Fund supporters plan special public forums
BY GREG McCARTAN
Bus drivers in Los Angeles are standing up to a deep assault on their union and working conditions, refusing to gave in to massive pressure from the government and big-business media. Workers at Earthgrains set a sterling example of solidarity, shutting down growing numbers of the company's bakeries by honoring picket lines of striking union members. Immigrant workers in New York are showing their mettle in standing up to violence and threats by rightists, and winning support in defending their right to a job and dignity. And working people in Cuba are defending their revolution against the mightiest imperialist power on earth, showing the capacities, creativity, and selfless determination of workers and farmers.
These fighters, and tens of thousands more like them, need the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial. As the results in the subscription drive show, supporters of the paper are getting an excellent response to a socialist newsweekly that tells the truth and is published in the interests of working people.
In the third week of the drive to raise $110,000, by November 13, supporters in Australia adopted a goal of $900, bringing the total pledged up to $104,440. Militant supporters in New Zealand are setting the pace, having collected 30 percent of their goal. With $24,567 collected we are 6 percentage points behind where we should stand at this point. Every reader of the Militant can help pick up the pace of collection of funds, as well as close the $6,000 gap we currently have in pledges. Send in a contribution and join with others in your area to encourage others to do so the same.
Supporters of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial in a number of cities are building Militant Labor Forums to discuss U.S. and world politics and raise funds for the two socialist publications. Building the meetings is one of the best ways to let more co-workers, Militant and PM subscribers, student youth, and working people involved in struggles know about and contribute to the fund.
Militant Labor Forums on the fund are now being organized in Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia, over the October 7-8 weekend, as well as in the New York Garment District. A meeting will take place in the Bronx October 14. Three of the meetings will feature a talk by Martín Koppel, editor of the Militant, speaking on "Struggles for Dignity, Rights, and Solidarity: Working People Confront Growing Brutality and Political Polarization of Capitalist Society Today."
"The meeting will be an opportunity to talk about some of the challenges and opportunities facing working people here in the United States," said Koppel. "A growing number of workers and farmers are fighting back against the assaults by the employers and the government. They are also taking on the brutality of capitalism in other ways, such as the protest by co-workers in Detroit against the police killing of United Auto Workers member Dwight Turner.
The recent racist attack and beating of two Mexican workers in Long Island is another example of how the political polarization in politics has serious implications for working people."
In Des Moines, Joe Swanson reports supporters are building a September 30 panel discussion on the invaluable role played by the working-class press in struggles taking place today. The meeting will hear from Amy Roberts, a meat packer and member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 in South St. Paul, Minnesota; Larry Ginter, a hog farmer and activist in the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement; and activists protesting the killing of Charles Lovelady by security people at a local nightclub.
"Meetings such as these are often a good way to introduce co-workers to the fund," said fund director Don Mackle in New York. "Calling the people who have already pledged, and encouraging them to make substantial contributions at the meeting can help the fund catch up or even go ahead. Then the consistent weekly work of making collections and sending in the money in a timely way is fundamental to finishing the drive on time and in full," said Mackle. "Reminding people that the regular operating expenses of the publications are paid for out of the fund, and that those monies are needed today, can help explain why it is better to pay some each week rather than wait to pay it all at the end."
He encouraged supporters to take photos and send them in to the Militant along with short articles on meetings held in their area. To make a contribution, write a check or money order to the Militant and send it to the paper at 410 West St., New York, NY. 10014.
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