Socialist workers, Young Socialists, and other partisans of the Militant are responding to the imperialists' war against Afghanistan and assaults on workers' rights at home by deepening their involvement in the class struggle, taking the two socialist publications, Pathfinder books, and New International with them.

"We went out to Rochelle, Illinois, to follow up with meat packers who purchased subscriptions during their strike against Rochelle Foods last spring," wrote Pattie Thompson, a meat packer in Chicago. "First we sold the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial at the plant gate to workers going in for the afternoon shift. Four bought the October issue of PM and one the latest issue of the Militant. These workers expressed various opinions on the September events, including one who said he thought something had to be done to stop terrorism. Another said the U.S. government is using this as a pretext to bomb entire peoples. The team visited another worker who decided to get a subscription and the pamphlet The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning."

Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of New York, Martín Koppel, joined two teams that set up literature tables in front of union garment shops in the Garment District in Manhattan this past week. "We handed our campaign statements against Washington's war on Afghanistan and in defense of workers' rights in this country to every worker who came by the table," said Koppel. "They are going to attack our jobs and human rights," an Ecuadoran worker told the candidate.

At the Hunts Point Cooperative Market in the Bronx, a meatpacking and produce processing center for restaurants and businesses around the city, supporters of the campaign sold two copies of the Militant and one copy of Perspectiva Mundial to truck drivers and meat packers at a plant gate sale.

"We sold one of our subscriptions to one of our co-workers in a United Auto Workers-organized plant where we work," wrote Ilona Gersh. "We're making an effort to show the Militant to a broad layer of co-workers."

Socialist workers in western Colorado sent a report on their trip to Kemmerer, Wyoming, where they were able to have discussions with miners they had met during the strike against the Pittsburg and Midway Coal Co. last year. "The discussions we would start out with the past strike and how the bosses had attempted to fire and discipline workers for various work rule violations. When we talked to them about the U.S. war drive they said something had to be done about those who killed innocent men and women," the report stated. "We responded by explaining the nature of the war drive, what U.S. imperialism is, what the 'homeland defense' is all about, and what we need to do here is to fight for a government of workers and farmers. We did not convince any of the miners of our opinion but helped them to think about this and four of them renewed their subscriptions to the Militant."

The two-week renewal effort was a modest success with 133 Militant readers renewing their subscriptions and 22 renewing their subscriptions to PM in the United States and other countries. Since June, 306 people have renewed their Militant subscriptions and 38 renewed their PM subscriptions.  
 
Goals set, New International added
After receiving goals adopted by socialist workers, members of the Young Socialists, and other participants in the working-class campaign against imperialism and war around the world, the Militant has set a goal of selling 1,100 Militant subscriptions and 500 subscriptions to PM over the next eight weeks. A special target week is scheduled for October 6-14 in order for every area to carry out concentrated sales to get the drive on--or ahead--of where it should be.

In response to the imperialists' war drive, we have also decided to concentrate on selling three issues of New International along with the subscriptions. These are issue no. 7 with the feature article "The Opening Guns of World War III: Washington's Assault on Iraq"; issue no. 10, which includes "Imperialism's March toward Fascism and War" and "What the 1987 Stock Market Crash Foretold"; and issue no. 11, which contains "U.S. Imperialism has Lost the Cold War," among other articles. Each of these issues is also published in French and Spanish. Pathfinder is making them available at a special discount price of $10 for new subscribers to the Militant or Perspectiva Mundial.

Those participating in the subscription drive are encouraged to discuss goals for selling these New Internationals and send them into the Militant. These publications contain the best material for understanding political developments unfolding in the world today.  
 
Socialist candidates speak against war
The working-class campaign against imperialism and its war includes the Socialist Workers election campaign. "Very shortly after the events on September 11, Tom Fiske and I sold two copies of the Spanish edition of NI to two co-workers," said Francisco Picado, a meat packer in St. Paul, Minnesota. "Discussion is widespread and the campaign of Fiske, who is the Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of St. Paul, is getting noticed. One co-worker who may be called up to fight in the war has really started listening to what we have to say, especially when we told him about the article '1945: When U.S. Troops Said "No!"' that explains how U.S. GIs rejected being kept in the Pacific to fight another war after World War II had ended."

In Des Moines, Socialist Workers candidate for city council, Edwin Fruit, told the audience at a September 20 meeting sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce that the U.S. rulers will use the attack on the World Trade Center to deepen the assault on "working people both here and around the world, using the U.S. military to attack our class wherever we resist," wrote Kevin Dwire.  
 
Sales on college campuses
Sales of the Militant and Pathfinder literature has picked up on campuses across the country. One sales team went to Boulder, Colorado, where they set up a table on the campus at the University of Colorado on the day of a protest of 500 people against Washington's war moves. The team sold four Militant subscriptions and $150 worth of Pathfinder titles, including two copies of The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning, two copies of Capitalism's World Disorder, and a copy of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution.

"Members of the Socialist Workers Party, the Young Socialists, and supporters helped organize two Militant Labor Forums here since September 11," wrote Al Duncan from Los Angeles. "One on September 14 was attended by 35 people. The following week more than 50 people turned out. A sizable number of the people attending both programs were new and many were young.

"One of the fruits of joining several protests in the area, getting out literature tables, and organizing the forums is winning five new subscribers to the Militant as well as nearly $300 in Pathfinder literature," he said. "Our best sellers are New International numbers 7 and 10, and the pamphlet Marxism vs Terrorism. About 50 new people have signed up wanting to be informed about upcoming activities."

Wendy Lyons, who works in a garment plant that employs hundreds of workers in Los Angeles, reports that as the character of the war becomes clear the sentiment concerning it has started to shift. "In the days immediately after the attack on the World Trade Center and on the Pentagon there was much more support for the war moves by the rulers among my co-workers," she said. "In addition to all the other stuff going on in support of the war, the company held a rally in the parking lot a few days after the bombing, had foremen go around handing out American flags to people on another day.

"But now, through discussions I'm able to have, a growing number of my co-workers are starting to agree that this war is being waged for the profits of a few. This coupled with the sweeping measures against the rights of immigrants is starting to convince many that the government intends to carry out a war against them as well."
 
 
Related articles:
Pathfinder supporters set $500,000 sales goal
Pathfinder volunteers produce books for proletarian campaign against imperialism
 
 
 
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