BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
Increasing sales of Pathfinder books, building the regional socialist educational conferences at the end of November, and recruiting 80 new Young Socialist members by December 1 are interlinked with the success of the Militant subscription drive. With three weeks left to win 1,200 new Militant subscribers, 425 new readers to Perspectiva Mundial, and sell 550 copies of the Marxist magazine New International, distributors can look to cities like Atlanta and Los Angeles. Supporters there have consistently made progress in sales of Pathfinder books and in building YS chapters.
As the chart below shows, the drive for Militant subscriptions now lags one week behind schedule. To take advantage of the opportunities seen around the world to expand circulation of the socialist press among working-class rebels and build the communist movement in the process, the Militant has called a target week of sales November 16-24.
Leading up to these final eight days of a special effort, Militant supporters can take advantage of day-to-day political work on the job, plant gate sales, regional teams, and outreach in working-class communities to close the gap in winning new readers. During the target week, socialist workers will be taking time off work to join several-day sales teams to packinghouses, coal mines, farms, and to picket lines of striking steelworkers at Wheeling-Pitt in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. They will be joined by YS members in several cities. These teams will be spreading the word about the socialist regional conferences and inviting workers and youth interested in the communist movement to participate. Joining local political meetings and protest actions, and going door-to- door in working-class communities every day during this period will also be key to meeting the goals by the November 24 deadline.
Following are examples of recent such successful efforts.
Mike Italie, a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees in Atlanta, reported how supporters in that city sold subscriptions to the Militant by taking the Socialist Workers election campaign to campuses, working class communities, and plant gates. This extra effort put Atlanta's circulation campaign back on track.
"Our candidate for U.S. Senate, Arlene Rubenstein, took off work during the last week of October to campaign for the socialist alternative," said Italie. "A regional team went to Athens, Georgia, and organized a full day of sales on October 30, which included setting up a literature table at the University of Georgia campus." Italie said the team sold three Militant subscriptions at the table and two subscriptions at a report-back meeting on the October 12 immigrant rights march in Washington, D.C.
Italie said four new members have been recruited to the Young Socialists - two in Athens and two in Atlanta -since the subscription campaign began. One supporter of the campaign who works at the Ford auto plant in Atlanta sold two subscriptions to coworkers during the past week.
"A high point of our sales campaign was at a November 2 town meeting speak-out against a racist attack on a Black youth in Spokane," said Seattle rail worker Rich Stuart, who participated in a regional sales team 300 miles away. The youth was stabbed as he fought off a group of racists. No charges or arrests were brought against the attackers.
Stuart said three young people at the meeting staffed a table supporting the Socialist Workers presidential ticket, which bore a sign reading, "Stop Racist Attacks, Young Socialists." During the speak-out, attended by 100 people, someone in the audience stood up and said, "What are the Young Socialists doing here?" At that point, Alaric Dirmeyer, a 19-year-old supporter of the Militant who lives in Spokane, responded, "I'm a member of the Young Socialists here to speak out on the failure to prosecute this attack. This is a pattern of racism in Spokane." Stuart said that "the attempted redbaiting boomeranged, as several people came up to the table after the meeting and told us, `we're glad you are here, please come back.' " Two young women who are university students came up to the table. Both said they wanted to join the YS.
"Alaric and several other young people are planning to form a chapter of the Young Socialists in Spokane on November 11," Stuart said.
He added that a sales team went to Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, where they set up a table. They sold $165 worth of Pathfinder books, including $85 at the Spokane town meeting.
For the fourth month in a row, sales of Pathfinder books and pamphlets continue on an upward trend as the chart above shows. Socialist workers in the International Association of Machinists (IAM) boosted the book sales effort by selling 46 books on the job last month.
IAM member Carol James, who works at Northwest Airlines in Detroit, was one of them. She sold nine books to co-workers in October.
By responding to political opportunities and building on the momentum of previous months, socialist workers can reach 100 percent of the book sales goals in November and complete the subscription drive on time.