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   Vol. 70/No. 21           May 29, 2006  
 
 
Join effort to expand ‘Militant’ readership!
Letter from the editor
(front page)
 
Dear Reader,

Join us in expanding the Militant’s readership! We are raising our spring subscription goal and extending the circulation drive by one week to June 7.

We’ve made these decisions based on new opportunities for militant workers to effectively resist the bosses’ antilabor offensive. The mass movement for the legalization of undocumented immigrants in the United States is one indication. Now more than ever, working people and youth attracted to labor’s cause need the Militant. And a growing number are signing up.

Of the 1,800 people who have subscribed in the last five weeks, more than half signed up at the immigrant rights rallies on April 9-10 and on May Day. This brings us close to meeting the initial goal of 2,000 well ahead of schedule.

The success by coal miners and their allies in Huntington, Utah, in pushing back the courtroom assault by C.W. Mining Co. (see article on front page) is another reason to go the extra mile over the next three weeks. This is a victory not only for the workers who fought to unionize the Co-Op mine and for the United Mine Workers of America. It is a victory for all labor.

Those who endorsed and contributed to the Militant Fighting Fund, which raised funds to defend the Militant and publicized the defense of all defendants in the coal bosses’ retaliatory suit, have reason to rejoice. They can spread the word and urge participation in the June 4 celebration in Price, Utah, that the miners have called. Getting the Militant around will contribute to this effort by publicizing the accomplishments and lessons of this important struggle.

At its May 13-15 meeting held in New York, the Socialist Workers Party National Committee decided to lead the party and each of its branches in a campaign toward selling 3,000 subscriptions to the Militant by June 7. The decision was taken after consultation during the gathering with local party units and with the Young Socialists leadership.

Your help is needed.

If you don’t already receive a weekly bundle, I urge you to contact us to order one now and help sell subscriptions (see “contact us” on home page). Or get in touch with Militant distributors nearest you and join them in outreach teams they organize (see directory).

All distributors can review their subscription quotas and consider increasing them, as many have already done. If this is your first time in this effort, please consider adopting a quota.

The Militant is printing postage-paid, pre-addressed envelopes, with a “Subscribe Now” coupon on the flap in English and Spanish. Distributors can insert these envelopes into copies of the paper to make it easier for those who buy an issue to take the next step and subscribe. You can now order these prepaid envelopes for 25 cents each.

Frank Forrestal, a Militant campaigner in Des Moines, Iowa, sent one of the many reports we’ve received that indicate what’s possible. “Another campaigner, Shannon Wohl, and I drove last Saturday to Worthington, Minnesota, where we met with two supporters of the paper from Minneapolis/St. Paul,” he said. “We sold the Militant at a trailer park near a large meatpacking plant owned by Swift. We sold 18 subscriptions and 11 copies. The previous day, Shannon and I were in South Sioux City, Iowa, and sold the Militant at Tyson’s Dakota City meatpacking plant. In about two hours, 28 workers bought the paper. Later, we visited a nearby trailer park where several more bought copies and two subscribed.”

The Militant has also extended the deadline for the Militant Fund campaign to June 7 to allow a little more time to reach out broadly to potential contributors and meet the $90,000 goal. The funds are needed to pay for printing, shipping, utilities, equipment maintenance, and reporting trips. Send your contribution now to The Militant at 306 W. 37th St., 10th floor, New York, NY 10018.

Sincerely,
Argiris Malapanis, Editor

Click here to see the sub drive scoreboard.
Click here to see the 'Militant' fund drive chart

 
 
 
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