Join us in the effort to put this issue of the Militant into the hands of thousands of working people around the world. Help us make a special effort to reach miners—not only in the coalfields but those working at gold, copper, iron, rock, and other mines. Doing so is an integral part of supporting workers’ struggles to organize and mobilize union power to protect life and limb and counter the bosses’ attacks.

If your subscription is about to expire, please renew. And ask neighbors, family, friends, co-workers, fellow farmers, or other students to do the same. We need your help to win 1,000 readers to renew their subs over the next six weeks. That’s the goal partisans of the Militant have adopted—double what we had projected two weeks ago. It’s an appropriate response to this moment in the class struggle, described in the front-page lead news article and editorial. It’s a necessary response to the increased receptivity to the paper among working people since last fall, when more than 3,000 people signed up for new subscriptions.

A central goal of this campaign is to substantially increase the Militant’s long-term readership. That’s why new subscriptions for six months or longer count toward local sub renewal quotas that distributors adopt. At the same time, we encourage all readers to help sign up new subscribers at the special introductory rate of $5 for 12 weeks.

The day after this issue rolls off the presses, teams of Militant supporters are heading to the coalfields of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Alabama, and elsewhere in the East, as well as Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and other areas in the West. Similar efforts are being organized in many U.S. cities and other countries.

Along with selling copies of this issue and subs at mine portals, factory gates, on the job, and door-to-door in workers districts, the teams will visit readers whose subs have run out or are about to expire. Meet them in person. Get to know them. Talk to them about politics. Listen and learn from their experiences. Urge anyone interested to order a bundle and help broaden our distribution network.

And encourage them not only to re-subscribe but also buy books and pamphlets on revolutionary working-class politics. Issues 12 and 13 of the Marxist magazine New International are offered at the special price of $25 for both (a $5 savings) with any sub renewal.

A number of readers are blazing the trail. “I am looking to start receiving a bundle of papers every week for the Young Socialists in Albany, New York,” said Ben O’Shaughnessy, a student at the State University of New York there, in a January 11 note. A week later he received his first bundle of 10 papers and a list of Militant subscribers in his area. “Here are my first two renewals,” he said in a January 24 progress report.

“Doing a little sales for an hour, taking advantage of the warm, 35-degree weather in the Twin Cities, Young Socialists were in the streets of Minneapolis,” said Carlos Sánchez, in a note he sent January 16 from St. Paul, Minnesota.

“We sold 19 Militants, one sub, and pamphlets and books. ‘The two main themes of discussion were the Sago Mine disaster and attacks on immigrants’ rights,’ said Gabriela Martínez. ‘Bus drivers honked in support of our sign.’

“On Sunday, we visited workers in Austin, Minnesota, for the second time in a month. We discussed how to strengthen and use the unions, including the example of the Co-Op miners in Utah, and how to get endorsers for the Militant Fighting Fund. We got one sub renewal and one more new subscriber and we strengthened the Militant’s relationship with fight-minded workers.”

Such efforts can be emulated everywhere. Please send us reports like these, along with new subscriptions and renewals, by Tuesday night every week. You can join the effort! Contact the distributor nearest you (see directory on page 8), or the Militant directly. Become part of the campaign, and in the process have an impact on the course and outcome of unfolding class battles.

Sincerely,
Argiris Malapanis, Editor
 
 
Related articles:
Unionize the mines! Build the UMWA!
No miner has to die! Workers need a union to enforce safety
Coal boss greed kills two more miners in West Virginia
Toll: 15 in three weeks
Build support for Militant Fighting Fund
Safety violations rampant in western coal mines
Deaths on the job, racism sparked 1968 Memphis strike
Marxism, or why join the communist movement
New York event takes up contradictory development of labor vanguard  
 
 
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