BY SARA LOBMAN
Workers and youth interested in the fight for socialism
and a Marxist analysis of the crisis of capitalism can now
purchase copies of Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class
Politics at the Millennium, from at least 15 additional
bookstores as a direct result of the sales efforts in June by
supporters of Pathfinder Press. Visits and phone calls with
buyers at the stores resulted in sales of 35 copies of the
book, which has been on the top of Pathfinder's "best
sellers" list since it came out earlier this year.
In addition to the copies of Capitalism's World Disorder, the bookstores purchased 300 other books, for a total of $3,600 of sales at wholesale prices. More than 70 different titles were ordered, including Marxist classics like the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Imperialism by V.I. Lenin, and The History of the Russian Revolution by Leon Trotsky; titles on the Cuban revolution; and books on the labor movement, and fights for Black rights and women's liberation. This clearly indicates that the increased interest in working-class politics is having an impact on the possibilities to place Pathfinder titles in local, chain, and college bookstores.
Orders came in as a result of volunteer sales work from Atlanta, Birmingham, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
When sales volunteer Cindy Jaquith called a university bookstore in Alabama, the buyer initially said she didn't have time for a meeting, but agreed to talk briefly if Jaquith came right over. "This was right at the height of the U.S. and NATO attacks on Yugoslavia," Jaquith reports, "so I decided to focus on some of the titles related to that first. They seemed to be just what she was looking for to strengthen the main trade section of the store." The buyer ended up ordering two copies each of Capitalism's World Disorder, The Truth about Yugoslavia, and The Balkan Wars.
Margaret Savage reports from Detroit that when she and sales volunteer Frank Gorton visited a bookstore in Ferndale, a suburb north of the city, they already had The Truth about Yugoslavia displayed on the front counter. The buyer commented that it was selling well. After a discussion on how the material in Capitalism's World Disorder and New International no. 11 help explain what's happening in world politics today, the buyer decided to get three copies each of those titles. He also ordered a dozen other books, including Coal Miners on Strike, The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara, and John Coltrane and the Jazz Revolution of the 1960s.
In Atlanta, Jill Fein visited three bookstores at the Atlanta airport. All placed orders, for a total of 55 books including eight copies of Capitalism's World Disorder.
Sales volunteers in New York got orders from five different bookstores, totaling 93 books. Their efforts added more than $1,000 to Pathfinder's June sales. One buyer ordered five copies of Capitalism's World Disorder after being shown the index to the book and discussing how it covers a broad range of politics in the current period. Another bookstore in New York, at one of the city colleges, bought two copies of Capitalism's World Disorder, as well as copies of New International nos. 7 and 11 and a dozen other titles.
Pathfinder is encouraging supporters who get bookstore orders to place their names on the top of the order form. If the store uses their own purchase orders, please drop Pathfinder a note so the staff can keep accurate records of how this work is progressing. Any reports on visits can also be sent to Pathfinder.