Tidiane had bought The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning earlier from volunteers staffing a large booth with Pathfinder books, copies of the Marxist magazine New International, the Militant, and Perspectiva Mundial.

This Young Socialists stand is part of the festival's "Cultural Exhibit" at the Houari Boumédienne University campus. That's where most of the sessions of the festival also take place.

Tidiane returned to the YS booth August 13 with a friend, who bought a new French-language Pathfinder pamphlet by Thomas Sankara, Nous sommes les héritiers des révolutions du monde (We are inheritors of the revolutions of the world). Both are members of a student association in Mali that has organized discussions on the ideas of Sankara and Ernesto Che Guevara, a central leader of the Cuban revolution.

Young Socialists and socialist workers from Australia, Britain, Canada, Iceland, France, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States have been staffing this booth and other similar displays with revolutionary literature here for the last week. As of August 14, they had sold 500 books and pamphlets to delegates and guests--unprecedented for this kind of international meeting. Of these, 220 are in English, 210 in Spanish, and 70 in French.

The pamphlet on The Transformation of Learning that Tidiane bought has been the top seller so far, with 34 copies sold--10 in English, 4 in French, and 20 in Spanish.

The new French-language pamphlet by Sankara is also among the top 10, with 18 copies sold. It was published by Pathfinder just before the festival--along with the Spanish- and French-language editions of another pamphlet by Sankara, Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle. These were published in record time at the end of July, in response to the demand by several youth leaders building the festival to have such literature available in the languages they speak.

Traoré, who heads up the Ivory Coast delegation here, was among them. He took part in international meetings this spring to prepare the Algiers festival and met YS leaders there. On August 8, the opening day of the festival, he bought six copies of the pamphlet Nous sommes les héritiers des révolutions du monde and a copy of the Women's Liberation pamphlet by Sankara to distribute to members of his delegation and others in West Africa. Traoré is the director of the Thomas Sankara Foundation, whose objective is to disseminate Sankara's revolutionary heritage.

Young Socialists have sold 29 copies of the pamphlet by Sankara on women's liberation in English, Spanish, and French.

The Pathfinder tables have become centers for political discussion over the first seven days of the festival. Youth from all over the world--especially Africa, Asia, and Latin America--have dropped by to buy books and share experiences.

Interest in Marxist classics--especially those published in editions with attractive covers and easy-to-read type--has been high. On August 9, for example, Camilo, a leader of Casa de la Juventud (Youth House) from Paraguay, ordered 30 copies of Pathfinder's Communist Manifesto in Spanish for the study circles his group organizes. Later that night, he bought another $100 worth of books and asked for a meeting with YS leaders to discuss closer collaboration in the Americas between the two organizations.  
 
Interest in North America class struggle
Young Socialists have found high interest for materials on the class struggle in North America and a Marxist analysis of recent world events. Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium by Socialist Workers Party national secretary Jack Barnes is among the top three best-sellers, with 29 copies sold.

Seven delegates have purchased The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions, also by Barnes. Samuel Goromido from Kanaky (New Caledonia), a colony in the Pacific struggling for independence from France, was one of them.

"Youth in Kanaky lack books on revolutionary struggle," Goromido said, explaining why he wanted this book. "After we win our independence, we will need to study books like this for our political education." He is a member of Palika, a pro-independence party in Kanaky, which offers classes to its membership--"classes that could be greatly enriched by books like The Changing Face," he noted.

YS members have sold 59 copies of New International and its sister editions in Spanish and French as well. The most popular among them is the issue featuring "U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War," with 16 copies sold between the three languages. This is a programmatic document of the communist movement that analyzes world political events in the aftermath of the collapse of the Stalinist regimes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Developments in world politics during the festival have affected its program, as well as Pathfinder book sales. The Israeli regime launched air raids with F-16s against Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza, for example, and U.S. and British warplanes intensified bombings of Iraq during the youth gathering. In response, festival participants organized impromptu demonstrations August 11–12 and rallies to support the Palestinian national liberation movement and other anti-imperialist struggles in the Mideast.

This, in turn, sparked more interest in related Marxist literature. YSers sold 12 copies of the New International and its sister editions in Spanish and French featuring "Washington's Assault on Iraq: Opening Guns of World War III" by Jack Barnes, and 10 copies of the pamphlet Palestine and the Arabs' Fight for Liberation. Most of these were sold between August 11 and 14.

Thirst for understanding the Cuban Revolution--deepened by the participation of 750 delegates from Cuba--and its interconnection with the class struggle in other countries is also reflected in YS propaganda work here.

Young Socialists have so far sold 16 copies of Che Guevara Talks to Young People, 11 of The Second Declaration of Havana, and 7 of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution.
 
 
Related article:
Youth at international festival discuss fight against imperialism  
 
 
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