BY BRIAN TAYLOR
OBERLIN, Ohio - A boisterous rally held at the end of the
Active Workers Conference launched the 1999 Pathfinder Fund.
Several participants, as part of the panel discussions at the
conference, shared their experiences of selling Pathfinder
books to their co-workers, as well as to bookstores and
libraries in their regions. Others explained how reading these
books changed their lives.
The $125,000 fund drive, which will run through November 15, will help finance Pathfinder's continuing reprint program and several new books. Making History, containing interviews with four generals of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces - Enrique Carreras, José Ramón Fernández, Néstor López Cuba, and Harry Villegas - will be published in November, in time to be launched at the Guadalajara bookfair in Mexico together with the Spanish-language edition published by Editora Política in Cuba. Che Guevara Talks to Young People, prepared in collaboration with Editora Abril in Cuba, and the Spanish translation of Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium by Jack Barnes are scheduled for publication by the time of the Havana bookfair in February 2000.
Following an Active Workers Conference in Pittsburgh one year ago, the Socialist Workers Party decided to strengthen its work in industry by rebuilding fractions of worker- bolsheviks in garment, textile, and meatpacking plants; in mines; and deepening the party's ties with working farmers. The progress in carrying out this perspective was registered at the conference. Socialist workers in the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, many of whom have gotten jobs in garment and textile factories over the last year, set an example by making an initial, combined fund pledge of $1,690. United Transportation Union members have a combined pledge so far of $10,100 and the members of the United Steelworkers of America stand at $8,500 pledged.
To date, more than $60,000 has been pledged for the fund. Leaving no stone unturned - giving every co-worker, every farmer and young fellow fighter a chance to make a pledge or contribution - will maximize the chances of meeting and exceeding the fund's goal. Supporters of the fund will want to plan early meetings that take advantage of the leverage Pathfinder has around the world.
To find out more information about the fund or to make a contribution, contact your nearest Pathfinder bookstore listed on page 8. Please make all checks and money orders out to Pathfinder, earmarked Pathfinder Fund, and sent them to: Pathfinder, 410 West Street, New York, NY 10014.