He purchased four books at the booth for Pathfinder Distribution, London. One was The History of the Russian Revolution, by Bolshevik revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky. The others were Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium, by Jack Barnes, and two titles by Karl Marx, Capital and The Poverty of Philosophy.

The young man explained that some people have told him the Soviet Union fell apart in the 1990s because "Marxism doesn't work." He wasn't convinced and wanted to investigate for himself.

Interest in studying the experience of workers and farmers in revolutions around the world characterized many visitors to the Pathfinder booth at this year's fair. The top seller during the May 3–13 fair was Che Guevara Talks to Young People, a new collection of speeches by the Argentine-born leader of the Cuban revolution. Visitors to the booth purchased 18 copies of the book. Some youth literally rushed into the booth when they saw this book.

In all, the international sales team staffing the London distributorship's stand sold 236 copies of 84 different titles. Pathfinder's second-best seller was Capitalism's World Disorder, with 17 copies purchased.

Feminism and the Marxist Movement by Mary-Alice Waters, The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Problems of Women's Liberation by Evelyn Reed, Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It by Trotsky, and Malcolm X Talks to Young People were also high on the list.  
 
Marx, women's rights titles popular
As in previous years the most popular authors were Marx and Engels--35 books by these founders of the modern communist movement were sold. Participants in the book fair also purchased nine books related to the Russian revolution. The most popular single subject category was literature on women's rights, closely followed by books by leaders of the Cuban revolution.

A woman read from the back cover of Problems of Women's Liberation that the author "explores the economic and social roots of women's oppression from prehistoric society to modern capitalism."

"This is exactly what I want!" she said.

Pathfinder's new title Making History: Interviews with Four Generals of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces attracted the attention particularly of several young airmen who passed by the booth. They were especially interested in the interview with Div. Gen. Enrique Carreras, founder of Cuba's revolutionary air force. An older man who picked up the book noted that the fact that these generals have been leaders of the Cuban revolution for four decades dispels the myth "that Fidel's the only one."

Three sets of the five-volume How the Revolution Armed were purchased. The collection includes detailed writings by Leon Trotsky as the head of the Soviet Red Army on its role in aiding workers and peasants in northern Iran to resist the troops of Britain and the shah in the early part of the 20th century. "This is priceless," commented a librarian from one government institution.

A high school student stopped at the booth after seeing books by Malcolm X and said, "The three people I look up to are Malcolm X, Che Guevara, and Fidel Castro." He convinced his older sister to buy him Malcolm X Talks to Young People. Later in the week the sister returned to buy her own copy.

A university student asked to see the Malcolm X titles and said he was only interested in works by Muslims. He was pleasantly surprised, however, when a Pathfinder sales representative suggested he also read a passage from Capitalism's World Disorder that quotes the "Appeal to All Toiling Muslims of Russia and the East" issued by the Soviet republic under V.I. Lenin's leadership in 1917.

Several Afghani immigrants visiting the fair spent time looking at the book To See the Dawn: Baku, 1920--First Congress of the Peoples of the East. They nodded their heads as they read sections of the congress proceedings that denounced British imperialist domination of their country and explained the fight for land by Afghani peasants.

Seven Pathfinder books that have been translated into Farsi, the official language in Iran, were on sale in the Farsi-language section of the fair. Visitors to the Pathfinder book stall purchased 300 such books, 92 of them copies of Socialism and Man in Cuba by Ernesto Che Guevara.

Sales of the other Farsi-language titles were 72 copies of How Far We Slaves Have Come!, by Nelson Mandela and Castro; 52 of Malcolm X Talks to Young People; 22 of Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara; 36 of A Sea Change in Working-Class Politics; 22 of Imperialism's March Toward Fascism and War; and 4 of Opening Guns of World War III, these last three titles by Barnes.

The Tehran International Book Fair started 13 years ago, a product of the 1979 Iranian revolution, which opened the doors for working people to education. Over the years, the Iranian government has heavily subsidized books published abroad that are sold at the fair, making it possible for Iranians to buy them. It has also provided substantial budgets to high schools and universities to transport students from outlying areas to the fair and to place foreign-published books in campus libraries.

This year, the economic squeeze on Iran was evident at the fair in the sharply lower sales experienced by most publishers. Fewer people attended the fair, and many who did commented that it was a bigger financial burden to purchase books this year than in the past. Book fair authorities reported to a meeting of foreign publishers that while the government spent $10 million on the first book fair, this year only $6 million was allocated. The exchange rate of the Iranian rial to the U.S. dollar has shot up more than 100-fold in the same period of time.

More foreign publishing companies were present at this year's fair. For the first time in 10 years, several companies from Germany participated, and the French embassy sponsored a large booth on French culture. Most publishers from abroad, however, sent no representatives, hiring local Iranians to staff their booths.

Visitors remarked positively that Pathfinder was one of the few to send representatives from countries in the imperialist world. An Iranian television station broadcast an interview with Pathfinder London representative Tony Hunt, who was also interviewed by a student news agency.  
 
 
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