The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 78/No. 30      August 25, 2014

 
Win readers to ‘Militant’ and
books on working-class politics
(front page)
 
BY EMMA JOHNSON  
“I like the paper because it helps me see the world and I like the books because they tell the truth about history,” Kirenia Rodríguez told Edwin Fruit when he came to her house to renew her subscription in Kent, Washington, Aug. 10.

Many Cubans in the U.S. “say that Fidel Castro sent troops to Angola to die for nothing,” said Rodríguez, who is originally from Cuba. “But I know that we helped liberate people there and these books help explain that,” she said, referring to four books on the Cuban Revolution and the fight to free the Cuban Five that she bought when she first signed up for a subscription during the Militant’s spring drive. This time around Rodríguez picked up three more books in Spanish: Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power and The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning by Jack Barnes and Is Socialist Revolution in the U.S. Possible? by Mary-Alice Waters. (See ad below for 11 books on special for subscribers.)

Supporters of the Militant are preparing for another drive to increase readership of the paper and books on revolutionary working-class politics. The seven-week campaign will begin Sept. 6 and readers are encouraged to join the effort.

In addition to selling door to door, supporters of the Militant have over the last week taken the paper to protests around the country against police killings and brutality, to workers engaged in union battles and demonstrations against Tel Aviv’s assault on Gaza.

Two workers on strike against Sloan Valve in Chicago signed up for the Militant when Alyson Kennedy and Leroy Watson visited the Steelworkers Local 7999 picket line Aug. 9. The Militant offers a 12-week subscription at half price for new readers to give them an opportunity to read and get acquainted with the paper.

A team of supporters from Chicago and Atlanta visited Metropolis, Illinois, Aug. 9-10 where members of United Steelworkers Local 7-669 at the Honeywell uranium plant were locked out by the company Aug. 1. In addition to visiting the picket line, the team went door to door in the town of 6,500.

“I can’t see any difference between Democrats and Republicans. They are both against the workers,” said Daniel Sullivan, a millwright and member of Carpenters Local 640.

In addition to Sullivan four other workers took out introductory subscriptions, reported Dan Fein. One of them, a gas station clerk, asked, “Does the paper cover Obama’s attack on the middle class forcing us to do with less?”

On Aug. 11, Fein and Ilona Gersh traveled from Chicago to St. Louis to take part in protests against the Aug. 9 cop killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

“At a morning rally three signed up for subscriptions and another eight bought copies of the paper,” Fein said. “We then went door to door and a construction worker, originally from Mexico, decided to go for the introductory offer. At an evening town hall meeting organized by the NAACP, we sold another subscription and 12 single copies.”

In Chicago, more than 3,000 people took part in an Aug. 10 march against the Israeli assault on Gaza, sponsored by a number of Palestinian and Muslim organizations. “We sold 17 copies of the paper,” Kennedy reported. “Some argued that it’s a lie that Hamas placed missiles in mosques and public schools and that the tunnels are only used to bring food and cooking oil into Gaza. Many were open to discussing how an end to the reoccurring conflicts based on agreements between the two sides that recognize Israel and a Palestinian state would lay the basis for a way forward for the Palestinian struggle.”

From Montreal Annette Kouri reported that an Aug. 10 demonstration on the theme of Quebec-Gaza solidarity called by a coalition that included most of the major union federations drew 3,000 participants. “Although we found no immediate agreement when we called for both recognition of Israel and a Palestinian state, two participants subscribed and 19 bought copies of the Militant, with an extra $11 in contributions,” she wrote. “We were able to have many discussions on the need to support these demands.”

Visiting workers door to door and at protests against police brutality in Thomaston, Georgia, over the past few weeks, supporters from Atlanta have signed up five new readers and sold several dozen copies of the paper, reported Susan LaMont Aug. 10. Protests demanding that police officer Phillip Tobin be fired broke out after Tobin used a Taser on 28-year-old Kelsey Rockemore June 11 and have continued since (see article on page 4). Tobin is named in dozens of complaints of cop misconduct and more than 400 people have signed a petition for his dismissal.

Sign up friends, co-workers and relatives. Bring the paper with you to picket lines, at social protests and political events. Join other Militant supporters selling door to door and as part of participation in working-class resistance by contacting a distributor near you listed on page 8. For extra papers, contact the Militant at (212) 244-4899 or themilitant@mac.com.  
 
 
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