Fein's remarks reflect the activities around the world where members of the Socialist Workers Party, the Young Socialists, members of the YS and Communist Leagues in other countries, and supporters of the communist movement worldwide are organizing a working-class campaign against imperialism and war. They are reaching out to co-workers on the job and other unionists, setting up literature tables in working-class districts, selling at plant gates and mine portals, more deeply involving themselves in the struggles of workers and farmers, and getting out to college campuses to engage in political discussions with students. Socialist workers and YS members are also responding to the imperialist war drive by deepening their own education and that of other workers and youth by distributing, studying, and holding classes on Pathfinder books.

A key component of this campaign will be an eight-week circulation drive starting September 22 to win new readers to the socialist press. The sales effort also includes selling the special campaign titles listed on page one. With a new issue of Perspectiva Mundial out on the streets early in response to the U.S. war drive, socialist workers have an effective tool to use in reaching out to workers whose first language is Spanish.

In Chicago, meat packer Joel Britton, the chairperson of the SWP in the city, reported that seven people signed up for more information about the Young Socialists at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, where two socialist meat packers and a supporter of the SWP staffed a literature table on campus. They participated in a meeting that night, where Arrin Hawkins, a leader of the Young Socialists and a meat packer in Chicago, spoke on "Youth and the fight against imperialism." An article about the meeting appeared in the Ball State Daily News the next day.

"We have been on a campaign since September 11 when we organized a discussion on the events around the World Trade Center," said Britton. "Altogether we ended up selling nine copies of the Militant, one subscription and one copy of The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning that day."

Britton reported that they sold six Militant subscriptions at De Paul University during a program featuring Norberto Codina, the editor of the Cuban culture magazine La Gaceta de Cuba. Britton also said that earlier in the week a high school student from Indianapolis who visited the Pathfinder Bookstore in Chicago met members of the YS there, and set up a meeting of high school students in a coffeehouse in Indianapolis at which a Chicago YS leader will speak.  
 
Campaigning in factories and mines
Socialist workers who are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, United Mineworkers of America, and the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees said they have made substantial progress over the past week in the campaign to win co-workers and other militant workers to renew their subscriptions to the Militant and PM. They have been getting into wide-ranging political discussions on the job, standing up to patriotic and pro-war pressure from the bosses and some workers, and earning a reputation as principled proletarian fighters. They are helping to show other vanguard workers why they don't carry out a revolutionary class-struggle course in peacetime and a peace course in war time.

Socialist workers and YS members have put a premium on selling Militant and PM subscriptions to co-workers on the job. "One of my co-workers recently renewed his subscription to the Militant," said Argiris Malapanis, who works in a meatpacking plant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "He was excited about the campaign statement by Martín Koppel," said Malapanis. The statement by Koppel, the Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of New York, opposing Washington's war drive and assault on democratic rights, was featured in the issue that came out September 13. "Then one day he drove to work with a U.S. flag displayed in his car," Malapanis continued. "A number of us had discussions with him about not giving support to Washington's patriotic campaign for war, including one worker who plans to renew his PM subscription when it expires in November. After those discussions he took the flag down and said he had gotten heavy pressure from his family to be part of the patriotic hoopla."

Lisa Potash, a garment factory worker in Chicago, said one of her co-workers renewed his subscription as part of a discussion on the job about Washington's war drive. "He didn't renew his subscription when it expired. But during our discussion he said he agreed with the Militant," she said. "Two weeks ago I had sold him a copy of the Pathfinder pamphlet, Revolution in the Congo."

A socialist garment worker in Newark was confronted with a situation on the job last week when the boss decided to have the entire shop go to church dur,ing the "national prayer day" encouraged by the U.S. government as part of its war drive. She declined, despite pressure from the boss and a layer of workers, and ended up having some discussions about her views with co-workers, even though the plant is nonunion and she is new on the job.  
 
Sales, forums, election campaigns
Socialist workers organize weekly sales of the Militant, PM, and Pathfinder books in working-class districts as part of the campaign against imperialist war. Carol Lesnick in Brooklyn reports that supporters of the Militant set up tables in the area around the party headquarters and Pathfinder bookstore over the weekend. "We had lively discussions and debate, and sold two PM subscriptions and around $50 worth of literature. A few months ago we met a young Mexican worker at a literature table in the neighborhood. This past weekend he came to an event where we discussed the imperialist war drive. He read the statement by the party's candidate for mayor of New York and asked to join the Young Socialists."

In New Zealand, campaigners for the Militant sold out of their supply of papers at two tables they set up in working-class districts in Auckland. As they passed out leaflets supporting the campaign of Felicity Coggan for mayor of Auckland, one man walked up to one of the tables and handed over a $20 donation without comment.

Many working people, youth, and others will be attracted to the weekly Militant Labor Forum series as a place to respond to the imperialist war drive. In Atlanta socialist workers quickly organized a public forum on September 14. Ellie García, a textile worker, gave a presentation based on Koppel's campaign statement. A steward in the Graphic Communications Union said he was glad a meeting had been organized for people to come together and discuss the recent events around the World Trade Center. He invited García to speak on his radio program the following week.  
 
Socialists join protests against war drive
YS members and socialist workers have joined protest actions against Washington's war drive that have been organized in several cities. At the federal building in downtown Minneapolis some 125 people, mostly students from the University of Minnesota and Macalester College, chanted, "Hands off Afghanistan!" and "Hands off the World!" On September 15 students at Columbia University in New York utilized the platform of a campus forum to protest attacks against Arabs and Muslims, reports socialist worker Ruth Harris in Upper Manhattan.

YS members have done consistent work on the campus at the University of Arizona, including having a weekly literature table with banners in support of the struggle of Palestinian people. Willie Cotton, a YS member in Tucson, was invited to speak as part of a panel of university professors and student leaders at a teach-in about U.S. foreign policy.  
 
Organizing classes, reading, recruitment
SWP and YS members are also organizing public classes as part of the campaign against the war drive. In the Garment District, activities began this past Sunday with a roundtable class on the article by Jack Barnes, "Opening Guns of World War III: Washington's Assault on Iraq," that appears in the Marxist magazine New International, and ended with a Militant Labor Forum to discuss the war preparations attended by 31 people.

Socialists across the country have reported that a number of people who support the SWP have called up and offered to help out with sales tables or other activities. Pathfinder Press has also received offers to pitch in with any help that is needed as part of responding to Washington's war drive. "I have been very actively circulating antiwar information via e-mail. I have mailed electronic copies of the SWP statement by Martín Koppel and the news article in last week's Militant to 100s of people," wrote Ben Fiering from New York State. "I am beginning to get some feedback, clearly it will be possible to mobilize antiwar sentiment. Keep up the work of providing valuable information."

So far the goals for the subscription drive and book sales campaign received from partisans of the Militant around the world are coming in higher than our last effort. Next week the Militant will run a chart with all the goals and announce an overall target in the drive.  
 
 
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