"These towns are gold mining centers," said Alice Kincaid, who joined a team that took the socialist newspaper to workers in the area, as part of efforts in the eight-week international subscription drive that began on April 5. At the end of March miners in the area waged a two-day strike, putting put up informational pickets to get out the truth about their contract fight with the company.
"More than 900 miners work at the Carlin operation of Newmont Mining Corporation, the largest gold mining company in the world," Kincaid said. Some 550 are members of Operating Engineers Local 3. Unionists told team members, who hailed from Utah and San Francisco, that "Newmont wants to eliminate seniority, while the workers are determined to defend it," she said. "One of them said, ‘In the last several contracts Newmont has taken a lot away. Now that the price of gold is up, we want some of it back.’
"While many miners did not agree with the Militant’s call for the withdrawal of U.S. and British forces from Iraq," said Kincaid, they "listened closely as we explained that the war was carried out for the same reasons as the rulers attack workers in this country."
One miner from Mexico bought an introductory Militant subscription and a copy of New International no. 7, entitled "Washington’s Assault on Iraq: Opening Guns of World War III," which was published shortly after Washington’s first war against Iraq a dozen years ago.
The Nevada team is one of a number of special road trips planned as part of the drive.
Team will focus on sales to meat packers
Participants in a trip to sell the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial in the Midwest will hit the highway in late April, said Joel Britton from Chicago. "The team will have a special focus on selling at meatpacking plants," he said. "We expect that workers will want to read the Militant reports of the strike by meat packers at Tyson Foods in Jefferson, Wisconsin." Some 470 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 538, rejecting the company’s "Ten Commandments" of takeback demands, walked out of the plant on February 28.
"Team members plan to join strikers and supporters in Jefferson on Saturday, April 26," said Britton. Hundreds are expected to turn out that day for a rally organized by the strikers to reach out for support. "From there the team will go to cities in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota," he said. They will circulate the socialist press in areas where packing contracts are expiring this month or soon afterwards. "Wherever possible, the team will also set up literature tables on college campuses," Britton said.
Campaigners in Sydney, Australia, have also taken the campaign outside city limits. Bob Aiken told the Militant on April 21 that they made a "day trip to the Hunter Valley coal fields north of the city to meet miners who had been on strike earlier this year.
"The drive has gotten off to a good start here," Aiken said. "Co-workers on the docks and at a meatpacking plant have bought two subscriptions. Four more were sold at a protest against the U.S.-led assault on Iraq." Australian troops participated in the attack. Protesters also bought an issue of New International and a copy of Capitalism’s World Disorder by Jack Barnes. Both publications are part of the international goals.
Thanks to these efforts, supporters in Australia are among the leaders in this week’s chart. Overall, sales of the Militant are close to being on track, but more attention needs to be given to setting a brisker pace in sales of Perspectiva Mundial, New International, and Capitalism’s World Disorder.
The last word goes to a reader in Montreal, Canada. Carlos Cornejo reported that a leader of a group of Algerian immigrants involved in an antideportation fight bought a copy of the French-language edition of "The Opening Guns of World War III" on April 18. "Here is what I was looking for to better understand the situation in Iraq," he said, as he bought the issue of Nouvelle Internationale.
See chart for this week’s results
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