Claudio Burgos, a leader of the Young Socialists in Sweden, highlighted another central feature of the book. He quoted from the "Young Socialists Manifesto," that says, " today there exists an open field where the YS can function as a revolutionary youth organization."

He pointed to the bus drivers' strike a year ago involving 15,000 workers all over Sweden. This became a central activity for the Young Socialists. Members visited picket lines, talked to strikers, and brought other young people to the struggle.

Alba Soto, second secretary of the Cuban embassy, also spoke. She pointed to the optimistic tone of the book and quoted from the article by Cuban leader José Ramón Balaguer, who writes that for the Cuban people, "Socialism is the only possible, the only valid option to place social relations on a moral footing."

Lwaki Ebarasi, a member of the Metal Workers union in Västerås, said that imperialism has subjected peoples in the semi-colonial countries to its dictates. Both the fighting perspective outlined in the book, as well as the spirit that he had noticed among those working to produce the new title, can give people hope of another future, he said.

Peter Hemgren, a major contributor to the production of the book, explained how it was produced by workers and students giving their free time, but without making any compromises on the quality of the final product.

Catharina Tirsén, the editor of Ny International, pointed out that the main reason for the optimistic tone presented in the articles comes from the most "underestimated and unknown factor: that the working class still is at the center stage of politics." She pointed to problems the imperialist powers face around the world, such as Washington's failure to achieve its goals in the war against Iraq, to the incapacity of the German ruling class to unify the country and incorporate the workers state in the eastern part of the country.

Earlier during the day the Pathfinder bookstore celebrated its 10th anniversary with an open house. The first secretary of the Cuban embassy, Guillermo Vasques, spoke. He told the audience that Cuban ambassador Denis Guzman spoke at the opening celebration of the bookstore 10 years ago, which was appropriate for a bookstore with so many books on Cuba. "We know that we always can count on the solidarity of the people working with the Pathfinder bookstore," he said.  
 
 
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