BY NAOMI CRAINE
"Four copies of Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War were sold to workers at Northwest Airlines here in the last two weeks," wrote Jeff Jones in a note to the Militant. "They were sold by two socialist workers making an effort to reach out broadly to more of the 10,000 workers organized in the International Association of Machinists at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport than we usually work with." One worker who bought the book "is interested in going to Cuba, so now we have to work on that," he said.
Making the goal of selling 500 copies of Episodes to industrial workers in the unions is the biggest challenge socialist workers face over the next four weeks in the campaign to increase sales of Pathfinder books and pamphlets. To make the target in the remaining four weeks, by May 1, supporters in the unions will have to go over the goals set so far, since they do not yet add up to 500. Just over 200 copies have been sold on the job in the first eight weeks of the campaign.
Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War by Che Guevara describes how workers and peasants in Cuba succeeded in taking power and beginning the socialist revolution in the Americas. Socialists who are members of unions are selling the book to their co-workers and discussing how the working class continues to hold power in Cuba today.
The best way to see this, they explain, is to attend the congress of the Central Organization of Cuban Workers (CTC) at the end of April. Unionists who are interested in the idea of the working class in power can read and discuss the theses the Cuban workers will be taking up there, whether or not they can make the trip to Cuba.
Emily Fitzsimmons, a member of the United Transportation Union in Seattle, described how one rail worker there decided to buy the book. "He borrowed a copy from another co-worker, read sections of it over the course of a few weeks, and after several discussions about Cuba decided to get Episodes and a Pathfinder Readers Club membership. He was impressed with the land reform in Cuba and read one section of the CTC theses in the Militant."
The Militant will e-mail this week the entire text of the CTC theses to distributors so they can be copied and used together with Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War.
This week's Militant also reports the results of the first full month of the campaign to sell 1,800 Pathfinder books and pamphlets a month through local Pathfinder bookstores, and 1,400 a month to commercial bookstores and libraries. Many local bookstores are off to a good start, going well over their targets for the month. Pathfinder supporters may want to discuss increasing goals where they have proven easy to exceed.
The figures on sales to commercial distributors are based on what local volunteer Pathfinder sales representatives know they have sold. According to the Pathfinder business office, other orders have come in directly from book buyers. Beginning next week, the chart will be compiled based on orders received by Pathfinder, so it will be more accurate. Local distributors should still report what they know has been sold by the volunteer representatives.
As more Pathfinder supporters get trained in visiting bookstores, libraries, and universities, these sales can go up rapidly. Supporters in Salt Lake City e-mailed in a note that they sold 43 books to two university bookstores in the last week.
Along with the monthly goals, Pathfinder supporters are shooting to raise the U.S. membership in the Pathfinder Readers Club to 1,200 by May 1.
Readers club members receive a discount on all Pathfinder titles purchased at Pathfinder bookstores or direct from the publisher for a $10 annual fee. In March, 247 people signed up to join the readers club, including 81 in the last week. In order to meet the goal, Pathfinder supporters need to sell about 300 new memberships in the next month, and make sure others don't lapse.
New members of the readers club are easy to win when you ask. Estelle DeBates sent in a note describing sales at a rally in Charleston, West Virginia, protesting the building of a pulp mill that will pollute the local area.
"We sold 11 Pathfinder titles, a Readers Club membership, and 29 Militants there," DeBates said.
Later, at a meeting with a group of young rebels in Huntington, West Virginia, they sold an Episodes book, a Readers Club membership, and a Pathfinder catalog.
Finally, we welcome Pathfinder supporters in Canada, who will be reporting their sales of revolutionary books and pamphlets for the chart every week.