BY LAURA GARZA
After a week of concerted effort to meet new people interested in reading the socialist press, the international circulation drive is off to a good start with sales of 240 subscriptions to the Militant. This puts us just about on schedule with 12 percent of the goal of 1,950 in hand. Several areas are discussing raising their target for the Spanish-language magazine Perspectiva Mundial as we have already sold 116 out of our goal of 525, some 22 percent!
During the next two weeks getting out the socialist press will be part of a stepped up effort to build regional actions against U.S. policy toward Cuba. Events are set for Chicago and San Francisco on October 14 and New York City on October 21. Getting out leaflets and posters publicizing the actions is part of what each team that goes out to a worksite or campus will be concentrating on along with showing people the unmatched coverage of the Cuban revolution that the Militant provides.
Some extra attention will have to be paid to promoting New International magazines. Featuring them prominently on literature tables and having one or two along on door-to- door sales has helped to draw attention to them. Having the several editions of the magazine that have been published in French and Spanish every time we go out is one lesson drawn by socialists campaigning in New York. Teams that went to Harlem, the South Bronx, Chinatown, and Queens all found French-speaking workers interested in revolutionary literature and plans are being made to stock up on French titles for the rest of the drive.
Reports of the response the socialist press is getting should be sent in each week. All subscriptions received in the offices of the Militant by Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. will be counted in the scoreboard. Each area should also fax in a report on how many copies of the New International have been sold.
ATHENS, Greece - Four supporters of the Militant organized five sales in the opening week of the circulation drive. This included two visits to the town of Elefsina, sight of some of the largest shipyards of the Eastern Mediterranean. Workers there are facing threats of layoffs and closing of the shipyard.
The team also distributed flyers at a construction workers rally for a forum sponsored by the supporters of the Militant and the Pan African Association of Greece on "The Economic Crisis and the Fight for Immigrant Rights." Close to 50 people attended the event including immigrant workers from a dozen countries. They joined in the discussion and debate that went on into the evening in three languages on the roots of racism in Greece and Europe, and on how immigrants can fight for their rights.
A high school student bought a subscription to the Militant, and a copy of "Imperialism's March Toward Fascism and War" in Greek was sold. Supporters of the socialist press have taken a goal of selling 15 copies of the Greek version of that article, and six have been sold so far. Forum participants bought several other titles on South Africa, Cuba, and Palestine, and more than a dozen of the translations of articles from the Militant. Two renewals of Militant subscriptions have also been sold recently.
Georges Mehrabian and Natasha Terlexis
LOS ANGELES - Six teams were fielded to political activities on the first Saturday of the campaign to win new readers to the socialist press including one to an affirmative action teach-in held at the United Auto Workers Local 148 hall where one Militant subscription was sold.
Another team participated in a march and rally in Oxnard, an agricultural town northwest of Los Angeles. Several months ago, a group of women workers at the Nabisco plant in Oxnard filed sex discrimination charges against the company. Among their complaints was the fact that the company wouldn't allow them to leave the line to use the bathroom. Some of the women became ill with bladder infections.
Not long after the suit was filed, the company announced plans to close the plant. The workers, mostly immigrants from Mexico, fought back. Their local of the Teamsters union organized a march to demand jobs and justice. Members of the Teamsters, the National Organization for Women, and the Chicano student group MEChA spoke at a rally after the march. Eight subscriptions to Perspectiva Mundial were sold and two to the Militant, as well as three copies of Nueva Internacional.
Pat Nixon
ATLANTA - A team went door-to-door in a Mexican neighborhood in Dalton, a center of the carpet industry in northwest Georgia. INS agents had raided several carpet mills the week before, and workers reported that in one case nearly the entire second shift of more than 100 people was arrested.
Four people eagerly signed up for subscriptions to Perspectiva Mundial. A young Militant subscriber living in Dalton joined the sales team and said he was impressed by how receptive the immigrant workers were to the discussions we had and to the socialist press.
Marla Puziss
TWIN CITIES, Minnesota - It's not just the lead articles that sell the New International magazine. We sold a copy of no. 5 in English to a city truck driver in Madison, Wisconsin. He'd graduated from the university with a degree in Portuguese five years ago and was attracted to the article, "Why Cuban Volunteers Are In Angola." The article discusses the role of Cuban troops in helping to deal a decisive blow to the army of apartheid South Africa when it invaded Angola. He was so pleased with his find that he went and bought coffee for the team.
Michael Pennock