BY KATY LEROUGETEL
MONTREAL - A crowd of 75 people, many of whom were youth in town to attend the Young Socialists' founding convention, gathered here November 4 to celebrate the publication of Pathfinder's newest book, Le visage changeant de la politique aux États-Unis. This is the French-language edition of The Changing Face of U.S. Politics - Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions, by Jack Barnes.

Four panelists took delight in quoting the book in French for the first time and in urging the audience to use this handbook designed for workers reacting to the brutality of capitalism on the eve of the 21st century. The book grows out of the experience of the working class over the last two decades, and reflects the hard-earned lessons drawn from the activity of the organized class-conscious and revolutionary- minded section of that class. It shows how, as political resistance grows, workers will revolutionize themselves, their unions, and all of society.

Vicky Marshal, a unionist from Toronto, described a teachers rally against government cutbacks and antiunion attacks that she participated in October 6. "The teachers had spilled out onto the street, and all of a sudden I heard Franco-Ontarian teachers speaking French to one another. On September 27, at the same time as teachers and other unionists were demonstrating in North Bay, Ontario, against provincial government cutbacks, thousands of Quebec unionists were doing the same thing in Quebec City. It is so important to be making this book available in French. Now is the time to be reading this book and making the links."

"During the big labor upsurge in France at the end of 1995, we sold lots of Pathfinder titles and issues of the Marxist magazine Nouvelle Internationale," the French-language sister publication to the Marxist magazine New International, explained Rafik Benali, a construction worker and Young Socialist from Paris. "And we still meet people today who bought and read them at that time, who tell us how much they appreciate these publications. Over the past two months we have sold at least 400 Pathfinder-distributed titles, of which 60 were Pathfinder's French-language edition of Socialism and Man in Cuba by Che Guevara."

Panelist Ryan Kelly, who works in Pathfinder's New York printshop, said, "The drive to produce this book on time was quite intense over the past few weeks. We began every day with a discussion on where the Pathfinder projects were at and the necessary steps to get the book here for the Young Socialists convention."

Michel Prairie, editor of Le visage changeant de la politique aux États-Unis, underlined, "This book is aimed at the Quebecois and other French-speaking youth in Canada who reject the chauvinism, the discrimination, the injustice, and the hypocrisy that are imposed on them. It explains the kind of party that workers will have to build in Canada to make this possible and join the international struggle for socialism.

Prairie explained that Le visage changeant was produced by an international team of more than 30 volunteers -workers and students from Brussels, London, Miami, Montreal, Paris, and Toronto - who translated, corrected, and proofread the whole book. He made an appeal for volunteer translators for both Pathfinder's next French-language and Spanish-language titles.

By the end of the convention weekend 17 people bought The Changing Face of U.S. Politics in French, and two others bought English copies. Pathfinder supporters in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver have adopted initial goals to sell a total of 71 copies of the book in English, French, or Spanish by the convention of the Communist League in Canada, January 1- 4, 1998.

Katy LeRougetel is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 5338 in Toronto YS member Fabian Garcia contributed to this article.  
 
 
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