Supporters of the fund around the country have been holding fund-raising meetings. Events are planned in a number of cities in the coming weeks.
The fund in Seattle received a big boost when more than 50 people, including 12 from Vancouver, Canada, attended an April 19 meeting on the Iranian revolution and its impact on politics today. Ma’mud Shirvani, the Farsi-language editor of Pathfinder Press, was the featured speaker. Supporters collected $3,700 and raised $1,600 in new pledges after Young Socialists member Camilo Catalan spoke on the importance of the fund.
Discussing the U.S.-led assault on Iraq, Shirvani said that the truth about the war’s imperialist and anti-working-class character "is being revealed through the contest over the spoils of war." He noted that Stevedoring Services of America, a Seattle-based firm that led the attacks on the West Coast dock workers during their contract fight earlier this year, has been awarded the contract to run the Umm Qasr port in southern Iraq.
Steve, a participant who is from a coal mining family in northeastern Pennsylvania, told the Militant that Shirvani’s talk "helped me to figure out what is going on in the world today."
Two people attending their first such meeting signed up for subscriptions to the paper. A number of titles from Pathfinder were also sold.
"It is good to know what is really going on," said Ann Buzaid. Before the meeting she bought a Militant subscription along with a copy of New International no. 7, entitled "Opening Guns of World War III." Afterwards she returned to the literature table to pick up Cosmetics, Fashions and the Exploitation of Women by Joseph Hansen, Evelyn Reed, and Mary-Alice Waters. Shirvani had displayed the new Farsi-language edition during his presentation.
Those wishing to contribute to the fund should send checks or money orders made out to the Militant and earmarked Fund Drive to 152 W. 36th St. #401, New York, NY 10018.
David Ferguson from Seattle contributed to this article.
Click here for latest fund drive chart