"There are a small number of irons in the fire that may come through in the next 24 hours. If they do you’ll hear from us," wrote Doug Cooper, a member of the Maritime Union of Australia, who noted that they also made their circulation goals there. Another message came in from James Harris in Atlanta: "Here’s our final Militant subscription! We made our goal."

These and many similar reports highlight the concentrated international effort over the last two weeks of the eight-week drive by socialist workers and Young Socialists members to expand the readership of the socialist press. Through these efforts the supporters of the two publications sold 902 Militant subscriptions, 509 subscriptions to PM, and nearly 1,900 copies of the Pathfinder titles tied to the subscription campaign, which included Cuba and the Coming American Revolution, Pathfinder Was Born with the October Revolution, and The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning. Although we came up a little short on several of the goals, the total sales and response to the Pathfinder titles, the Militant, and Perspectiva Mundial register the growing interest in the socialist publications and revolutionary literature.

Through the circulation drive socialist workers and Young Socialists were able to meet and deepen their collaboration with hundreds of working people and youth in cities and rural areas. In factories, mines, and mills, as well as in working-class districts, socialists are more well-known, having introduced the publications on the job, set up literature tables on street corners, and gone door-to-door in working-class neighborhoods. This is a real accomplishment of the drive.

Reports from various strikes, labor actions, and other demonstrations reflect the fact that more workers who have become active in these battles are familiar with the Militant and PM. Both publications have earned respect among working-class fighters. By establishing weekly sales activities in workers districts and selling to co-workers on the job both publications have become familiar to a broader layer of workers, which over time increases sales results and growing opportunities to recruit to the communist movement.

This includes workers involved in labor struggles like those who went on strike at Hollander Home Fashions in Los Angeles and Frackville, Pennsylvania. At the June 9 rally to defend dockworkers fighting frame-up riot charges, some 25 Militant subscriptions, 1 Militant renewal, 4 PM subs, 14 copies of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution, and 3 copies of The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning and more than 100 copies of the Militant were sold.

"A lot of people were there who were familiar with the Militant from previous struggles, including people from the Hollander Home Fashions plants in Frackville and Tignall, Georgia," said Naomi Craine, a textile worker from Charlotte, North Carolina. "The Militant renewal was to a worker from Continental General Tire in Charlotte. Another worker from that plant who bought a Militant subscription was with a friend who remembered the Militant from the strike there in 1999."  
 
Workers districts
"We sold 29 Militant subscriptions in the workers district of Upper Manhattan over the last week of the subscription drive," said Brian Williams as he handed in a fat envelope full of subscription forms. "At a table set up in Upper Manhattan during our weekly Thursday evening sales mobilizations we sold eight Militant subscriptions in two-and-a-half hours. A man from Iran who lives in the area was quite interested in the Militant’s coverage on events in Algeria and the background material on the Algerian Revolution. He had previously traveled to Algiers and decided to purchase a Militant subscription.

"Another person who lives in the neighborhood came by the table we set up that next Sunday to thank us for what we’re doing and ‘sound us out’ about various political issues. He said he wasn’t planning to get a subscription because he was moving to Canada shortly. After talking for awhile and pointing out several Pathfinder books, such as The Revolution Betrayed and the New International with the article ‘U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War,’ he decided to subscribe. He insisted, however, that he didn’t have the extra $5 to get the special offer on the new Cuba and the Coming American Revolution book. But an hour later, he came back, saying he decided to purchase that book as well."

The circulation drive has been part of the campaign by the Socialist Workers Party and YS to double the membership of the youth organization and win recruits to the communist movement. Many sales tables have been set up where a number of workers and young people stopped by who purchased Militant or PM subscriptions. Some of those who want to learn more about the need to build a proletarian party and communist youth organization will be attending the June 14-17 Active Workers Conference in Ohio. The drive has also helped spread information about the July 22-30 Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange in Havana and the World Festival of Youth and Students in Algeria August 8-16.

"One of the Militant subscriptions we sold in one of the workers districts here in Pittsburgh was to a Palestinian, the owner of a small shop, who made an agreement with a YS member to set up a donation can in his store to raise funds for the Cuba Youth Exchange," said Salm Kolis. "Yesterday we went in to the store and started talking about the Cuban Revolution with him. He ended up buying the subscription, Pathfinder Was Born with the October Revolution, The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning, and Cuba and the Coming American Revolution."  
 
 
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