BY MAGGIE PUCCI
Pathfinder, located in New York, with distributors in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, publishes books and pamphlets by revolutionary and working-class leaders. Pathfinder bookstores are listed in the directory on page 12.
Supporters of Mark Curtis's fight for justice have a new tool with which to reach out to French-speaking co-workers, political activists, and young people with the publication of Pourquoi Mark Curtis est-il toujours en prison?, the French-language edition of Why is Mark Curtis Still in Prison? by Naomi Craine.
The pamphlet, an introduction to the class struggle in the United States and to socialist politics, is now available in English, Spanish, and French. It provides an excellent way to introduce people to the Curtis defense effort and win new backing to his demand for parole. A team of volunteers in Canada undertook the project to translate the pamphlet into French to strengthen Pathfinder's arsenal of books and pamphlets.
Participants in demonstrations and meetings to defend Cuba purchased hundreds of dollars worth of Pathfinder books, pamphlets, and catalogs during the weekend of October 21-22 and into the following week. Supporters of the publishing house managed to negotiate around a torrential downpour and make available books and pamphlets with speeches by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara at a march and rally held October 21 in New York City to demand that the U.S. government end its 33-year- old embargo against Cuba and respect Cuba's sovereignty.
Fidel Castro's arrival in New York to address the 50th anniversary of the United Nations heightened interest in Pathfinder books on Cuba.
Socialist literature tables featured issues of the Marxist magazine New International and Pathfinder books in English, Spanish, and French in the middle of crowds gathered to welcome the Cuban president at the Cuban mission to the U.N. in midtown Manhattan, in Harlem where he spoke at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, and in the Bronx, where Castro attended a dinner with Puerto Rican businessmen. Hundreds of people stopped by the tables to discuss politics.
Participants in these events picked up more than 50 books and pamphlets, mostly on Cuba. Books on many other topics such as Yugoslavia, women's rights, and by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, and Malcolm X were also sold.
Fifteen copies of New International in English, Spanish, and French were sold, including four copies in Spanish and two in English of the issue focused on the theme "Che Guevara, Cuba, and the Road to Socialism." Four copies in Spanish of the latest issue, containing the article "Imperialism's March Toward Fascism and War," and one copy in French of the issue, with the article "The Opening Guns of World War Three," were also sold.
The top selling Pathfinder book was To Speak the Truth, with six copies sold. One sale was with the 25 percent off special offer to people purchasing introductory subscriptions to the Militant. To Speak the Truth contains speeches of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara before the United Nations and its bodies, spanning many years. The book includes an account of the 1960 meeting of Castro and Malcolm X when the Cuban delegation to the UN stayed at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem. A copy of The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara was also sold as part of the special offer.
Two copies each in English and Spanish were sold of How Far We Slaves Have Come! by Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela, as well as four copies each in English and Spanish of Socialism and Man in Cuba by Che Guevara.
Following the Frankfurt bookfair, Pathfinder representatives from London made sales visits to bookstores and university libraries in the German cities of Frankfurt, Bremen, Hamburg, Munich, and Berlin.
One hundred forty books and pamphlets were placed, covering a broad range of titles. Ten copies of The Truth About Yugoslavia: Why Working People Should Oppose Intervention were sold, making that title the top seller. Six copies of New International no. 10 with the articles "Imperialism's March Toward Fascism and War" and "Defending Cuba, Defending Cuba's Socialist Revolution" and five copies of The Jewish Question were also among the titles taken on by bookstores.
Reporting on the sales trip, Marcella Fitzgerald from Pathfinder Distribution in London writes, "Several people expressed interest in what's happening with the rise of right-wing groups in the U.S."
"One shop in Berlin, near where the wall was, was full of young people. The owner had visited London and come to us to buy books a couple of months ago. He took another good order when we visited him."