The Militant - May 6, 2002 -- Build on sales drive momentum

Vol.66/No.18 May 6, 2002

Build on sales drive momentum
(editorial)

The response by working people and youth to the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial this past week helps highlight the opportunities to expand the readership of the revolutionary press. The massive outpourings in Washington and San Francisco in solidarity with the Palestinian people; resistance among workers such as the bus drivers’ strike in Los Angeles and protests in defense of immigrant rights; and opposition to the attacks by the government and employers on workers’ rights are examples of why there is growing interest in the socialist periodicals, Pathfinder books, and New International.

As they become more integrated into the initial social movements of working people in the United States, socialist workers and young socialists are finding workers and farmers who need the Militant every week because it helps make them more effective in their struggle and links them up with other fighters. In addition to the coverage of their own battles, many welcome the news, analysis, and feature articles and editorials on political and social questions and issues of world politics.

Many young people at the April 20 demonstrations were hungry for a working-class view of the Israeli assault on the Palestinian people and of how Washington’s backing for the regime in Tel Aviv is an extension of its drive against the rights, social wage, and union organization of working people at home. They were receptive to an explanation of why the Israeli state must be removed in the revolutionary battle for a democratic, secular Palestine.

The Militant’s coverage of the working-class mobilizations that foiled the pro-imperialist coup in Venezuela also caught the eye of many demonstrators. For weeks the paper pointed to the Venezuelan bosses’ destabilization campaign aimed at toppling the Chávez government. The hundreds of people who bought individual copies and subscriptions to the Militant and PM appreciated the clear, scientific explanation of these important political developments.

Sales of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution put a spotlight on the growing interest in the Cuban Revolution as a living example of the one force--workers and farmers-- that can stand up to the domestic exploiting classes as well as the world’s mightiest empire and defeat them in struggle. The book opens the window to seeing the social forces capable of overthrowing capitalist rule in the United States and replacing their dog-eat-dog profit-making system with one that places human needs and human solidarity above all.

Partisans of the subscription campaign can build on the momentum of the first week through stepped-up political discussions with co-workers on the job, in working-class neighborhoods, on college campuses, and at plant gates. Reading the Militant, PM, or a Pathfinder book is often one of the first ways workers and young people are introduced to the socialist movement, and the subscription drive is an excellent way to increase recruitment to the communist organizations. Organizing follow-up phone calls to people and building the weekly Militant Labor Forum are ways in which campaigners can discuss the fight for socialism and other political questions with new readers.

To complement the subscription drive the Militant and PM will be launching an eight-week fund drive to help finance the socialist press. The Militant is funded exclusively by working people whose contributions have, for 74 years, ensured the paper can continue to tell the truth and be a weapon in the struggles of the working class. We urge all supporters of the paper to begin thinking about how to make the most of the fund drive as we build on the initial momentum of the subscription campaign.