Six weeks into the eight-week campaign, the Militant had received 628 subscriptions, or 63 percent of the goal-12 percent behind schedule. This is the first time the circulation drive has lagged significantly. Sales of Perspectiva Mundial subscriptions are a little further behind, at 55 percent of the goal. The biggest challenge remains in sales of Capitalism’s World Disorder: Working-class Politics at the Millennium by Jack Barnes, and New International nos. 7, 10, and 11, which are offered at special prices in combination with a subscription. The reported book sales total is 187 of the goal of 600—some 260 books behind schedule.

The move of the Militant into new offices, which meant the paper did not publish for one week between May 7 and May 13, may have contributed to this loss of momentum. Reports from socialist workers and other supporters of the Militant from a number of areas, however, indicate that the gap can be closed.

Ólöf Andra Proppé reported from Iceland that Young Socialists and members of the Communist League there set up a book table outside a May Day meeting in Höfn, a fishing town in the southeast of the country. The meeting was called by the Vökull trade union, which organizes 1,200 workers in the fishing industry. Some 200 people attended the event, which followed a march of 70 people also called by the union.

“‘Jobs for all’ was one of the themes of the action,” noted Proppé. “Employment in fishing has been dropping over the past 10 to 15 years.

“A big point of discussion at the table was the quota system,” she said. “This has had disastrous consequences for many fishing towns. Big companies have swallowed up quotas from smaller outfits and independent fishermen.

“We sold an introductory subscription to the Militant and two copies of New International in Icelandic,” Proppé added.

From Charlotte, North Carolina, and Des Moines, Iowa, subscription drive organizers reported sales to co-workers in the textile and meatpacking industries, as well as to students.

As part of a special effort to catch up on Perspectiva Mundial subscriptions, said Edwin Fruit from Des Moines, “We visited a number of meat packers in their homes in Perry, Iowa. They bought a total of four PM subscriptions and two books —Capitalism’s World Disorder and the Spanish-language edition of New International no. 7 with the article ‘Washington’s Assault on Iraq; Opening Guns of World War III.’ We had discussions on a range of developments in the class struggle, from the victory by Róger Calero over government attempts to deport him, to the Cuban Revolution, to the U.S.-led war on Iraq.”

“We sold two more Militant subs, one PM, and one book,” wrote Willie Cotton from Charlotte. “We sold one of the Militant subscriptions in a textile mill the night after a plant-gate sale that generated lots of discussion at work. We sold the other Militant sub and the New International no. 7 on campus.”

Farther south, two other textile workers at a large mill in Sylacauga, Alabama, recently purchased introductory Perspectiva Mundial subscriptions from a co-worker there, wrote Susan LaMont from Birmingham.

“We are starting to build up momentum in the subscription drive here,” LaMont added. “In the last week of April we sold three Militant subscriptions on tables at two University of Alabama campuses—one in Birmingham and one in Tuscaloosa. Administration officials at the latter school have tried to deny us our right to set up a table in the campus Free Speech Area, where supporters of the socialist press have had tables off and on for many years.”

The tug-of-war began when a Zionist student objected to the socialists’ support for the Palestinian struggle, and charged them with “hate speech.”

A table on April 30 was “abuzz with political discussion,” said LaMont. “Many students and faculty members stopped by to express their support for our right to be there and for the right of others to read and discuss socialist literature if they so choose.”

Militant supporters also got out to the Foot Soldiers’ Reunion on May 4, a march led by veterans of the 1963 Battle of Birmingham—a key event in the Civil Rights struggle. “Participants bought a Militant subscription, a copy of New International no. 7, and several Pathfinder titles,” LaMont reported.

With this kind of work and spirit the goals can be met. For the next two weeks, partisans of the Militant should fix their eyes on that prize.

See chart for this week’s results  
 
 
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