The offices are located in the Midtown Manhattan Garment District where members of the New York SWP branch carry out regular political work.

Barnes also announced that the $225,000 2004 Headquarters Building Appeal had been brought to a successful conclusion, with $231,652 in hand.

The Grand Opening capped off a Red Weekend of volunteer labor involving more than 100 supporters of the communist movement from around the world in putting the finishing touches on the new Pathfinder Bookstore and Militant Labor Forum hall, newsroom of the socialist periodicals the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial, and SWP headquarters.

Barnes served as the chairman of the program, which both celebrated the victory won in the two-month intensive effort to complete the beautiful new offices and bookstore, and featured presentations on central questions facing workers and farmers.

“Starting the construction was hard,” said Chris Hoeppner, who had organized the work of the crew that began January 2, “but completing it was harder.” He stressed the importance of the planning—including the budget, floor plan, and schedule—that was critical to effectively organizing the work of the 123 volunteers who joined the crew over the course of the 58-day project. Hoeppner stated that each aspect of the preparation “was necessary, and each was political.”

Mary-Alice Waters, editor of New International, a magazine of Marxist politics and theory, spoke for the international team of volunteers—from seven countries—who represented Pathfinder Press at the 13th Havana International Book Fair held February 6-15 in Havana, Cuba.

Waters stated that the single most important feature of the work of the team in Havana “was the interest in and response to the successful fight of Róger Calero” against the efforts of the U.S. government to deport him. Calero spoke in Cuba at numerous meetings on what the victory in his antideportation struggle reveals about the class struggle in the United States.

The final speaker was Bill Estrada, one of 75 coal miners on strike in a battle for a union at CW Mining, known as Co-Op, in Huntington, Utah. The 10-year veteran of the socialist movement explained the steps the strikers are taking to advance what Barnes earlier described as “the most important strike going on today.” In his remarks, Estrada walked through the ongoing discussions among the miners on maintaining and strengthening an effective picket line, winning solidarity from other workers in the region, and the role the other unionists are playing in strengthening the fight. “Every one of us is learning the ABCs of leading a competent strike,” Estrada said.

See final results of appeal  
 
 
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