Reports from a number of areas show that socialist workers, young socialists, and supporters of the communist movement continue to get enthusiastic responses from workers and youth who are interested in the socialist publications and Pathfinder titles. We’re getting more midweek orders for extra papers from supporters who sell out their bundle and urgently need more.

The subscription drive was bolstered by hefty sales at the April 27–28 Los Angeles Times Book Fair where partisans of the campaign sold 17 Militant subscriptions, 4 PM subscriptions, and 200 Pathfinder books and pamphlets worth $2,000. "There was a constant flow of visitors to our booth," wrote Elizabeth Lariscy, a garment worker. "The Palestinian struggle was a center of our discussions at the event as we sold 44 titles on the Middle East and the Jewish question. We also sold 50 books and pamphlets on the Cuban Revolution."

Lariscy said the best sellers were 11 copies of The Communist Manifesto, 10 of Israel’s War Against the Palestinian People, 9 of The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning, 8 of From the Escambray to the Congo, 6 of Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It, 6 of How Can the Jews Survive? and 5 of Capitalism’s World Disorder.

The Militant sent extra papers to Cleveland and Tampa among other areas. Eva Braiman, a meat packer in Cleveland, wrote, "We are off to a strong start largely due to responding to world politics by reaching out in the working-class district where our bookstore is located. We sold four subscriptions to the Militant, a copy of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution, and other books at a table in front of a popular Arab market nearby.

"Two workers who live in the area bought PM subscriptions from us when we visited their homes. On campus tables at Cleveland State University and Case Western Reserve students engaged us in lively discussions on the Mideast, U.S. imperialism, and the Jewish question that led to five of them buying copies of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution," Braiman added.

Henry Hillenbrand in Tampa said they sold out of papers while participating in a march and rally of 400 people on April 28 in Orlando, Florida, that called for support to the Palestinian people against the Israeli military offensive. They sold 10 Militant subscriptions, 12 copies of the paper, 2 copies of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution, and other Pathfinder titles at the demonstration.  
 
Sales at plant gates
Organizing regular sales at plant gates is a good way to strengthen the circulation of the paper," said Barbara Bowman from the New York Garment District. "We sold a PM subscription to a seamstress from Lima, Peru, who was on her way to work. We’ve been having a lot of luck selling PM to workers at plant gates," she said.

Socialist workers and young socialists organized a sales team in the anthracite coal mining region in eastern Pennsylvania where they sold a Militant subscription in Minersville, and four copies of the paper in Girardville. Workers in Minersville talked about the industrial pollution caused by sludge dumping and its effect on the environment, including on crops.

"We also sold eight copies of the Militant and a copy of Palestine and the Arabs’ Fight for Liberation to students at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania," wrote a supporter in eastern Pennsylvania.

"Being involved in the political life of the region is helping us to keep on target in Newark, New Jersey," said meat packer Dean Hammond. "A journalism student we met at a teach-in on Palestine at Rutgers University in New Brunswick mailed in her money for a Militant subscription after telling us how it was hard to get the Palestinians’ side of the conflict by relying on the capitalist media. She said she liked our explanation of the need for a revolutionary struggle for a democratic, secular Palestine as the key to peace in the Middle East."

Hammond said socialist workers in Newark sold two PM subscriptions at an event commemorating the life of musician and garment worker Santiago Villanueva, who was assaulted on the job by cops while he was having an epileptic seizure. They also sold a PM subscription and a copy of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution to a young person living in a working-class neighborhood who is preparing to attend medical school in Cuba. The student said she thought getting the PM and the book would be necessary reading before traveling to the country."

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic the sales campaign is also going strong. At a recent demonstration in Glasgow, Scotland, socialists set up a literature table where they sold eight copies of the Militant, two subscriptions, three copies of Israel’s War Against the Palestinian People, as well as titles by Malcolm X and Cuban revolutionaries Che Guevara and Víctor Dreke.

Participants in the circulation drive are gearing up for the May 4–12 target week by stepping up political discussions and sales to co-workers on the job, and planning more sales activities in working-class neighborhoods. A strong push for Cuba and the Coming American Revolution is needed since sales of that title are slightly behind schedule. In Birmingham socialists are helping to point the way forward by selling three copies of the book, including one to a young textile worker. "She recently bought a number of Pathfinder books, including Malcolm X Talks to Young People and On the Jewish Question," said Jeanne FitzMaurice. "The other night she had the Malcolm X book on her machine and remarked, ‘If the rest of the books are as good as this one, I’m in for a real good time.’"  
 
 
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