BY MARTÍN KOPPEL
This week $1,230 was collected for the New International
Fund. It was the first week of the $115,000 campaign, and we
should be collecting more than $14,000 every week during the
eight-week drive.
Supporters sent in $400 from Detroit, $505 from Twin Cities, and $325 from New York.
What's needed now is for supporters of New International to begin to organize substantial collections, in order to wage a real weekly campaign. It's important for promoters of the fund drive to explain to contributors and potential contributors that the funds are needed right now to be able to finance the Marxist magazine New International and its sister publications in Spanish, French, Swedish, and Icelandic.
Issue no. 11 of New International, titled "U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War," came off the presses September 25. The initial run of 1,000 copies of this issue, with its beautiful four-color reproduction of the Pathfinder Mural on the cover, has sold out. The printers are going back to press to produce another 1,000 copies and to improve the quality of the photographs and graphics. Issue no. 11 has more than a dozen inside photos - much more than previous issues.
One example of how to raise money early was set by New International supporters in St. Paul, Minnesota, who held a fund-raising meeting the first week of the campaign. Doug Jenness, a Steelworker and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party, spoke on "The Deepening Dilemma for World Capitalism and New Opportunities for the Working Class." Young Socialists member Heather Wood, who chaired the event, spoke about the Young Socialists Manifesto, a guide to revolutionary practice that is the opening piece in New International no. 11. A class on "Cuba's Internationalism: Cuba and South Africa" was held in conjunction with the meeting, drawing four youths interested in the Young Socialists.
Supporters of the New International Fund in Birmingham are planning to put together "a panel of fighters with whom we are carrying out political work, who will give short presentations on various aspects of the politics in the articles in New International no. 11," local fund director George Williams reports. The October 23 meeting will include a leader of the Socialist Workers Party, a Young Socialist, and a young worker who is an avid reader of revolutionary literature such as New International.
As noted before, it is crucial to collect as much as possible in the first half of the eight-week fund drive in order to allow for the necessary fund-raising, beginning in late October, for those attending the December 4-6 Young Socialists national convention in Los Angeles.
Checks should be made out to the New International Fund and sent to the Militant at 410 West Street, New York, NY 10014.