The titles completed in September were Nelson Mandela Speaks; Palestine and the Arabs' Fight for Liberation; issue no. 2 of the Spanish-language Nueva Internacional, titled "Che Guevara, Cuba, and the Road to Socialism"; Writings of Leon Trotsky 1939-40; Lenin's Final Fight; and The U.S. War Drive and the World Economic Crisis by Fidel Castro. All these books had been out of print and will now be available.
The Reprint Project is a campaign carried out by more than 200 supporters of the communist movement. Its purpose is to convert to electronic files the entire Pathfinder list of books and pamphlets--more than 300 titles containing the strategic lessons of the modern working-class movement.
In addition to the goal of reproducing at least 30 titles by the end of the year, the Reprint Project volunteers have been putting special emphasis on getting Spanish-language titles ready for the Guadalajara International Book Fair, a major Latin American cultural event that will take place in November. Last year 310,000 people attended the fair and more than 1,000 publishers from 26 countries displayed their books.
The Reprint Project set a goal of getting five Spanish-language titles back into print for the fair and is making good progress. Nueva Internacional no. 2 is now on CD, ready for reprinting, and Nueva International no. 3 on "The Rise and Decline of the Nicaraguan Revolution" has been formatted and checked by the Pathfinder editors. Text for The Second Declaration of Havana in Spanish is finished and the graphics files were recently sent for checking.
The book Wall Street enjuicia al socialismo, the Spanish version of Socialism on Trial by James P. Cannon, has been proofread and formatting has begun. And proofreaders skilled in the Spanish language are putting a final push on finishing the article 50 aņos de guerra encubierta, which appears in English as an article in New International no. 6 titled "The 50-year domestic contra operation."
Completing this Spanish work was a big challenge for proofreading. To finish Nueva Internacional no. 3, two volunteers took a day off work. Wall Street enjuicia al socialismo required four people adjusting their schedules and two taking on new responsibilities.
As a result of the political confidence volunteers gained at the Active Workers Conference held in August, the Reprint Project registered a marked increase in production. This was true for all areas of the project. The pool of volunteers working on Spanish titles has expanded to 13. Some have been very productive.
First rounds of proofreading in Spanish will soon be completed for all titles. The challenge now is to train additional volunteers to be able to do the second rounds of proofreading in Spanish.
First reads for English-language Pathfinder titles will also be finished in a matter of months. The Reprint Project Steering Committee recently decided to ask all volunteers to consider training for other aspects of the project--index concordance preparation, formatting, graphics, and second reads. Some of these require slightly more computer skills than first reads, but it is not something that a dedicated volunteer cannot learn.
All areas of the project had excellent production in September. Proofreading sent 10 titles to formatting, while formatting sent 11 titles to Pathfinder for checking. Eighteen graphics volunteers did work that included 7 covers, 49 photo pages, 4 duotone photos, 1 full-color photo, and 74 black-and-white photos, maps, and drawings. In indexing 35 volunteers completed work on 109 assignments covering seven titles.
One of the final challenges to be solved by the Reprint Project involves getting titles onto CD. Any small glitch in the final stages of production, be it a software problem or last minute correction, slows production at that stage. Attention to this area will make it possible for the Reprint Project to realize its long-term goal of 10 titles per month.
If you would like to take part in this effort to keep in print the political arsenal of the revolutionary workers movement, contact Ruth Cheney at RuthChen@flash.net.
Jerry Gardner is a member of the Pathfinder Reprint Project Steering Committee.
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