BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS AND MAURICE WILLIAMS
Socialist workers, members of the Young Socialists, and other readers of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial have launched a three-week campaign to increase the long-term readership of these periodicals. The sub renewal effort precedes a drive in March and April to win hundreds of new readers to the socialist publications and raise over $100,000 from workers, farmers, and young people who appreciate them and want to help sustain them financially. Reaching out this way to young rebels and working people interested in the Militant's factual presentation and scientific analysis of world politics will also help recruit new members to the communist movement.

The renewal campaign began February 8 and will last through February 28. Its aim is to win at least 250 Militant readers to renew their subscriptions and 125 subscribers to Perspectiva Mundial - the Militant's sister publication in Spanish - to sign up again. The Militant will publish a weekly chart to track the progress of this effort.

During the month of February, distributors of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial are also going the extra mile to increase sales of single copies - at street corners, door-to-door in working-class communities, on the job, at factory gates, on picket lines, and at a wide variety of political and social events. Consistent and higher sales of single copies now will pave the way for a sustained and successful subscription drive beginning next month.

"Our distributors should rethink their weekly bundles now and consider increasing them," said Militant editor Naomi Craine in an interview. "Experience shows that among those who buy and read a few issues of the paper we are likely to find many new and long-term readers." Militant readers who are interested in ordering their own bundles can do so by contacting the paper's business office.

A special target of the renewal and subscription campaigns is rebel-minded youth who are open to socialist ideas. Six young fighters in Spokane, Washington, who now distribute the Militant every week, formed a chapter of the Young Socialists there during the last circulation drive. They and other YS members plan to use the subscription campaign to reach dozens more youth and invite them to attend the national convention of the Young Socialists, scheduled for March 28-30 in Atlanta (see ad on page 6).

The renewal campaign presents an opportunity to follow up on initial contacts with subscribers, find out questions they may have on political issues discussed in the Militant or elsewhere, and urge them to write letters for the Discussion With Our Readers column. Those who have been subscribing for a while, as well as readers who bought introductory subscriptions recently, are being asked to re- up. All renewals count toward the goal.

In the United States, quotas adopted by Socialist Workers Party and YS members who work in factories, mills, and mines and are members of eight industrial unions add up to nearly half the international goal for subscription renewals. "This is a very positive sign," Craine said, "indicating that more long-term readers of the communist press can be won among industrial workers."

Those who renew their subscriptions or buy them for the first time may also be interested in purchasing Pathfinder books and pamphlets and joining the Pathfinder Readers Club, which provides regular discounts to fans of Pathfinder books. Many of these workers will also be eager to contribute to the Militant Fund. Socialists who are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union adopted a goal at their recent national gathering in Des Moines, Iowa, to raise such contributions from fellow workers in meat packing plants.

The Militant Fund drive will run for nine weeks, from February 22 to April 26. Its goal is to raise funds to sustain the publication of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial. This fundraising campaign is a financial pillar of a working-class paper, which gets no funding from advertising, foundations, or other bourgeois institutions. Its only income comes from sales of single copies and subscriptions - not enough to cover expenses - and contributions from workers.

Militant supporters in several cities are getting ready to launch the fund with public meetings at the beginning of the drive. Twin Cities and Chicago have set the pace so far by planning fund-raising events on February 21 and February 22, respectively. Craine will speak in Chicago on "Defend Social Security!" YS leader Brock Satter will give a talk in St. Paul, Minnesota, on "Black Liberation and Socialism," and supporters in Auckland, New Zealand will also launch the drive the same weekend.

"We urge all our readers to join us in these campaigns," Craine concluded. "We also ask that distributors send the Militant sales stories and pictures of sales activities every week, as well as fund events. These reports are necessary to paint a real picture of the response we get from working people and will reinforce the campaigning spirit over the next three months."  
 
 
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