"Never before in history has there been a bigger disproportion between the current small numerical size and negligible social weight of communist organizations in the mass labor movement, and the leverage of the political weapons we produce, translate, edit, circulate, and get around in whatever ways we can. There is nothing like it in the history of the workers movement. I do not know what better word to choose than 'leverage' " . . .

Dear volunteers:

This quote from Capitalism's World Disorder is a good summary of who and what we are. And the big advances we are making have to be reported to you, so you know just how good we've been doing.

1. We will have the entire Pathfinder arsenal of revolutionary socialism digital by December 31, 1999. "Scan 2000" is on track, fighting to do this. Sixty books and pamphlets remain to be scanned and/or massaged [making an initial round of corrections], which is a serious amount of work. Politically, this is gigantic because the possibility of our books ever not being available to fighting workers will have been eliminated. It also means that by January 1, three months from now, most of the volunteers currently scanning and massaging will become proofreaders, formatters, or graphics volunteers, giving the entire project an additional boost.

2. Mary-Alice Waters, president of Pathfinder Press, told us some great news last week: In August, for the first time, Pathfinder made more income through sales of titles back in print than the income lost due to our inability to fill orders for out of print titles. Yes! Every single one of us has contributed to this result. You might also notice that the newest production chart shows fewer titles out of print. We've produced over 45 completed books and pamphlets and it's making an impact.

3. Thank-you notes are in the mail to all volunteers who have made financial contributions. You will shortly begin receiving reminders about your pledges. The address to send your contribution to: The Reprint Project, 3542 Fruitvale Avenue, # 245, Oakland, CA 94602.

4. We just received a note from Nell, a press operator in the Pathfinder building: "I wanted to make sure the volunteers know that we really appreciated their attention to detail on this cover [Eugene V. Debs Speaks]. I participated in printing this the last time from flats, and it was quite a challenge. This time, though, the pic trapped nicely, the 'duotone' looks a little more duo, and the choke on the tint around the letters was great. I think the photo looks richer this time around, too."

5. Because they've gotten so far ahead of the final readers, we're asking the first readers to make indexing their priority for the next few weeks, which should jump-start completion of several more titles next month. Volunteers assigned to graphics and formatting are being asked to take on indexing work as well. To volunteer for indexing, please contact Dean Denno at DDenno@email.msn.com.

6. The attached letter to proofreaders represents a real step forward for our largest "department" — three new procedures that will save us all time and actually improve the quality of the reprinted texts. Scan/massagers should note 2 — which should save considerable time in that stage of production.

7. The icing on this cake: The editors have asked our formatting production team to do the format-checking of six new books being finished right now by the Pathfinder staff in New York. Why? There's nothing like a fresh set of eyes — and the quality of our work is very good. The first book they will work on is the new edition of Che Guevara Speaks.

In solidarity, 
 
Ruth Cheney  
for the steering committee  
 
 
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