The charts on pages 4 and 5 of this week's issue show we face a challenge in meeting the twin goals of raising $110,000 to fund the Militant and its Spanish-language sister Perspectiva Mundial, and of selling 1,400 new subscriptions to the Militant, 450 to Perspectiva Mundial, and 600 copies of the Marxist magazine New International. Reports from supporters printed in this issue, and those I've spoken to on the phone, all point to the great response they've gotten on sales in the week since the Young Socialists convention. They show it's entirely possible to reach these goals by the April 26 deadline. Meeting these goals will be intertwined with expanding sales of Pathfinder's arsenal of books by revolutionary and working- class leaders.

Of course getting out to where there are fighters is key to our success - the march to support farm workers in Watsonville, California; the Young Feminists Summit in Washington, D.C.; conferences of Chicano students; picket lines of striking auto workers at General Motors and Chrysler; protests against police brutality; actions in solidarity with the Irish struggle; and many other events. Then we take these experiences along with the papers and books to co-workers, working class neighborhoods, and campuses as well.

Participants in all these fights need what they can find only in the Militant - a socialist voice and fighting working-class perspective. To be an effective fighter - to know who your allies are and who they aren't - you need to know the truth, from what's happening in Albania and Yugoslavia today, to why class-conscious fighters must oppose the imperialist war drive against these workers states. You need the coverage the Militant will feature in coming issues from a reporting team to Cuba that will include Argiris Malapanis, Perspectiva Mundial editor Martín Koppel, and Pathfinder editors Mary-Alice Waters and Mike Taber. The only way to get this, and much more, is to get a subscription. Fighters also need the strategic lessons of the workers movement that are in New International and the books published by Pathfinder.

A centerpiece of the special Pathfinder sale is the six- volume series of the Communist International in Lenin's Time, and the 14-volume Writings of Leon Trotsky series, available for a fraction of the usual price. Reading and studying these books is essential for learning the continuity of communist leadership and the building of a revolutionary working-class party.

Raising money for the Militant Fund goes right along with this. More than $15,000 came in over the last week -the best collection to date. A highlight was the eyewitness reports from Albania given by Argiris Malapanis in New York and Toronto, which together raised some $4,000. This included supporters of the socialist press paying their pledges, giving new contributions, and participating in an auction of several photos from the trip.

While there's still about $55,000 to go to meet the fund goal, if supporters collect all the pledges currently made and keep winning new contributors, we will go well over by April 26. Nat London, an auto worker in Paris, said a fellow worker gave $25 last week; this can be repeated in factories where the Militant is sold all over the world.

By reaching out over the next several weeks to successfully complete the subscription drive and Militant Fund, and launch a renewed effort to sell Pathfinder books, we can build on the momentum of the Young Socialists convention - expanding the reach of the socialist press and winning new forces to the working-class vanguard.

Fraternally,

Naomi Craine

Editor  
 
 
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