Vol. 79/No. 40      November 9, 2015

Last week nearly 300 people subscribed, bringing the total close to 1,700. This was the best result in several weeks, though a big challenge remains to meet the international goal of 2,300. The simultaneous Party-Building Fund also got a boost toward the goal of $100,000 (see article on this page).

“What is socialism?” Doran Schmeiser, a retired aerospace worker who now works as a carpenter, asked SWP supporters at a literature table with a big sign reading “Socialist Workers Party: The working class alternative to the Democrats and Republicans” outside a meeting for Donald Trump in Burlington, Iowa, Oct. 21. Another person nearby said they didn’t like socialism because it meant the government takes care of everything and people have no control over anything.

“That’s the opposite of what we are fighting for,” retired steelworker Josefina Otero responded. “My party is not at all for the government butting into the affairs of working people. We say workers need to organize their own party independent of the capitalist parties.”

Schmeiser picked out some books — Teamster Politics, Is Socialist Revolution in the U.S. Possible? and The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning — and a subscription to learn more.

Three people subscribed and 27 bought copies of the paper. Ebony Wright, a young unemployed worker, came with a friend to hear Trump out of curiosity. Chicago SWP member Ilona Gersh described the confidence other workers have gained from the fight of fast-food and other low-wage workers for a $15-an-hour minimum wage and a union. “Yeah, we don’t get paid enough to live,” Wright said as she signed up for her subscription. “They expect us to work like a horse but eat like a bird.”

Among the new readers are eight members and supporters of United Steelworkers Local 1165 who took part in an Oct. 26 informational picket at the ArcelorMittal plant in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. John Staggs, the Socialist Workers Party candidate for Philadelphia City Council at-large, and supporters took part in the action against the steel bosses’ concession demands.

Workers involved in that fight welcomed not only the labor solidarity, but also discussion on the broader questions workers face in the world. Grandille Crothers said he appreciated the Militant’s coverage of Israel and the Palestinians. “Both sides’ leaders create the problems, but it’s all the workers in the middle who suffer,” he said.

After meeting Staggs, Steelworker Don Kuhns noted “how important it would be to get Walmart workers organized.” Staggs, who is a Walmart worker involved in the fight for $15 an hour, regular work schedules and a union, encouraged the Steelworkers to join the Nov. 10 “Fight for $15” actions in Philadelphia to show solidarity and to get out the word about the fight against the steel bosses.

Party members and supporters in New York had their best week yet, selling 53 subscriptions by organizing a day-to-day plan that included going door to door in working-class neighborhoods throughout the city and in small towns in the region.

“We met a Ukrainian-born research worker in Farmingdale, Long Island,” reported Maggie Trowe. “He was surprised to learn that the SWP exists. He supports the fight for $15. He knew that revolutionary Cuba provided medical care for 25,000 after the 1986 Chernobyl, Ukraine, nuclear disaster.

“He wasn’t sure he shared our confidence in the capacity of workers to make a social revolution and change history, but he was interested in what we had to say,” Trowe said.

“We showed him the article ‘U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War’ in New International magazine. He decided to get it along with a subscription. We told him more about the SWP, its history and what we are doing today, and he gave $15 to the Party-Building Fund.”

The final scoreboard in next week’s issue will include all subscriptions received by 9 a.m. Wed., Nov. 4.

Join in the final effort to make our goal. Contact one of the party units listed on page 8.
 
 
Related articles:
Socialist Workers Party drive for new readers! (chart)
Help to make Party-Building Fund
Party-Building Fund (chart)
 
 
 
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