Socialist workers and members of the Young Socialists sold books and papers from a large table at the rally near the Washington Monument and from several smaller tables stationed around the park. They reported a day of lively discussions.

Joey Doubek, a high school student in Washington, bought a copy of the Militant and told Young Socialists members about a walkout of 150 students the previous week to protest the war. "We walked out of school at 8:00 a.m. and marched to the Metro stop where we protested with signs against the war until 2:00 p.m.," he said.

Rebecca Cornwell, a 19-year-old student at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, said, "This is the second protest and the first big action I have participated in." Cornwell had run into the YS at a meeting on the campus for Cuban revolutionary leader Víctor Dreke, who toured several U.S. cities at the end of last year. She bought the Militant on the bus and after reading it remarked, "I really liked the review of the documentary about Emmett Till this week. It really gave me a feel for the power of the civil rights movement and what was going on at the time."

Derrick Thomas, a 22-year-old student and former U.S. soldier, said, "This is my first protest action. Seeing U.S. policy from the inside, I can tell you that there is no reason to go to war with Iraq. There is no threat anywhere in the world to the U.S."

Brian Taylor, a YS member and coal miner who rode on the bus from Alabama, said he talked to a 27-year-old teacher from Brooklyn who bought an armful of Pathfinder titles, including Capitalism’s World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium. "She asked if she was young enough to be in the Young Socialists and purchased a Militant subscription," said Taylor.

Several Militant supporters traveled on buses that came from New York, including one organized by a mosque from the Islamic Council of North America in Jamaica, Queens. "We sold two Militant subscriptions on the bus," said Naomi Craine. "I sold one to the women next to me. The article on the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II under the Roosevelt administration sparked her interest.

"We had a sign at our table that said ‘No to imperialist inspectors, Respect Iraqi sovereignty,’ that sparked some of the best discussions on how ‘inspectors’ help prepare the ground for war. Many were dubious but began agreeing after hearing an explanation," said Craine.

Sales of revolutionary literature at the Washington protest included $943 worth of Pathfinder books, 270 copies of the Militant and 8 Militant subscriptions, and 4 subscriptions to Perspectiva Mundial. Some of the top-selling Pathfinder titles were Malcolm X Talks to Young People; Pathfinder’s newest title, Marianas in Combat: Teté Puebla and the Mariana Grajales Women’s Platoon in Cuba’s Revolutionary War; and Capitalism’s World Disorder and The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning, both by Jack Barnes.

Sales at the demonstration on the West Coast included 160 copies of the Militant, 7 subscriptions to the paper, 1 subscription to Perspectiva Mundial, and $500 worth of Pathfinder titles.
 
 
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