BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
`Militant' Supporters Plan Labor Day Sales
Supporters of the Militant in Peoria, Illinois, are reaching out. A team of Militant distributors sold eight papers last week to United Auto Workers members who were voting to ratify a new contract at Mitsubishi Motors. The previous week, eight papers were sold at the plant gate.
Socialist campaigners also went to Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, where the first week of classes were under way and sold seven issues of the Militant. At a union meeting of the locked-out Staley workers in Decatur, four papers were sold and two people renewed their subscriptions to the Militant.
Supporters of the socialist press say they plan to participate in upcoming Labor Day activities, which include picnics on September 3 in Peoria and Pontiac, Illinois, as well as the Labor Day parade September 4 in Decatur. Angel Lariscy from Peoria reports, "We plan to participate in these activities in addition to the march and rally for Irish political prisoners on September 2 in St. Louis."
Militant supporters in Detroit have begun to step up their efforts, selling 36 copies of the Militant last week. Eleven papers were sold to students at Wayne State University during the first three days of registration. One subscription was sold to a rail worker at Conrail. Teams have taken the Militant to Detroit newspaper strikers on the picket line, activists involved in coalitions to defend death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, and at shopping center parking lots.
"We organized a lot of different sales to turn things around," said Militant supporter Rosa Garmendia. Socialist workers there are gearing up to participate in the national Labor Day weekend mobilization September 2-4. The event, which has broad support in the labor movement, will help back striking newspaper workers and their families.
A Militant sales team sold 29 papers and one subscription at a march of 6,000 through Dublin, Ireland, August 26. Another team of supporters sold 13 Militants and one subscription at a march marking the 75th anniversary of women winning the right to vote in the United States in Washington, D.C., on the same day.
In New York, Ruth Robinett reports that 15 copies of last week's issue of the Militant with the article she co- authored about cuts in Amtrak were sold on the job. Another seven copies of that issue were sold to rail workers during a plant gate sale at the Amtrak station.
We urge Militant readers to write about their efforts to get the paper around. If there are plans to participate in future events, regional sales teams, or other activities to distribute the socialist press, let us know so that these efforts can be publicized in the Militant.