The Militant (logo)  
   Vol.66/No.43           November 18, 2002  
 
 
New York event boosts Pathfinder Fund;
big push is needed to reach goal
(front page)  

BY MICHAEL ITALIE  
The 11-week campaign to raise $105,000 for the Pathfinder Fund has made important progress in the last week, reaching 66 per cent of the goal. It remains a challenge for supporters of the fund in every area, however, to raise the $35,000 that is needed to reach the international goal by the end of the drive on November 17.

The Pathfinder Fund received a big boost at the November 2 public meeting in New York, "Campaigning for Communism, Responding to Political Openings: The Struggle against Imperialism Today." More than 370 people attended the program, which featured Jack Barnes, national secretary of the Socialist Workers Party, and other speakers. Many in the audience made contributions, totaling $4,882. Others increased earlier pledges or made new ones that added up to $4,040.

Building on this success is the key to reaching the goal in the campaign. Militant editor Martín Koppel, who made the fund appeal at the New York meeting, urged those present not only to make a contribution but to help raise the remaining funds pledged in their local areas. Doing so, he said, "is well within reach, but only if special steps are taken now in every city," both to collect outstanding pledges and to raise any additional amount needed to make each local quota.

The fund drive is essential for Pathfinder to fulfill its ambitious publishing commitments. Contributions are needed now, to help meet expenses that have already been incurred as well as financing the production of a number of books set to be released over the coming weeks.

These new titles include a new, expanded edition of Malcolm X Talks to Young People in English and Spanish, and Marianas in Combat: Teté Puebla and the Mariana Grajales Women’s Platoon in Cuba’s Revolutionary War. Another important political weapon due to be released is the 12th issue of the Marxist magazine New International.

Other new titles include The Assault on Moncada by Mario Mencía, and Aldabonazo: Inside the Cuban Revolutionary Underground; 1952–58, by Armando Hart. Pathfinder is also reprinting dozens of titles from its arsenal of books on working-class struggles.

These books will be sought after at upcoming events, from the congress of the Continental Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Students, which opens November 29 in Guadalajara, Mexico, to the Havana International Book Fair in February 2003.

Supporters of the fund campaign can bring it to a successful conclusion by following up with those who have already made a pledge, and by approaching workers and youth who have just begun reading the revolutionary books published by Pathfinder. This includes the many new readers who have picked up Pathfinder books at meetings of the "Cuba and Africa--1959 to the present" speaking tour of Víctor Dreke and Ana Morales, outside showings of the film Fidel, and a range of labor and political actions, such as the struggle by West Coast longshore workers who are fighting the shippers’ concession demands and opposing the federal government’s intervention in their struggle. Contributions to the fund can be made out to Pathfinder and mailed to the Militant, 410 West Street, New York, NY 10014.  
 
 
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