BY MAURICE WILLIAMS  
WASHINGTON--Sales of the Militant are sizzling as the partisans of the socialist press kicked off one of the hottest starts in the first week of the Militant/Perspectiva Mundial international circulation campaign. The drive received a boost from socialist workers and young socialists who sold nearly 600 copies of the Militant and 59 Militant subscriptions while participating in the demonstrations held on the east and west coasts protesting Tel Aviv’s brutal war against the Palestinian people and Washington’s military intervention in Afghanistan.

As the chart shows, the subscription drive is well ahead of schedule, with 166 Militant subscriptions sold. The campaign has also won 42 new readers to PM and 50 people have purchased copies of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution. A target week for organizing special sales teams, and stepped up sales on the job and in working-class districts is scheduled for May 4–12. As our initial results show, world events and the continued resistance by working people to the assaults and brutalities of imperialism are leading many workers and youth to want to read socialist periodicals and books.

Based on goals adopted in local areas, the Militant has set an international goal of selling 1,050 Militant subscriptions, 460 PM subscriptions, and 625 copies of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution. Results at the demonstrations and other political activities show the opportunities to win new forces to the communist movement. A student in Texas who recently became a member of the Young Socialists in Brownsville, has joined the circulation effort (see article on page 5).

At the protest in Washington, partisans of the sales drive sold 434 copies of the Militant, 52 Militant subscriptions, 3 subscriptions to Perspectiva Mundial, more than 50 copies of Palestine and the Arabs’ Fight for Liberation, and 12 copies of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution. At a similar action in San Francisco they sold 90 copies of the Militant and 3 subscriptions to the paper. Another two subscriptions and 31 Militants were sold in Seattle, and participants in a rally in Boulder, Colorado, bought 2 Militant subscriptions and 15 papers.

The demonstration in Washington was marked by the large numbers of Palestinians who came on buses organized by mosques in cities throughout the eastern part of the United States. A significant number of college students drove in vans to participate in the actions.

"A few of us in the New York Garment District traveled to the rally on a bus organized by the Queens College Muslim Students Association," said Maggie Trowe, a garment worker. "The bus also included high school and middle school students, and a number of workers."

Trowe said she and Dan Fein set up a literature table near the rally site to talk to people streaming in for the event. "Many who passed by agreed with our sign that read, ‘End U.S. aid to Israel.’ In our discussions with participants we connected Washington’s support for the failed coup in Venezuela to its role in opposing the Arab revolution. We had a number of discussions on the meaning of our backing of the fight to replace the colonial-settler Israeli state with a democratic, secular Palestine. By the end of the day we had sold 16 introductory subscriptions to the Militant, 51 copies of the paper, and 38 of Palestine and the Arabs’ Fight for Liberation."

Sara Lobman, a meat packer from Brooklyn, said she found out about the bus she ended up on while staffing a table in the workers district at Sunset Park. "The Palestinian family who owns the deli we were selling in front of told us about the buses being organized at the Islamic Center in Bay Ridge and suggested we sign up."

"The bus was great," said Lobman. "Most of the people on the bus were Arab and the main language used was Arabic. They translated for the handful of us who do not understand the language. Most of the people on the bus we talked to live and work in the area around the mosque. We sold three Militant subscriptions and several copies of the paper on the bus. And just recently after the demonstration, one of the individuals who bought a paper on the bus stopped by the table we set up on 39th Street."  
Youth interested in revolution
The demonstrations reflected the many young people who are interested in revolutionary politics and are developing anticapitalist ideas. Some expressed interest in learning more about the Young Socialists and gave their phone numbers and e-mail addresses to YS members in order to keep in touch.

"I’m looking for a different kind of party because the Democrats and Republicans are backed by those with big money who are the ones running the government," said Emily Sprouse, a 24-year-old student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Sprouse said she is "becoming anticapitalist" and thinks a revolution is needed in the United States. In order to learn more about communism, she bought a copy of the Militant and Cuba and the Coming American Revolution.

Laura Anderson from New York said that she met two young women at the demonstration who were in the Peace Corps "who told me they were getting demoralized with their work. They bought a Militant subscription based on the coverage of the workers defeat of the coup attempt in Venezuela. At first they said they had too many papers, but with more discussion they decide to purchase the subscription. They had already bought a copy of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution earlier in the day."

Anderson said she rode on the bus back to New York with John Gilbert, a Black Vietnam War veteran who told her that upon hearing about the Israeli assault on Jenin in the West Bank, "I knew there had to be a massacre with Apache helicopters, Gatlin guns, and F-16s pounding on the village, then the bulldozers. I was infuriated. I had to go to Washington." Gilbert purchased a Militant subscription and a copy of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution.

Socialist workers and YS members in Seattle bolstered their sales by setting up socialist literature tables and showing the periodicals around on the job. John Naubert in Seattle said members of the Socialist Workers Party and the chapter of the Young Socialists got off to a good start in the subscription drive, selling eight Militant subscriptions, two PM subscriptions, and three copies of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution.

"On the first day of the drive we went door-to-door near the Pathfinder bookstore, working as a team that included a member of the Young Socialists, netting two Militant subs and a PM subscription. During the week we sold a PM subscription and the Cuba title to an activist involved in a coalition that defends the Cuban Revolution."

Naubert said one member of the Young Socialists made a sign that read, "Stop Israel’s war against the Palestinians." It attracted attention when they used it with a literature table on a college campus. "From this we found that students are increasingly critical of the Israeli regime and becoming more supportive of the Palestinian cause," he said. "Our sales efforts at Seattle Central Community College and at the University of Washington resulted in two more Militant subscriptions and a copy of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution."
 
 
Related article:
Build on sales drive momentum
YS member in Texas joins sales effort
 
 
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