BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
"We caught up with William Miller, a 67-year-old farmer
from Marshallville, Georgia, to renew his subscription at a
meeting of 700 farmers in Albany, Georgia," said Arlene
Rubenstein, an airline worker in Atlanta. The farmers were
discussing the class-action lawsuit against the U.S.
Department of Agriculture charging the USDA with racist
discrimination (see article on front page).
"Don't let me miss an issue, I read it every week," said Miller, who worked in a New Jersey auto plant before moving back to the farm when his father died. He was one of two farmers at the meeting who renewed their subs to the Militant. Another farmer bought an introductory subscription to the newspaper.
Supporters of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial like Rubenstein are using the campaign to sell single copies and subscription renewals for the two publications to step up efforts to reach out to workers and farmers involved in struggles.
Doug Jenness from Minnesota said activists there sold eight copies of the Militant, three copies of the pamphlet Farmers Face the Crisis of the 1990s, and one copy of Malcolm X Talks to Young People during a tour of Gary Grant, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association. Several farmers bought the paper and one bought a copy of The Communist Manifesto.
"In renewal calling last week we talked to a worker who had bought a subscription from a co-worker in a United Auto Workers-organized plant. He quit that job, went to work for Shop-Rite in Delaware, and now is about to go on strike as a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union," wrote Jason Coughlin from Philadelphia. "He agreed to renew his sub and wants to hook up with us so we can relate to this possible strike."
Coughlin also reported that he and another Militant supporter went to a conference of 400 farmers organized by the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture February 13. "We set up a literature table, sold 13 copies of the Militant and three copies of the pamphlet Farmers Face the Crisis of the 1990s. We had discussions with dozens of farmers on the fights against USDA discrimination, the crisis in hog and dairy farming, and the Cuban revolution."
In Christchurch, New Zealand, Annalucia Vermunt wrote, "We went to Nelson and set up a table adjacent to a local market, featuring a large placard promoting the Pathfinder pamphlet Farmers Face the Crisis of the 1990s. It attracted a lot of interest.
One woman stopped and said, `I agree, I'm a farmer and it is tough in farming with the drought.' We sold 19 copies of the Militant at that table. In the afternoon we went to meet with a local farmer whose orchard had been foreclosed on by the bank. She described the pressures facing small fruit- growers today. Although they had never failed to meet their loan payments, the bank decided it wasn't willing to continue lending them money. She is fighting the bank's actions."
"We sold 24 copies of the Militant in the first week of the campaign," wrote Joanne Kuniansky from Sydney, Australia. "In the week leading up to the start of the renewal campaign we began our calling with good results - three renewals before the drive began. In addition one supporter sold two introductory subscriptions at work while campaigning for Bob Aiken, who is the Communist League candidate for the seat in Fairfield in the New South Wales state elections. Workmates bought subs after reading our campaign literature against the imperialist assault on Iraq.
"In the first week of the sales campaign we sold four Militant renewals and two Perspectiva Mundial renewals. A Sydney University student who just returned from Cuba renewed her subscription when she joined a campaign table. She has gotten six nominations for Bob in Fairfield and said she would like to staff tables on campus."
The chart below shows the first week's results in the month-long campaign to win long-term readers to the socialist press and to sell 1,250 copies of the Militant and 100 of Perspectiva Mundial each week. The renewal figures are based on subscriptions received at the Militant business office. Subscriptions received by 3:00 p.m. each Tuesday will be counted on the chart. That is also the deadline for supporters to send in their totals of single copies sold.
If you'd like to help in this sales effort, contact the Militant supporters nearest you, listed on page 12. Or you can order your own bundle by contacting the Militant business office at 410 West St., New York, NY 10014. Tel: (212) 243- 6392.