Since relocating the bookshop to Campsie in September, members of the Communist League and Young Socialists have regularly been setting up tables featuring the Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, and Pathfinder books and pamphlets in Campsie and nearby Lakemba. Both are vibrant working-class communities that include immigrants from all over the world.

The move coincided with the Australian government launching new attacks on working people seeking refugee status. The campaign by members of the Communist League and Young Socialists against the imperialist war on Afghanistan, which Canberra has backed from the beginning, and in defense of workers' rights has met with an immediate response from people in the area.

Part of this working-class campaign against the imperialists' war was the decision of the league to launch the election campaign of Ron Poulsen, a leader of the Communist League and wharfie (dockworker). The petitioning drive to place Poulsen on the ballot, and the uncompromising stance of the campaign on the side of working people, helped get the two organizations more widely known in the area. Many young immigrant workers became interested in the League's campaign and activities, helping to put the new bookshop on the map.

The communist workers and youth have found that by setting up literature tables on a regular basis they have gotten to know more people who expect to see them there each week. Many of the Militant subscriptions sold from the tables during the past months have been to people living in the area who have previously purchased a single copy of the paper or previously talked with volunteers staffing the book stall.

An important part of raising the profile of the Communist League and the Young Socialists has also been launching the weekly Militant Labor Forum. A number of people attending forums for the first time found out about the events at one of the tables in Campsie. One young Palestinian came across a street stall just an hour before that week's forum. He decided to join the discussion on the outcome of the Australian federal elections and Canberra's war drive. Rosa Garcia, a student originally from El Salvador, stopped by a table one Saturday, buying a copy of the Militant and the pamphlet The Second Declaration of Havana. The next day she attended a showing of the film Salt of the Earth at the forum.

Two co-workers attended another forum that featured a video on the Australian government's attacks on the traditional fishing rights of Indonesian fishermen. One was a wharfie and member of the Maritime Union of Australia at Port Botany, and the other a Nepalese meat packer, who lives in Campsie and comes by the stalls regularly. He also joined a weekly discussion class held at the bookshop on revolutionary perspectives.

Two other examples show the interest in revolutionary ideas among workers and young people in the district. A young Iranian who took the bookshop leaflet from a volunteer at a stall decided to visit the bookshop straight away. He stayed for nearly an hour discussing topics ranging from the Russian revolution to what attracts young people to join the communist movement. He ended up buying a copy of the Militant and New International no. 7 containing the article, "The Opening Guns of World War III: Washing-ton's Assault on Iraq."

A couple from Afghanistan were attracted by a title on the table in Farsi, and then came up to the bookshop to see a wider selection. They suggested advertising the books in one of the local Farsi newsletters.

"Sales have increased in the last three months much more than we had anticipated as the Pathfinder bookshop gets to be known in the area," bookshop manager Joanne Kuniansky told the Militant.

To help push this interest along, the bookshop launched a sale of surplus stock in December. Some 44 titles--almost A$800 (US$400) worth--have been sold. The most popular title in the sale has been Thomas Sankara Speaks with six copies sold. A Somali worker whose brother-in-law is a new Militant subscriber visited one of the weekly literature tables and bought two copies.

Pathfinder supporters who work at a meatpacking plant not far from Campsie have been publicizing the book sale on the job. Sam, a Militant subscriber from Ghana who attended the first Militant Labor Forum held at the new bookshop, bought two titles and helped sell more by showing the "books by Africans" to his friends.

Young Socialists member Alasdair MacDonald bought 22 books and pamphlets, including, as he said, "a great deal on the complete set of The Communist International in Lenin's Time. It was an opportunity to build up my personal library."

Recently David Chen, a young worker originally from Beijing, came across the bookshop for the first time and stayed for a three-hour discussion. "These books are so important, I have to let my friends know about this bookshop," he said.

Linda Harris is a member of the Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union.  
 
 
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