The forum on "The Crisis Facing Farmers Today," given by Maggie Trowe, was followed by a lively discussion. It was a part of a weekend of activities that featured a meeting the following day to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Cuba's victory over the U.S.-organized invasion at the Bay of Pigs.

The opening of the hall comes after months of political activity by socialist workers and Young Socialists, who have been selling books and pamphlets in Sunset Park to garment, packinghouse, and other workers there, and have found a thirst for revolutionary literature and interest in the communist movement.

The top sellers have been titles on the Cuban Revolution, which many workers have expressed surprise and pleasure to find in the United States.

The large majority of workers who live and work in the area are originally from Puerto Rico, Mexico, and other parts of Latin America.

In one week, with help from volunteers around the New York area, local supporters of Pathfinder carried out a construction project to tear down a wall and build bookshelves, a counter, and a sign in time for the opening.

Attending the event were guests from other cities in town for the weekend events as well as workers from nearby shops in the Bush Terminal garment complex.

The hall will serve as a center of working-class politics. It will be the site of regular Friday night Militant Labor Forums, as well as a Pathfinder bookstore and a place to participate in classes and discussions on political questions of interest to working people.

Volunteers organize teams out of the bookstore during the week to set up literature tables on the streets in shopping areas and at the large garment complexes and factories in this workers district.

Plans are now being mapped out to participate in the international campaign to sell subscriptions to the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial, as well as to increase the sales of Pathfinder titles, including the campaign to sell three new books--Playa Girón/Bay of Pigs, Making History, and Fertile Ground: Che Guevara and Bolivia.

For more information on forums, classes, and the bookstore's hours, call (718) 567-8014.
 
 
Related article:
New York meeting marks Cuba's April 1961 victory at Bay of Pigs  
 
 
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