.

Another challenge is the creation of indexes for newly formatted books. In many cases the page numbering differs from the old edition, making this a time-consuming task. Although we have found ways to streamline this work—and 16 people are working on it—more people volunteering will speed up the process.

Anyone wishing to join in the effort to keep the lessons of the modern working class movement in print, please contact Ruth Cheney at ruthchen@flash.net.

Tom Tomasko is a member of the steering committee of the Reprint Project. Warren Simons is the organizer of the scanning team.  
 
 
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