"We’re doing too good," wrote John Naubert from Seattle, who said that campaigners there had run out of papers twice in two weeks. Like a number of other distributors, socialist workers in Seattle have raised their weekly bundle so they don’t face a repeat of that problem.

"Our highlight for this week was selling two Militant subscriptions, a PM subscription, and two copies of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution at the May 1 demonstration for immigrant rights," wrote Naubert. "The march and rally drew close to 300 people, a majority of whom were Mexican and other Latino workers. There were contingents of carpenters, drywallers, and painters. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) sent some of its members from Sacramento, California. One SEIU member bought a copy of Che Guevara Talks to Young People and later decided to purchase a Militant subscription. Two young guys who stopped at our literature table came by later in the week to the Pathfinder bookstore to have more political discussion."

From eastern Pennsylvania Betsy Farley called, asking, "Did you get our e-mail message? We’ve pretty much met our subscription goal already, so we’re raising it this week!"

George Chalmers in Philadelphia reported on a visit by two Militant supporters to a picket line in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where 2,700 members of Chocolate Workers Local 464 are on strike against Hershey Foods Corp. "We showed pickets the Militant’s front-page coverage of their strike, sold nine copies and also received several dollars in donations. When one picket offered $5 for a paper we suggested that she and another interested striker pool their money to get an introductory subscription, which they did. The strikers’ morale is very good and is boosted by constant honking by passing drivers."

Sales of the Militant and PM are starting to pick up at plant gates in a number of cities across the country where regular visits have led to workers becoming familiar with the two publications and getting to know the socialists. From New York, Richard Sorrentino reported that socialist workers sold five copies of the Militant and one copy of PM this past week at the entrance to the Hunts Point packinghouses in the Bronx. "One worker, a truck driver who bought the paper, remarked that he has seen us there several times before," said Sorrentino.

Three weeks into the circulation drive, campaigners are slightly ahead of target with sales of Militant subscriptions, which stand at 322, and slightly behind the pace needed to make the goals set for PM subscriptions and copies of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution. With an extra push during the May 4–12 target week we can get ahead of schedule with all three publications.

Experiences so far show that the sales campaign is building up momentum.

"We sold 15 copies of the Militant to coal miners who were attending meetings to discuss their new contract with the Maple Creek Coal Company," said Omari Musa in Pittsburgh.

"Last week we went to Edinboro University to celebrate May Day," he continued. "We had participated in political forums and held discussions with students on previous occasions. This time we had dinner on campus and spoke with students and professors about the recent demonstrations in San Francisco and Washington demanding the withdrawal of the Israeli military from the West Bank.

"We explained the necessity for a revolutionary struggle to overthrow the Israeli regime that would pave the way to establish a democratic, secular Palestine," Musa said. "After the discussions we sold several Pathfinder titles, including Socialism and Man in Cuba, Malcolm X Talks to Young People, Two Speeches by Malcolm X, and From the Escambray to the Congo.

"On the invitation of the students and teachers we returned to the campus for a meeting involving a presentation on the Palestinian struggle. The event was attended by nearly 70 people. One supporter of the fight for a united Ireland said we need to keep our fire on the U.S. government and demand that Washington cut all aid to Israel," Musa wrote. "I told the meeting that Israel is a death trap for Jews and a class-divided society where Palestinian fighters will find co-fighters among the ranks of Israeli working people.

"By the end of the meeting we had sold five Militant subscriptions and several Pathfinder titles, including Cuba and the Coming American Revolution, Malcolm X Talks to Young People, Che Guevara Talks to Young People, and The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning."  
 
Sales at May Day in Iceland
May Day actions in cities across the world proved to be good venues for sales of the socialist press. At the event in Reykjavik, Iceland, socialist workers and young socialists sold two Militant subscriptions and 18 copies of the paper, reported Atli Freyr Friðbjörnsson and Sigurlaug Gunnlaugsdottir. "After the demonstration, which attracted 10,000 people," they wrote, "several participants, including an aluminum worker, came to the Pathfinder bookstore to talk to us and buy books. They purchased nearly $100 worth of Pathfinder titles."

Below is an article reporting on sales in the coalfields of Utah and Colorado. The Militant encourages reports from the field, along with pictures of partisans of the circulation drive in action selling the publications at plant gates and elsewhere.
 

On May 4–5 another coal team headed to Price, Utah. They sold at the COOP mine portal, a nonunion underground mine that is mostly Mexican in composition. Nearly every miner stopped to speak with team members and to find out more about the Militant and PM. Two PM subscriptions and two copies of the magazine were sold. A number of people asked Militant supporters to stop by their homes for more discussion. Later the team sold two more Perspectiva Mundial subscriptions in a neighborhood where the Mexican miners live. They spoke at length with a number of miners as they went door-to-door.  
 
 
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