Articles in this week's Militant help show why there is so much interest in the socialist press and New International among working people and youth. Many are opposed to the imperialists' assault on Afghanistan and their triumphalist crowing over the results of their brutal war, already looking to find another country to target. Repressive legislation being hastily put in place in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States is being met with resistance by many who want to read a working-class newspaper to find out the truth behind the rulers' offensive. In many areas, workers are not putting off their fights against concession demands by the employers, but are going on strike to defend their interests.

These are the reasons the Young Socialists proposed extending the drive, and the Militant welcomed the initiative. With a concerted effort over the next 10 days, partisans of the Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, and New International can go over the top in the drive to win 1,100 new readers to the Militant, 500 subscriptions to PM, and 800 copies of the Marxist magazine New International. So far we have sold 932 Militant subscriptions, 359 PM subscriptions, and 548 copies of New International. The Militant will count all subscriptions received in the business office by noon on December 11.

With New International we have a special opportunity, as Nueva Internacional no. 1, containing "Washington's Assault on Iraq: Opening Guns of World War III," is now available.

"We have several plans in place to fight for the last 10 Militant subscriptions needed to make our goals," wrote Elizabeth Lariscy from Los Angeles. "This week a meeting will be held in support of the Miami five, Cubans jailed on frame-up charges by the U.S. government. We plan to take the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial to the downtown garment district, to college campuses, and to an immigrant rights demonstration.

"We set up a booth at the Latino Book and Family Festival in San Bernardino, California, where we sold three Militant subscriptions and three PM subscriptions, along with some $200 in books," Lariscy wrote, including issues of Nueva Internacional with the articles, "U.S. Imperialism has Lost the Cold War" and "Imperialism's March toward Fascism and War."

Lariscy added, "One student from Riverside College who spent a couple of hours talking politics with us at the booth bought a Militant subscription and six Pathfinder titles. Another young woman from California State San Bernardino urged us to visit her campus. She said to us, 'We need something like this so much,' referring to the books and periodicals.

"We also spent time explaining the case of Michael Italie and signed up a couple dozen supporters. One person who signed the petition defending Italie's case was a retired Filipino American Marine who said he has been stopped several times and questioned by cops since the events on September 11. He bought a copy of the Militant after talking with us about the war in Afghanistan."

In Des Moines, Iowa, Joe Swanson writes, "We sold one Militant subscription going to workers' homes in the workers' district where the Pathfinder bookstore is located. We also set up a table at Grinnell College inside near the students' cafeteria and sold two Militant subscriptions during discussions on the deepening assaults on workers' rights and the free speech fight of Michael Italie. We then attended a meeting nearby for the executive director of the Iowa American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He was giving a talk to a recently formed ACLU chapter on the stepped-up attacks on democratic rights since September 11."

Militant campaigners in Colorado sent a sales team to Colorado College where they received a good response from students around the free speech fight of Italie. They sold eight copies of the Militant. "We also met with a miner who bought a copy of NI no. 7, which features the article 'Opening Guns of World War III: Washington's Assault on Iraq.' He decided to buy the book after discussions about the war in Afghanistan and the assaults on workers' rights," said Alice Kincaid. Another miner who works with us also bought NI no. 7 and said he is considering coming to our Pathfinder Fund event."

In Newark, New Jersey, Nancy Rosenstock reports: "We sold two PM subscriptions and a Militant subscription in the workers' district where we plan to relocate the Pathfinder Bookstore. I also sold a PM subscription this past week to one of my co-workers at the garment shop where I work.

"Our sales on college campuses have picked up a little over the past few weeks. This week we sold a Militant subscription to a Nigerian student at New Jersey Institute of Technology who remarked when he saw the paper, 'I don't believe anything the U.S. government says and I don't like what Bush is doing' with the stepped up assaults on workers' rights.

"Another student who recently purchased a Militant subscription at the Rutgers University campus here has started to attend the Militant Labor Forum and a class series on Cuba and the Coming American Revolution. He told us he wanted to get more involved in political activity and the next day went with us to a picket line in Middletown, New Jersey, where 1,000 teachers are on strike against demands that they increase payments for heath benefits."  
 
 
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