BY BROCK SATTER AND JON ERWAY
NEWARK, New Jersey -"We're going to make our goal and go
over," reports Joshua Carroll, co-director of the New
International fund in Chicago. "We got off to a slow start,"
Carroll admits, "but pledges have just gone over the $7,500
mark we took as a goal, and we're confident we're going to make
it." A rally Sunday November 8 caps several weeks of stepped-up
efforts by supporters of the Marxist magazine in the Midwest.
Chicago's situation - a look at the chart tells you how much work supporters there have ahead of them - is similar to the task supporters in many cities around the world face. To make the international goal of raising $115,000 in full and on time by November 15, nearly $33,000 must be collected in each of the next two weeks. That's a tall order; following through on it requires serious attention from all supporters of the fund.
This week's collection of $14,133 tops any previous week, but we are still far short of where we need to be.
To meet the challenge of raising the final $65,082, supporters of the fund are gearing up with rallies, seeking out new pledges among the growing layer of class-struggle-minded workers, farmers, and youth that are attracted to the ideas of New International, and working to increase the pledges that have already been made.
In Birmingham, Tom Leonard, a veteran of struggles in the maritime union, will share the platform at a New International Fund meeting with Ronald Martin, a member of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 108, and Jamila Reese, a member of the local Young Socialists.
In Boston, fund director Greg McCartan reports that supporters continue to receive contributions from mailing sent out to past contributors to fund-raising efforts. A total of 11 contributions have come in so far from the mailing, bringing in more than $400 dollars. "We have been able to get contributions from 32 people," McCartan says, "and we are approaching 24 others who have contributed in the past."
In Pittsburgh, $800 was raised last week. Twenty people attended a fund rally featuring Sam Manuel, organizer of the Socialist Workers Party's committee on work with farmers, and Olympia Newton, organizer of the D.C. Young Socialists. Two young people came from the coalfields in Carbondale, Illinois, after learning about the event the day before. Another young person came and brought a friend who had first learned of the communist movement through a Socialist Workers election campaign table at the plant gate of USX Clairton, a coke works plant.
A total of $1,400 was collected at a rally in Cleveland where Leonard spoke on the topic "Labor Resistance and Working- Class Politics." Two students - including one from Oberlin College who made a contribution - were among the 21 people who attended the event. Steve Warshell, fund director in Cleveland, reports they have been talking to fighters and supporters who haven't made a pledge yet, and to others about raising their pledges.
In Washington, D.C., fund supporter Mary Martin reports that in the course of discussing how her union could fight to defend a worker from a firing, her co-worker, a ramp worker at United at Dulles airport and a member of Machinists Local 1759, gave her a $5 contribution to the fund and said he would send another check in the mail.
In Miami, rail worker Kay Sedam explained that $15 had been raised so far on the job through a raffle for the fund. Among the popular prizes being raffled are T-shirts taking up the struggle of Black farmers. Sedam reports that her union, United Transportation Union Local 1138, had voted to help finance a tour of Black farmers to discuss their case against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for discrimination. The tour will take place some time in January.
Over $850 was collected at a New International Fund celebration held in Detroit November 1. More than 20 attended the event. One of those attending was a student from nearby Windsor, Ontario, who had just recently bought his first subscription to the socialist newsweekly the Militant.
"So far," reports Detroit fund director Frank Gorton, "31 people have contributed, in amounts ranging from $5 to $500."