BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS
"We call on all our readers to join Militant supporters in dozens of cities around the world in a special sales mobilization between October 4 and October 12," said Militant editor Naomi Craine. The dates coincide with many events in the United States and other countries marking the 30th anniversary of the death of Ernesto Che Guevara (see article on front page).

"Organizing day-long sales in working-class neighborhoods, street corners, and campuses can be combined with winning new subscribers at political events on Che," Craine said. "Making a special effort to bring other workers and young people to such activities and sign them up to get the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial (PM) will pay off politically. New International no. 8 on `Che Guevara, Cuba and the Road to Socialism' will be very attractive to many of these people along with the special offers advertised on the front page. The October 4 - 12 period will be a good time to take some time off work or school to join one- or two-day sales teams, and at the same time step up sales on the job."

Militant supporters will use this target week of sales, and the days leading up to it, to get on or ahead of schedule in the subscription drive, Craine stated. During the third week of the campaign the rate of Militant subscription sales slowed a little more, with 117 subs coming in, compared to 176 and 128 the first and second weeks respectively. The drive is now 6 percent behind schedule.

Here's what Militant supporters report from some of the cities where they've consistently kept ahead so far.

"Due to our early success in the drive we have decided to raise our goal to 40," said Holly Harkness in a note from Detroit. "There's no big trick to our sales. We just try to get out sales teams to campuses, door-to-door, and out of town trips like the `Ask a Working Woman' conference in Washington, D.C. We've also sold subscriptions out of the Pathfinder bookstore and at Militant Labor Forums. And we call back people who buy and want to read one issue before deciding whether to subscribe. A number of the call backs pan out in subs."

While the drive's goal is to win hundreds of new subscribers, sub renewals also keep coming in and are often combined with purchases of copies of the Marxist magazine New International (NI) and Pathfinder books. "We sold two NIs to a former subscriber who studies at the University of Windsor, just across the Canadian border," Harkness said. "He renewed his subscription and bought nos. 6 and 10 of New International. His parents are from Trinidad and he was interested in the article on Maurice Bishop and the Grenadian revolution. Another student on that campus bought NI no. 8 on Che Guevara. We sold another NI no. 8 at a showing of Richard Dindo's movie, Che Guevara's Bolivian Diary, in Ann Arbor, Michigan."

Dindo's movie presents a caricature of Che and the guerrilla campaign in Bolivia Guevara led. But many viewers are interested to find out what Che had to say himself and the view of revolutionaries today. "We had tables outside four showings of Dindo's film here as part of an annual Latin America Film Festival in London," wrote Celia Pugh from the British capital. "We sold a number of Militants, the book Pombo: A Man of Che's `Guerrilla,' Che's own Bolivian Diary, and seven copies of New International."

Interest in socialist literature is also considerable among industrial workers. "I have been carrying Militants and PMs in my lunch bag and keeping some in my locker," wrote Maggie Trowe, a member of the United, Food and Commercial Workers and a meatpacker in Marshalltown, Iowa. "In discussing the UPS and BART strikes, immigrant rights, and women's equality, it has been a natural thing to show co- workers the paper and ask them to look at it overnight. The next day, some return it and others buy a single copy or a subscription. I've sold three subs to PM and one to the Militant so far, and one copy of Nueva Internacional [Spanish- language edition of New International] on the rise and decline of the Nicaraguan revolution. That copy was to a worker from El Salvador. He has many questions about why the revolution ended, and has been reading the magazine on the bus every day."

Cappy Kidd, a member of the United Auto Workers in Chicago, reported that he and a member of the Young Socialists recently organized a showing of Labor's Turning Point, a documentary on the 1934 Teamsters strikes. Two young workers at a UPS depot in Chicago, who are Teamsters members, came to the video showing and after considerable political discussion subscribed to the Militant. And in Los Angeles, socialists have sold more than 10 subscriptions to fellow members of the International Association of Machinists on the job, reported Laura Anderson who works for United Airlines as a baggage handler there.

In both of these cities, Militant supporters sent in a good number of subs last week, showing forward motion towards getting on schedule. Larry Lane from San Francisco reported that socialists from the Bay Area and Los Angeles sold about 15 subscriptions to farm workers and others during a regional sales trip to the area around Sacramento, California, September 16 - 21. (These subscriptions from Bay Area supporters did not arrive on time to be counted in this week's chart.)

As part of making plans for the upcoming target week and beyond, Militant readers can consider joining a sales and reporting team to Puerto Rico scheduled for October 16 - 20. Those interested can contact Rollande Girard at the Miami Pathfinder bookstore. The number is listed on page 12.

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BY SARA LOBMAN

"Attached is an order from a university bookstore for 32 books related to Che Guevara and the Cuban revolution," Mary Nell Bockman wrote from Boston. "The buyer was keen to do a display for the books. October is also Hispanic Heritage Month so there are programs on campus and our books will fit right in.

"While I was meeting with the buyer, I noticed a student whose ears perked up as I started taking out the books and talking about Che Guevara," Bockman continued. "He kept moving closer and closer, looking through different books until he was browsing the `management skills' section next to where we were. When the buyer asked him if he needed help, he said he was interested in Che and wanted to know if the store was going to order the books. It certainly helped my sales pitch."

Pathfinder supporters in Minnesota are organizing an intensive week of sales to bookstores and libraries in that region. Greg McCartan, from Pathfinder's offices in New York, is participating in the special effort. "We did five visits in Madison, Wisconsin the first day," he noted, "and got two orders for 53 books. One order was from an independent store near the state university, the other from a small magazine shop that also sells books. Later in the week they got another order for 18 books from a political bookstore in the Twin Cities.

The cloth edition of Pombo: A Man of Che's `Guerrilla' is now available. One library wholesaler has placed an order for 37 copies. Many libraries prefer ordering cloth-bound books to paperbacks.  
 
 
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