Participants in street tables and political events already report keen interest in Pathfinder's new titles.

"I have to have a copy of that book!" said one person who saw Playa Giron on a literature table in Queens. "Cuba has done so much for Africa," said a woman from West Africa as she purchased a copy in Washington Heights--one of seven people who purchased the book in either Spanish or English from tables set up in New York on March 25.

Two workers in Manhattan's garment district looked over Playa Giron and Making History at a street table but didn't have enough money to purchase the book. They bought a $10 Pathfinder Readers Club membership instead in order to receive the special discount on the titles when they visit the local Pathfinder Bookstore later in the week.

Thirteen participants in a March 23 Militant Labor Forum on the Irish freedom struggle in San Francisco bought the book, bringing the total sold there to 35.

These responses show the interest among working people in revolutionary literature, such as Playa Giron and Making History: Interviews with Four Generals of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces. The campaign to sell the two titles, launched at East and West Coast meetings reported in the last two issues of the Militant, got a boost with the international coverage of a March 22–25 conference in Cuba on the 1961 victory of workers and peasants there over a U.S.-backed invasion (see article page 8).

Pathfinder supporters took advantage of the big-business media's coverage of the conference to encourage its supporters to start organizing to place the two books in as many bookstores as possible. "While the opportunity extends over coming weeks through the end of April, the next few days can be the key to beginning a sustained month-long effort," said Pathfinder editor Mike Taber in a letter to the publishing house's distributors.

Pathfinder supporter Fred White in Atlanta reported that he visited a bookstore at the city's airport. "I talked with the store's book buyer about the importance of the new book and described the conference that took place in Cuba the previous weekend. He had heard something about it and became quite interested." The store ordered 40 books totaling $725, including 10 copies of Playa Giron. "I also talked to him about Capitalism's World Disorder and its comprehensive analysis of world politics and he ordered four copies." A team to another airport store several days later sold 20 copies of Playa Giron, 15 in English and 5 in Spanish, plus a range of other books published by Pathfinder.

Mary Lipman from Santa Cruz got right on the phone calling stores in her area and had "quite an exciting day, including getting some orders over the phone for the new titles." Three stores purchased seven copies of Playa Giron, one of Making History, and two of another new Pathfinder title, Fertile Ground: Che Guevara and Bolivia.
 
 
Related article:
Socialists prepare to launch eight-week sales campaign  
 
 
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