BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
A week into the February 8-28 renewal drive, socialist workers in Iowa report they've sold several subscription renewals to the Militant and its Spanish-language sister Perspectiva Mundial to packinghouse workers. Joe Swanson, a meatpacker at the IBP plant in Perry, Iowa, where many immigrants from Latin America live, said, "We sold two renewals on the job to young maintenance workers who bought subs during the last Militant circulation campaign. One bought the paper because he really appreciated its coverage of the labor movement. He knows the Militant will have something on the recent American Airlines dispute." Swanson said his other co-worker renewed because his family likes the paper. "He shares it with his mother."

"We made trips to visit people and spent time talking to them," said Dick McBride, another Iowa meatpacker. McBride said they sold a new subscription to a Mexican worker who became interested in political discussions on the labor movement, while they were at the home of a Perspectiva Mundial subscriber who decided to renew. "After that visit, we went to the house of another co-worker and sold him New International no. 7," which features the article "The Opening Guns of World War III."

Gerardo Sánchez, a rail worker at Union Pacific, sold two Perspectiva Mundial renewals to Latino workers who lost their jobs after the Montfort packing plant in Des Moines shut down. "One worker was from Ecuador, who I talked to for an hour at his home. He asked lots of questions about Clinton's cuts on welfare benefits to legal residents, medical benefits, and workers compensation. He said he wondered if it will make any difference if immigrants are legal or illegal," Sánchez said. Another worker from Mexico who renewed his Perspectiva Mundial sub said he liked it "because it's the only paper where you can find out about struggles of immigrant workers in this country." The socialist workers in Des Moines are using the renewal campaign to build an upcoming Militant Labor Forum on the fight for immigrant rights.

Militant supporters in San Francisco have sold five renewals to the socialist newsweekly, nearly half their goal. "When we learned about the renewal campaign, we looked up our co-workers who bought subscriptions in the past," said Omari Musa, who works at Unocal in Rodeo, California. The chemical worker said he sold two renewals - one to a co- worker and the other to another chemical worker in the area who is a longtime reader of the Militant.

"She had one or two issues remaining on her subscription when I asked her about renewing," said Musa, "and told me, 'I wouldn't want to miss a single issue, because the Militant helps me to think out a lot of political questions.' " She also pledged $300 to the Militant Fund. Musa reported that another co-worker who is also a longtime reader of the Militant pledged $150 to the fund, which will run from February 22 to April 26.

A former student at Rutgers University in New Jersey renewed her Militant subscription and bought a Pathfinder Readers Club membership and two Malcolm X titles, reports Jane Harris, a rail worker in Newark. "I talked to her for an hour and a half." Harris said she also sold a new Militant subscription to one of her co-workers at New Jersey Transit. "I'm on a roll," she declared.

Betsy Farley, a steelworker in Birmingham, reported supporters have sold nine renewals to the Militant there, including two to coal miners, three to steelworkers, two to students at the University of Alabama, and two to members of the United Auto Workers on strike at PEMCO, an aircraft repair plant. "Our goal is 15 but I think we will sell more than that because people need this paper," said Farley. The accompanying chart does not reflect the subscriptions from Birmingham, as they have not yet arrived at the Militant office. All renewals received by Tuesday at noon EST, will be counted toward that week's chart.

Farley said socialist steelworkers also sold a new subscription to Perspectiva Mundial on the job, several single issues of the Militant to co-workers and seven Pathfinder books.

Militant bundle orders have increased slightly, reflecting a step up by supporters in using the socialist press to reach out to win new readers. This is a good warm up to the international subscription drive that will begin March 8. The renewal campaign is also part of the effort build the upcoming Young Socialists convention and recruit new fighters to the socialist movement. Next week's issue of the Militant will feature an article on the Militant Fund and a chart with the goals listing cities where supporters around the world are participating in the fund-raising campaign.  
 
 
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