Likewise, supporters in Western Colorado report that the amount pledged in their area has already gone beyond their expectations, and "we still have a number of co-workers in the mines, subscribers to the Militant, and readers of Pathfinder books in the region whom we need to approach for contributions."

As we enter the sixth week of the drive, $83,045 has been pledged by contributors toward the international target of $125,000 to be raised by December 15. Supporters are stepping up their efforts to reach out to workers and youth who rely on the books and pamphlets produced by Pathfinder Press as weapons to better arm themselves as they engage in struggles against the drive for profits and attacks on workers' rights by the bosses and their government.

One supporter in Charlotte gave the fund a boost with a $1,000 contribution. Following a long-standing tradition in the communist movement of contributing a portion of one's wages, socialist coal miners have pledged one week's pay towards the goal.

The fund will make it possible for Pathfinder to add a wealth of new books and pamphlets over the coming months to the more than 300 titles kept in print by the publisher.

Among the titles scheduled for release is a book-length interview with Víctor Dreke, a central commander of the early 1960s "cleanup" operation by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba against counterrevolutionary bands in the Escambray mountains. Dreke also served as second-in-command of the Cuban internationalist contingent in the Congo led by Ernesto Che Guevara.

Dreke describes the fight against dozens of small bands of counterrevolutionaries in the Escambray mountains--an important chapter of the Cuban Revolution in the early 1960s that is little known in the United States. Armed and financed by Washington, the bandits, as the counterrevolutionaries were popularly known, carried out sabotage and other operations. Dreke explains their origin, recalling how a number of leading bandits came out of organizations involved in the struggle against the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship. He discusses some errors of the revolution that contributed to the bandits' initial success, and the popular revolutionary mobilization that it took to defeat them.

Dreke recounts his experiences in joining the Rebel Army and fighting in Las Villas Province in 1958 as part of the column of combatants from the Revolutionary Directorate who worked closely with Che Guevara. The column later fought in the battle of Santa Clara, a decisive event in the revolutionary war, and one that helped to seal the fate of the dictatorship.

The interviews with the Cuban revolutionary also cover the experiences of the Cuban volunteer contingent that fought in the Congo in the mid-1960s under the leadership of Che Guevara. Fighting alongside independence forces, the revolutionaries battled a U.S.-backed pro-imperialist regime that relied heavily on Belgian and South African mercenaries. He also describes the struggle waged by Cuban revolutionaries against the legacy of racial discrimination in the opening months of the Cuban revolution.

The book will be published prior to the International Havana Book Fair scheduled for the second week of February.

This year, for the first time, the fund's progress is being monitored with the use of a new web-based database. Local fund directors post information to the database on their progress in the drive, and the fund director in New York uses the information in organizing the campaign. This procedure also cuts down on entry work at Pathfinder's offices.

The scoreboard in this week's issue has been put together using this new tool. Local fund directors are encouraged to keep up to date in entering the figures so the chart can accurately reflect our progress.

Fund supporters are encouraged to send in notes about fund-raising activities to the Militant. If you want to get involved or to make a contribution, contact your nearest Pathfinder bookstore listed on page 12, or send in your check to Pathfinder, 410 West Street, New York, NY 10014.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home