BY TONY HUNT
TEHRAN, Iran - People bought 26 copies of Capitalism's World
Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium at the 12th
Tehran International Book Fair. It was the best seller among
nearly 500 books sold at the Pathfinder Distribution stand,
including many titles by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels and
books about the Cuban revolution.
More than 1 million people from every corner of the country attended the May 4-14 fair. This annual event is a conquest of the 1979 Iranian revolution, which overthrew the dictatorship of the U.S.-backed monarch, the shah. By popular demand the government hosts the international fair, as well as local book fairs, to help make literature more accessible to the Iranian masses, especially scientific and technical texts. Books published abroad are heavily subsidized by the government to make their purchase possible. President Mohammad Khatami, opening the fair this year, proposed that the subsidy be increased. This reduced prices by one-third.
The biggest section of the fair is the area selling books in Farsi, the official language in Iran. In addition, there were 295 foreign publishers displaying books this year, with the largest number of titles in English.
Fair officials reported there was an increase in the number of Arab publishers this year. The majority came from Lebanon and Syria, but there were also sellers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan.
Publishers from foreign countries generally experienced higher sales this year, due in part to the last-minute increase in the Iranian government subsidy and also to greater demand for books of all kinds. This was true of the Pathfinder Distribution booth, which sold nearly 100 more books than last year.
One woman decided to buy Capitalism's World Disorder because she opposed the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and supported self- determination for Kosova. The imperialists' drive toward war was an important factor in several visitors choosing this book. Others picked it up to read about where the author places the Iranian revolution in world politics. Quite a few customers were struck by the photo display in the book, such as the graphic pictures of police brutality in the United States and protests against it.
Fifteen copies were sold of New International no. 11, featuring "U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War." That title was quite controversial and led to many discussions. Often people bought it because they were looking for an explanation of what has happened in the workers states of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Thirty-four New Internationals, in English, French, and Spanish, were sold.
The single most popular authors at the booth were Marx and Engels. Sixty-eight books by or about them were purchased in addition to two sets of their 47-volume Collected Works, seven sets of Capital, and one set of their Selected Works. Also popular were The Communist Manifesto and The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State.
A set of V.I. Lenin's Collected Works and one of Leon Trotsky's Writings were purchased. While university libraries and research centers bought some of these volumes, there was a noticeable number of young people buying Marxist classics as well. Two young women bought a set of Capital and explained they felt it was important today to study the fundamentals of Marxism.
Seventy-three books by and about leaders of the Cuban revolution were sold. The top sellers in this category were the pamphlet Che Guevara and the Imperialist Reality by Mary- Alice Waters and New International no. 8, on the theme "Che Guevara, Cuba, and the Road to Socialism." Many youth identified with Cuba as a country standing up to imperialism.
Quite a few people were attracted to the stand because they saw pictures of Guevara. Several young people gathered around a copy of Guevara's Socialism and Man in Cuba. They were studying a photo of him performing volunteer construction labor while serving as a government minister. Others noted that the Cuban leadership is different from that recently overturned in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. One older man explained that he had once visited Cuba and was struck by the mass support displayed there for Fidel Castro.
As sales of Capitalism's World Disorder showed, substantial numbers of those visiting the stand were interested in learning more about U.S. politics. Six people bought The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions, in English, French, or Spanish. A similar number picked up books by Socialist Workers Party leader James P. Cannon on building a revolutionary party in the United States. Three young men from Qom, the nation's religious center, bought Genocide against the Indians, A Packinghouse Worker's Fight for Justice, and The 1985-86 Hormel Meat-Packers Strike in Austin, Minnesota.
Titles by Malcolm X were also popular. One man said he was pleased that Pathfinder publishes Malcolm's books: "I see you don't discriminate against Muslims."
Dozens of Pathfinder titles on the Palestinian struggle, Israel, and the Jewish question were sold. Ten people bought copies of Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women. Books by George Novack, a longtime leader of the Socialist Workers Party, were also popular, with 49 copies sold.
Meanwhile, on sale in the Farsi area of the book fair were five Pathfinder titles translated into Farsi by Talaye Porsoo, a Tehran-based publisher. These included one new book, Malcolm X Talks to Young People, which sold 25 copies. The leading sellers in Farsi were Socialism and Man in Cuba by Che Guevara, 62 copies, and Thomas Sankara's Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle, 42 copies. Also sold were 13 copies of Imperialism's March toward Fascism and War and 5 copies of Opening Guns of World War III.