BY BROCK SATTER
NEWARK, New Jersey - A total of $33,548 was collected around
the world last week, more than double the amount collected in
any previous week. This puts us in range to make our fund goal
with one final push. Going into the last week, the New
International fund stands at 72 percent. At total $31,476 more
is needed to meet the goal in full by November 15.
Supporters around the world have responded to the challenge of closing the gap. Two individuals, one from London, another from Ontario, sent in checks directly to New York, responding to the recent Militant articles explaining the importance of sustaining the Marxist magazine.
The large increase in contributions reflects the number of fund rallies that took place, a rise in the collection of outstanding pledges, and ongoing efforts to reach out broadly to class-struggle minded fighters among workers, farmers, and youth who can be won to the ideas of the New International and will see the necessity of such a publication to exist.
"Our November 7 New International fund celebration was a big success. It reflected what we have done to reach out," Birmingham fund director George Williams explained. "We have already collected above our goal of $3,000 and there are still several workers and other supporters of the New International we want to talk to over the rest of the week to make a contribution.
We should be able to raise a few hundred more for the fund."
The event in Birmingham featured Tom Leonard, veteran fighter in the maritime workers union and SWP leader; Ronald Martin, a young member of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 108; and Jamila Reese, a Young Socialists member in Birmingham. Among the nearly 30 people attending the event were two students from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, who had met supporters of New International who were part of a sales team visiting the campus the previous week.
Williams mentioned that one of his co-workers at Pemco, a UAW-organized plant that refurbishes airplanes, attended the event. "We went together to the picket lines at the strike in Peterbilt in Nashville a couple weeks ago." Participants at the event bought four copies of New International, including one by the worker at Pemco and one by the students from Vanderbilt. A total of $1,800 was collected.
In Miami, $690 was raised and additional pledges were made. Four workers from Haiti attended the event, including one person who supporters met while selling socialist literature door-to-door. In New York, 60 people attended an event featuring Mike Fitzsimmons, a member of the SWP's Trade Union Committee. Among those attending were four young people new to the New International. More than $2,500 was collected at that meeting. In other cities, $2,000 was collected at a fund rally in Seattle, and $700 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
ATLANTA, Georgia - Twenty-seven people attended the November 7 New International rally here, including four young workers and students who are interested in the upcoming national convention of the Young Socialists that will be taking place in Los Angeles in December. A total of $1,195 was collected at the meeting, enabling Georgia supporters of the fund to reach their goal. They plan to continue to reach out for more contributions.
The platform at the event was shared by Doug Jenness, organizer of the SWP election campaign committee and its work with farmers, and Eddie Slaughter, a farmer from BuenaVista, Georgia who is a plaintiff in the class action suit by Black farmers against the United States Department of Agriculture. Slaughter, who also works for Weyerhauser, a giant pulp and paper corporation, described how the government and the corporations are working together to drive him and other Georgia farmers off of their land. "They take our land and then on top of that they call us a real dirty name - `statistically insignificant,' one of the worst things I've ever been called." Slaughter reported on advances Black farmers have made in their fight.