BY MICHAEL BAUMANN
The Pathfinder Capital Fund now stands at $395,000 toward
the $550,000 goal. The success of the fund to date made it
possible to make the final payment in mid-February on the
$350,000 computer-to-plate equipment that is essential to help
cut the costs and labor time needed to produce Pathfinder
books - making it possible to maintain Pathfinder's printshop.
This is key to meeting the growing need and possibilities to expand the distribution of Pathfinder books. At the center of these efforts right now will be the publication of Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium. This will be the first new Pathfinder book produced with the computer-to-plate equipment. Pathfinder bookstores around the country are beginning to take pre- publication orders.
The book, by Socialist Workers Party national secretary Jack Barnes, pinpoints the deep-going shifts that are taking place in world politics as working people increasingly resist the brutal assault of the capitalist rulers. And it points to the opportunities these changes open up for workers and farmers to engage in struggle to change the future capitalism has in store for us.
Billed by its publisher as perhaps the only millennium title whose purpose "is not to mystify and obscure but to reveal and clarify," the book will come off the presses February 26. Initial copies will be in every Pathfinder outlet the following Monday.
A special discount price of $17.00-$6.95 off the regular cover price of $23.95 is being offered to members of the Pathfinder Readers Club (see front page ad). The clothbound edition, which will be out in mid-March, will be available for $35.00 ($30.00 off the regular price) to Readers Club members.
The book will also be sold through retail, campus, and chain stores. In New York earlier this month, supporters of Pathfinder tested the waters with two days of sales visits to a number of outlets. Two orders, for a total of 87 books, have come so far from the visits.
Buyers at three of the city's largest independent bookstores asked the sales representatives to return when they had copies of Capitalism's World Disorder to show. One outlet, a busy store located in Manhattan's East Village, placed an order for 10 copies of New International no. 11, featuring the article "U.S Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War" and two copies of The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions.
The additional $155,000 now being raised toward the capital fund goal is for further capital needs that must be deferred for now, as the funds are needed to meet a conjunctural cash shortfall as printshop workers work to reverse a serious drop in sales, increase productivity, and then regenerate the capital.
To make a contribution, write the Capital Fund Committee, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014.