Over the past two weeks socialist workers in Chippewa Falls have sent two teams to sell these publications at the entrance to the Farmland meatpacking plant in Albert Lea, Minnesota, which employs about 600 workers.

During their first sale at the plant gate, the team sold three copies of the Militant, and one subscription to PM and one single copy. The following week three workers purchased the Militant and one worker purchased Perspectiva Mundial. "The person who bought the PM sub happened to be one of our co-workers who was dropping off a friend," reports Karen Ray. "We figure we should sell at this plant gate every week."

Regular sales at factory gates broadens the presence of the Militant and PM among industrial workers. Socialist workers in New York have begun to meet workers at a laundry in Oceanside, New York, where 250 workers waged a three-day strike in mid-October that forced the bosses to agree to their demand for representation by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE).

"We set up a literature table there on a Saturday and sold 10 copies of the November special edition of Perspectiva Mundial," said Jason Vergara, a garment worker. "We had sold there before and some of the workers expected us to come back since the PM special issue carries an article about their struggle on the back page."

On November 28 negotiators for UNITE reached a tentative contract agreement for 4,000 workers at industrial laundries serving New York City's hotels, restaurants, and hospitals. The proposed contract reportedly provides for raises of around 20 percent over three years, as well as improved benefits. The laundry workers will be voting on the contract over the coming week.

Socialist workers in Chippewa Falls have followed up their sales at plant gates and other venues with classes on The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning involving co-workers, students, and others who purchased copies of the pamphlet. "I was part of a discussion this past Sunday with two co-workers in a class we held at the library," said Kevin Dwire, a meat packer. "We are going to have another class next Sunday and are contacting everyone who has bought the pamphlet."

Karen Ray, also a meat packer, said, "It was a bilingual meeting and everybody participated." Two of the workers who attended the class are originally from Mexico. Some who participated speak little Spanish while one worker speaks little English.

"We talked about conditions on the job, and the fact that no matter how hard we work, the bosses keep cranking up that line speed in the plant. We also spent a lot of time discussing how to build unity within the working class."

One of the workers, Felipe, had been a farmer in Mexico and bought Perspectiva Mundial for the first time when he was a farm worker in Homestead, Florida, a number of years ago. "The bosses want us to think that it's normal to work long hours with low pay," he pointed out in the class. "As long as we accept that, we can never get anywhere." In the class they discussed how the mood is beginning to change among growing numbers of working people.

In several other areas around the country socialist workers are finding that many who have bought the pamphlet are interested in discussing its contents and in participating in classes on other Marxist literature.
 
 
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