"The increased monthly sales--higher than six of the last seven years--register the cumulative impact in the shift in working-class resistance," said Steve Clark, editorial director of the publishing house.

"Pathfinder and its supporters in many countries have been seeing the openness among workers and farmers to radical ideas and solutions--including those presented by the revolutionary and communist leaders Pathfinder publishes--to the devastating impact of the capitalists' offensive worldwide," Clark said.

With the consistent pickup in orders, sales at the publishing house were to shoot well over $300,000 this year. "Now, with the imperialists preparing a military assault on the peoples of Afghanistan and their concurrent attacks on workers' rights at home, there is increased interest in Pathfinder's titles," Clark said.

"The range of titles includes the lessons of the working-class movement over 150 years that are essential in understanding the world today. They help explain what the imperialists have in store for humanity, as well as the possibilities for workers and farmers to wage a revolutionary struggle to replace the capitalist government with one of their own, joining in the international battle for national liberation and socialism," he said.

Clark pointed in particular to books such as Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millenium by Socialist Workers Party leader Jack Barnes, and the series of New International magazines--available in five languages--with features such as "The Opening Guns of World War III: Washington's Assault on Iraq," "What the 1987 Stock Market Crash Foretold," and "U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War." Among other things, he said, these titles review lessons of how working people over the past century have fought to defend their class interests and organizations in face of imperialist war and the capitalists' assault on workers and farmers.

Pathfinder also publishes or distributes the writings of the founders of the modern working-class movement, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels; the leaders of the Russian Revolution, such as V.I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky; and the history of the Socialist Workers Party in the United States, with books including the Struggle for a Proletarian Party by James P. Cannon, In Defense of Marxism by Leon Trotsky, Fighting Racism in World War II, and the two series by Farrell Dobbs that include titles such as Teamster Rebellion and Revolutionary Continuity: Marxist Leadership in the United States.

Meeting the $500,000 goal by June 2002 means not only keeping up the current pace of sales but increasing them by about $3,000 a month, Clark said. That's several hundred more books or pamphlets each month, on average.

"We're confident we can meet this goal because of the response socialist workers, Young Socialists, and other supporters of Pathfinder have been getting at local Pathfinder bookstores, from co-workers on the job, at literature tables in working-class districts, and through visits to bookstores, libraries, and other book outlets," Clark said. "We want to build on those accomplishments."

Several examples are Pathfinder supporters in New York are discussing how to begin consistent sales to commercial outlets in the city, which is among the largest book markets in the world. They can build on the work of supporters in London, Toronto, San Francisco, and elsewhere who have helped spur the increased sales through regular visits to bookstores and libraries.

Members of the Socialist Workers Party and Young Socialists will also be discussing ways to expand distribution of revolutionary books through local Pathfinder bookstores, setting sales goals through June 2002 as part of the campaign. Those goals will be reported and tracked in the pages of the Militant.

Several projects under way by the publishing house will aid in the wider distribution of Pathfinder books and make it possible for commercial customers to order on-line. These include the launching by the end of the year of Pathfinder's Internet bookstore--pathfinderpress.com--where workers and youth can browse and purchase books and pamphlets online. The publisher has already just introduced a web site for Pathfinder bookstores and distributors across the United States and around the world to place their orders and follow their accounts online.

An article next week will provide more coverage of these developments and how supporters of Pathfinder are organizing to respond to imperialism and its war drive and meet the $500,000 goal.
 
 
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Pathfinder volunteers produce books for proletarian campaign against imperialism
Miners, students respond to 'Militant'  
 
 
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