BY NAOMI CRAINE
"Claudio Burgos, a member of the Young Socialists, sold the first sub" at a literature table at a high school, said Anita Ostling from Stockholm, Sweden, reporting on how Militant supporters there have kicked off their campaign to win new readers to the socialist press. "The YS here has taken a goal of selling five subscriptions to the Militant during the campaign."

In addition to the new Militant subscriber at the high school, another bought a subscription to Perspectiva Mundial and three bought copies of the Marxist magazine New International during the first three days of the international sales drive.

Supporters there, as in other places, are organizing a range of sales for the next few days - at another high school, on a college campus, in working- class neighborhoods all day Saturday, and with a special trip to an antifascist conference.

Joshua Carroll, a Young Socialist leader in Chicago, reports, "We set up a literature table at Truman College here and sold three subscriptions to the Militant, one subscription to Perspectiva Mundial, one copy of New International featuring the article "The Coming Revolution in South Africa," and several single issues of the paper.

"A young woman who bought a subscription to Perspectiva Mundial after seeing the headline "Stop the imperialist slaughter in Iraq," exclaimed to her friend, "this is important - there is no other magazine that says this!"

Supporters of the socialist press internationally are campaigning to sell 1,400 new Militant subscriptions, 450 subscriptions to its Spanish- language sister publication Perspectiva Mundial, and 600 copies of the Marxist magazine New International.

The eight-week subscription drive follows a campaign by Militant supporters to sell single issues of the weekly and Perspectiva Mundial to thousands of workers, students, and others as part of campaigning against imperialism and its war moves against Iraq and elsewhere.

Taking advantage of the heightened opportunities for discussion on what is behind Washington's aggression in the Mideast, supporters of the socialist press also took goals to sell issue no. 7 of New International, which includes the article "The Opening Guns of World War III: Washington's assault on Iraq," and the new booklet Celebrating the Homecoming of Ernesto Che Guevara's Reinforcement Brigade to Cuba.

On average, Militant supporters around the world met their goals for single issue sales of the newsweekly, selling 8,300 copies in six weeks. While falling short on the other targets, the regular work to reach out broadly with the socialist press has put Militant supporters in gear to convince many of those who bought single copies to subscribe to the Militant or Perspectiva Mundial.

Socialists in the trade unions sold more than 1,000 copies of the Militant and 137 copies of New International no. 7 to their co-workers during this period.

That can be a springboard toward meeting goals for selling subscriptions and the range of issues of New International between now and May 10.

Supporters of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial also sold a lot of papers outside factory gates during the single issue campaign. Many workers want to learn about each others struggles, in the United States and elsewhere.

Ray Parsons, a member of the Steelworkers union in Des Moines, sent this report: "We sold 13 copies of the Militant on March 17 to workers at Titan Tire in Des Moines.

Workers were interested in coverage of the recent contract vote at Caterpillar, and told us that contract talks at Titan have just begun between the company and United Steelworkers of America Local 164.

The current contract expires April 29, 1998. Many of those buying the paper said that they hope to strike against Titan," describing the long hours and low pay there.

Supporters of the sales campaign should continue to send in stories and pictures of sales activities at plant gates, campuses, and political events.

Next week's Militant will print the results of the first week of the subscription drive.  
 
 
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