BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
Socialist workers and members of the Young Socialists are
hitting the road for regional Militant sales teams, reaching out
to miners in the coal fields in Arizona and West Virginia,
striking miners in southern Illinois, and striking Steelworkers
and Black farmers in Mississippi. These teams are part of the
sales drive that supporters of the Militant launched around the
world September 12. The goals of the eight-week effort are to win
1,300 new readers to the socialist newsweekly and 400 new
subscribers to its Spanish-language sister publication
Perspectiva Mundial, and to sell hundreds of copies of the
Marxist magazine New International.
"I campaigned at a United Auto Workers (UAW) meeting in Chicago, where we sold two Militant subscriptions and three copies of the paper," said Sarah Katz, Socialist Workers candidate for Lt. Governor of Illinois and member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). "The Democratic Party candidate for governor, Glen Poschard, was there along with other capitalist politicians. Many workers told me they were interested in what I had to say and I was invited to speak at their next union meeting."
Helen Myers, a member of the UAW local, said, "The unionists who bought copies of the paper liked how the Militant explained Malcolm X's opposition to the Democrats and Republicans." Myers said supporters in Chicago also participated in a Mexican Independence Day parade and sold five subscriptions to Perspectiva Mundial (PM), one subscription to the Militant, and three copies of New International.
Chris Remple, a member of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) in Pittsburgh, said, "In our first day of the subscription drive we sold four Militant subs and two PM subs." One of the new Militant readers got the paper at a conference on the miners disease black lung in southern West Virginia.
"Salm Kolis, a USWA member and the SWP candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania will travel to the coal fields in southern West Virginia starting September 27," Remple added. "She will also travel to eastern West Virginia to meet miners at the Pittston Coal company, who went through a major strike battle in 1989-90. Anyone interested in joining Kolis on this regional coal team can call me at (412) 381-9785."
Another Militant supporter in Pittsburgh, Paul Coltrin, who is a member of the Young Socialists said, "We sold two subscriptions to Perspectiva Mundial when we went door to door in a working-class community in Erie, Pennsylvania, where a lot of Puerto Ricans live." One of the new subscribers was particularly interested in the magazine's coverage of the auto workers strike against General Motors. "He was prepared to buy the paper even before I finished talking," Coltrin said. "He just looked at it and asked, `How much is it?' "
In Los Angeles, UNITE member Gale Shangold said, "We are organizing teams to travel to the western coal mines of the Navajo region in Arizona. One team is there already and another team will leave here next week."
Shangold also said supporters there are "working hard to build a September 18 Militant Labor Forum celebrating `100 Years of Anti-Imperialist Resistance,' " which is part of an upcoming national leadership gathering of the Young Socialists.
"So far we have sold five Militant subscriptions, including two to workers who are members of the International Association of Machinists and one to a member of the United Transportation Union," she added.
These will count toward the goals taken on by socialist workers in those unions. Socialist packinghouse workers in Iowa are also on their way toward meeting their sales goal to other members of the United Food and Commercial Workers. One worker bought a Militant subscription and another a copy of New International no. 7, with the article "Opening Guns of World War II: Washington's Assault on Iraq," when they were forced to work overtime.
"We got off to a good start for the first weekend of the subscription drive," said Cindy Jacquith from Birmingham. "We were able to send out two teams of Militant supporters and also organized volunteers to staff the Pathfinder Bookstore. One team went to Montgomery where there was a march of about 200 people protesting against racism in jobs and education."
Others went to Washington, D.C. to participate in a demonstration of Black farmers against racist discrimination. Seven of the protesters bought copies of the Militant, and one got a subscription.
Jacquith added, "Next week we plan to send out a regional team to Natchez, Mississippi, where USWA members are on strike against Titan Tire Co."
Jeanne FitzMaurice, a member of the USWA, who will join the regional team to Natchez said, "We will also meet with some of the Black farmers from Tchula, Mississippi, who we spoke with recently met at the annual meeting of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund in Epes, Alabama. We are organizing a Militant Labor Forum next week that will feature the struggle of Black farmers to defend their land." Among these farmers is Eddie Carthan, who was mayor of Tchula before he was removed on a series of racist frame-up charges, including murder. Carthan, who served 14 months behind bars, was elected in 1977 as the first Black mayor of a Mississippi delta town since reconstruction in the South after the Civil War.
Supporters of the subscription drive are urged to send in articles or jot down a few lines about discussions with workers, farmers, and students.
Describing sales experiences on regional teams, on the job, at plant gates, going door to door in working-class communities, and on campuses strengthens the campaign to win new readers to the socialist press.
Also, the Militant wants pictures of sales activities. You can send prints or negatives, or e-mail your photos to the address on page 2. Be sure to scan them at a resolution of at least 300 dpi and send them as a TIFF or uncompressed JPEG file.
Anyone interested in joining the regional sales teams being organized from Los Angeles and Birmingham can call the numbers listed in the directory on page 16.