A protest against anti-immigrant measures in Toronto, Earth Day events throughout the United States, meetings to defend the Cuban revolution in France, these are some of the events supporters of the international campaign to win new readers of the socialist press have been part of recently. The campaign to sell subscriptions to the Militant and the monthly Spanish-language Perspectiva Mundial, and to sell copies of the Marxist magazine New International has been in progress for three weeks, and 22 percent of the goal has been met. This means a stepped-up pace is needed to make the goal in the remaining seven weeks of the drive.

Supporters of the socialist press report many discussions about the recent bombing in Oklahoma and the spate of proposals being floated to curb democratic rights. In Toronto, where the cops kidnapped and interrogated a member of the Young Socialists, supporters are on a campaign to protest this attack on democratic rights. These discussions are a good opportunity to point out that the socialist press is an important source of information about the kinds of struggles working people are engaged in - from strikes, to marches in defense of affirmative action, to protests is support of abortion rights - that government authorities are attempting to undercut through limits on our rights to organize.

In the next few weeks Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams will be touring the country. For many years, Adams was denied the right to speak in the United States as Washington gave backing to London's colonial policies in the north of Ireland. He will be speaking in several cities about the historic breakthrough that the Irish freedom struggle has recently made. The socialist press has been circulating at events in support of Irish political prisoners held in the last few weeks and the upcoming tour gives another opportunity to do more of the same.

In several cities supporters are organizing to get days off from work and join special sales teams to get out in the region. Supporters of the socialist press from Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Morgantown, West Virginia, recently put together a team to visit parts of southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. They will be selling at mine portals and in surrounding communities. As one of the team members participated in a recent trip to Cuba the supporters of the Militant are hoping to set up some house meetings and other discussions to talk about revolutionary Cuba. Other teams are being planned to reach coal miners in southern Illinois, and meatpackers and textile workers in the southeastern United States.

In France, a visit by a member of the editorial board of New International, Jonathan Silberman, helped kick off the effort to sell the magazine. Some 90 people heard Silberman speak March 31 and April 1 on the Cuban revolution today at three campus meetings and at a citywide forum. He was joined on the platform by a representatives of France-Cuba, an organization in solidarity with Cuba. Two subscriptions to the Militant and 11 issues of the French and Spanish editions of New International were sold.

Militant supporters in New Zealand sold 12 copies of the paper and one subscription in two hours when they set up a table in the northern town of Kaitaia April 2. Many buyers were interested in the coverage of land occupations by Maoris, one of which has been taking place for several weeks at Takahue, just south of Kaitaia.

In December last year a series of protests and a march through Kaitaia were held to demand a halt to the dropping of a poison in Northland forests. Protests in February of this year, which saw three quarters of Kaitaia's population of 8,000 march against plans to downgrade the local hospital, have been successful in putting these plans on hold.

Militant supporters spent the rest of the day visiting Takahue where members of the Te Paatu hapu (sub-tribe) are occupying an unused school to demand return of the title to the land on which it stands.

About 8,000 youth attended Earth Jam '95 near Atlanta. Despite heavy rains during the early part of the day, several hundred visited a display of tables with infomation from various environmental and other groups. Many were attracted to a table set up by the Young Socialists and Socialist Workers Party when they saw a sign that read, "Capitalism destroys the environment. Join the fight for socialism." There was also a display on the international youth festival called by the Union of Young Communists in Cuba for this August. "I've been debating socialism versus capitalism and that we need to look at the world in a different way," said one young man who came by the table. He bought a copy of the Militant and the pamphlet Socialism and Man by Che Guevara.

A group of young women who had just formed a feminist group on their campus were interested in getting a speaker on the case of Mark Curtis, a unionist and socialist framed up for his political views. They also signed up for information on the Young Socialists. Three people bought subscriptions to the Militant and one bought a copy of New International no. 10 with the article "Imperialism's march toward fascism and war."

Supporters of the socialist press sold 44 single copies and 4 subscriptions to the Militant and 2 copies of New International no. 10 to 2,500 activists protesting the right- wing Human Life International convention in Montreal.

Derek Jeffers in France, Felicity Coggan in New Zealand, and Ellen Haywood in Atlanta contributed to this article.  
 
 
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