With only three weeks left to complete the 1996 International Pathfinder Fund, supporters around the world will need to accelerate their work in collecting pledges to go from the $45,638 collected to date to the $125,000 goal. Over the past week, over $7,700 was sent in from around the world and a new country has been added to the chart. Pathfinder supporters in France have taken a goal of collecting $750 by the November 12 deadline. The fund is making it possible for Pathfinder to reprint books without delay as they go out of stock. Drive ends November 12
Careful organization by supporters is needed to complete contacting all the people they think may want to contribute, as well as reminding every person who has made a pledge that the end of the fund drive is only a few weeks away. With this approach it will be possible to complete the drive in full and on time. All contributions must be in the Pathfinder office in New York by noon Tuesday, November 12.

Supporters in Detroit sponsored a fund-raising event that brought in over $600, including $100 in new pledges and contributions. Mámud Shirvani spoke on "Capitalism's growing world disorder." Shirvani is coauthor of the introduction for To See the Dawn, the record of the Congress of the People's of the East held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 1920 under the leadership of the Bolsheviks in the Soviet Union.

In Birmingham, Alabama, supporters are holding a raffle to raise money for Pathfinder. The idea is to sell tickets for the raffle to co-workers and others interested in supporting Pathfinder. The prizes include a gift certificate to the local Pathfinder bookstore and one donated by a local restaurant. They are also sponsoring an event at which the door prize will be an item donated by a local art gallery.

With greater efforts by Pathfinder supporters to get these books into the hands of fighters around the world, sales have gone up this year and a rate at which Pathfinder books have to be reprinted has also increased. A large number of Pathfinder books and pamphlets are in the reprint pipeline. Volunteers set more readable type
Among the titles being reprinted with newly designed text and, in some cases, a new cover, are three of four volumes of the Teamster series written by Farrell Dobbs: Teamster Power, Teamster Politics, and Teamster Bureaucracy. New, higher quality type makes book texts more attractive and more readable.

Sara Lobman, a member of the Pathfinder editorial staff, explained that volunteers in different cities around the world organize themselves to take many of the initial steps in preparing the manuscripts to be retypeset. With a little orientation, they can take a printed book, scan the pages, and check the scanned manuscript for errors by cross reading the book with a partner. The goal is 100 percent accuracy. Not all volunteers have scanners; some work with a digitized manuscript done by those having the equipment.

You don't need a computer to help. One volunteer cross read Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution while recovering from surgery. She read a manuscript that had been scanned and marked corrections in the margins for others to enter.

Teams of volunteers in San Francisco, Seattle, and the New York area have organized a division of labor to take advantage of the varying skills and interests.

Once a manuscript is returned to Pathfinder, the print shop workers begin redesigning the text, all with an eye to making each Pathfinder book as readable as possible with the ideas easily accessible. Currently some two dozen volunteers in six cities around the world are preparing 15 manuscripts. `Socialism on Trial'
Socialism on Trial by James P. Cannon, one of the titles being retypeset, is currently in Pathfinder's hands. This book tells the story of the courtroom defense of the leaders of the Socialist Workers Party and of Teamsters Local 574 in Minneapolis against U.S. government prosecution. The government and its political police, the FBI, framed them up on "sedition" charges because of their active opposition to U.S. entry into World War II. This book becomes more timely than ever as the government attempts to narrow political rights, from federal harassment of those who oppose Washington's embargo and travel ban on Cuba to the expanded spying powers of the "antiterror" cops in Los Angeles.

Eva Braiman, who works in the desktop and design department of the print shop that produces Pathfinder books, said they are "organizing to cross read this manuscript rapidly to help speed it into production." She explained, "We know about how long a book like this will take us. At a little over 180 pages, we can get it ready for the Pathfinder editors in about 28 hours."

Volunteers who want to be part of the international effort to keep all the Pathfinder arsenal in print should contact Pathfinder in New York at 410 West Street, New York, NY 10014. Anyone wishing to contribute to the 1996 International Pathfinder Fund can send checks to the same address.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home