BY LAURA GARZA
In Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Montevideo, Uruguay, participants in recent political conferences welcomed the socialist publications the Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, and the Spanish- and French-language editions of the Marxist magazine New International. Haitian activists at the May 26- 28 congress of the National Popular Assembly were eager to read the newly published Nouvelle Internationale no. 5, buying seven copies, and five other editions of the magazine, along with pamphlets in French on Cuba, and copies of Malcolm X's speeches and the Action Program to Confront the Coming Economic Crisis.
Distributors of the Militant have been on a campaign to win new subscribers to the paper. Eight weeks into the effort 1,608 subscriptions to the Militant have been sold and 382 to the Spanish-language Perspectiva Mundial, along with 701 copies of New International. This puts us at 55 percent of the international goals of selling 2,950 Militant and 675 Perspectiva Mundial subscriptions, and 1,200 copies of New International. With only two weeks left until the scheduled end of the campaign June 11, a major effort must be organized to maximize the time supporters spend getting out to political events, going door to door, setting up literature tables in working-class communities and on campuses, and talking politics with co-workers to introduce new readers to the periodicals that take the side of working people.
The interest at recent international conferences in the ideas presented in the socialist press is further evidence that world events are creating more openings for advancing a working-class perspective on how workers and farmers can defend ourselves against the economic crises, attacks on democratic rights and threats of war that we are facing. At the Sao Paulo Forum in Montevideo 11 subscriptions to the Perspectiva Mundial were sold, as well as 14 copies of Nueva Internacional. Twenty-two people there also signed up to endorse Mark Curtis's fight to win freedom. Curtis is a unionist and political activist framed up in Iowa for his activity, including speaking out in defense of immigrant workers. He is now serving a 25-year prison sentence.
Distributors from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand, have found this interest among immigrant workers fighting for their rights and Maoris seeking the right to their land. Many Militant supporters have had discussions about the widening of the war in Bosnia. For workers trying to figure out what stance to take on this and many other issues, the Militant is indispensable.
The socialist paper is also providing unmatched coverage of the resistance of working people in Latin America. Many first-time readers - especially workers trying to figure out how to fight against the employers' attacks - will not want to miss the next few weeks' coverage from Brazil and Argentina, as well as from revolutionary Cuba.
What is required in every city now is for distributors to map out a detailed plan to dispatch teams every day and take advantage of whatever time supporters of the Militant have to pitch in to make the campaign a success. In Houston nine campaigners sold seven Militant subscriptions, one to Perspectiva Mundial, and two New Internationals one Saturday, mostly going door to door in apartment complexes. The next day they participated in a march of about 200 in defense of immigrant rights and protesting discrimination against Hispanics in Spring Branch, an area in Houston's northwest side. There they sold two subscriptions to Perspectiva Mundial. The successes they reaped from spending a good chunk of time out selling the socialist press have convinced them they can make their goals if they keep up that momentum. This means daily attention has to be paid to adjusting planned teams to the shifts and changes in supporters' schedules that occur.
Militant supporters in Houston and Los Angeles also reported on subscriptions sold as a result of keeping the local Pathfinder bookstores staffed. More readers of the Militant can be organized as volunteers to expand the hours these political centers are open in the next two weeks. In Los Angeles 24 New Internationals have been bought by bookstore customers since the start of the sales campaign. A union activist who attended the recent Labor Notes conference in Detroit visited the Cleveland Pathfinder bookstore last week to buy a subscription and the book Lenin's Final Fight, noting he thought State and Revolution by V. I. Lenin "was the best thing I ever read."
Distributors in Canada are planning to participate in the June 10-17 Peoples Summit in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and sell the Militant and other socialist publications there. The conference has been called by a range of activists to protest the policies of the imperialist powers in the Group of Seven, which will be meeting there that week. Readers who want to help get out the socialist press at this event should contact distributors in Montreal at the number listed on page 12.
Getting out to political activities and to events that draw large crowds in the summer weather can help provide places to reach receptive audiences. Cleveland supporters sold three subscriptions at an African bazaar at Youngstown State University. They also participated in a pro-choice action against Operation Rescue along with students from Oberlin and Wooster colleges, one of whom bought a Militant subscription, and sold several more subs going door to door in the city.
Supporters of Perspectiva Mundial in Houston were invited to set up a table at a backyard fund-raising party held in conjunction with a meeting to establish a network in solidarity with the peasant struggle in Chiapas, Mexico. In New York, supporters set up a table at a Dominican Mother's Day celebration that drew thousands upon thousands of people, where they sold two Perspectiva Mundial subscriptions and several titles on the Cuban revolution.
In a number of areas Militant distributors are taking time off work to join teams that will spend a day or two setting up literature tables, visiting work sites, and campaigning for socialist candidates. Where this has been done, distributors report the response has been a great boost to making the local goals. Houston distributors plan to field a team to New Orleans and meet some shipyard workers involved in an organizing drive and youth interested in the Young Socialists. Miami supporters plan on a second visit to Tampa, where there are also some youth interested in learning more about the Young Socialists organization.
Special all-day teams can be organized in every city where supporters are striving to make their goals, as well. This is the kind of effort that will be necessary to have an outgoing campaign spirit prevail in the coming weeks.
Jerry Freiwirth in Houston and Roni McCann in Cleveland contributed to this article.