Two members of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) bought copies outside a union meeting to discuss their contract fight on December 14 in New York. A number of workers stopped at the literature table set up by socialist workers near the meeting venue. "One worker was from Puerto Rico. He stopped to talk, looked through the book, and decided to buy it," said Olga Rodríguez, who helped staff the table.

A third copy was sold to an internet company worker from Jersey City who was passing by. After expressing his full support for the fight of the TWU for a just contract, he spoke about New York state's antiunion Taylor Law. "It seems blatantly undemocratic," he said. "It's designed to keep labor from doing anything for its members and serves corporate interests both for the Democrats and the Republicans who serve the bosses."

In the days leading up to December 15, when union members were preparing to strike, supporters of Pathfinder books and the Militant sold a number of copies of the socialist weekly to TWU members at subway and bus depots in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

"Capitalism's World Disorder takes up the shifts in world politics of the last decade," Rodríguez said. "It helps unionists to see the context of their struggles, and to connect them to other fights." (See ad on front page.)

In August socialist unionists and youth kicked off a campaign to both sell the book and to place it in libraries and bookstores. The campaign is boosting the sales of other Pathfinder titles and socialist periodicals. Promoting Making History, Pathfinder's brand new collection of interviews with leaders of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, fits into this effort too.

"He convinced himself to buy Cap-italism's World Disorder," Tom Fiske told the Militant, describing the response of a farmer he met at the Dec. 13 march in Washington D.C. organized by the Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association.

"We had a great discussion. I said some things about the need for workers and working farmers to act as allies. As he looked through the introductory pages of the book, he noted that it centered on the changes working people had begun to fight for in this country. This convinced him to buy it. In the discussions among the farmers he was a leading advocate of the need for independent actions."

Pathfinder supporters in Los Angeles showed the potential to stock bookstore shelves with Pathfinder titles in recent visits. Juan Villagómez and Mark Friedman gained orders from two Santa Monica shops, including multiple copies of many titles. One major bookstore ordered six copies of Cap-italism's World Disorder, three of The Changing Face of U.S. Politics, Habla Malcolm X (Malcolm X speaks), and titles by Che Guevara and Leon Trotsky. "The buyer was interested in Marxism, so he ordered a lot of stuff," said Villagómez. A display of Capitalism's World Disorder will be mounted on a central table in the front of the store.

A smaller store ordered Capitalism's World Disorder, Making History, 15 copies of The Communist Manifesto, and several titles on the Cuban revolution. Villagómez and Friedman have since placed Capitalism's World Disorder and Making History in a Hollywood bookstore.

Below we print other reports from campaign participants.  
 

Teamsters snap up books

The pickets, Teamsters from Local 667 employed by Yellow and Consolidated Freight Companies, were walking the line while Overnite strikers attended a Christmas party for themselves and their families sponsored by the union local. Local 667 is a large, amalgamated local that includes Teamsters from Overnite, Yellow, Consolidated Freight, and other companies.

After the picket line visit, the team stopped by two local bookstores. One took a copy of Capitalism's World Disorder on consignment. The buyers at both stores, one specializing in African-American literature in the heart of Memphis and the other more of a "superstore" type, intend to place orders for more books when the team returns in the near future.  
 

Iowa bookstores order Pathfinder

Two stores in a chain selling books, videos, and CDs also placed orders. One, whose customers include many students, took 37 books including six copies of Capitalism's World Disorder. The other, located in an industrial town in Central Iowa with a growing Latino population, ordered 55 titles including a good number in Spanish.

The owner of a small store in Des Moines selling mostly clothing and some magazines and catering to the Black community, ordered seven titles including one Capitalism's World Disorder. He had met Pathfinder supporters at meeting to organize support for the campaign to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted and sentenced to death on frame-up charges of killing a cop. Seeing no bookstore in the Black community, he decided to stock a number of titles related to Black rights.  
 

Tip at Puerto Rico rally pays off

Acting on a tip from a marcher who had traveled from New Haven, Connecticut, the team visited a bookstore specializing in Spanish-language books and immediately placed an order for three titles. The team also visited a university campus in the area, and placed two copies of Capitalism's World Disorder to round out a successful day.  
 
 
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