An estimated 500,000 people attended the gathering, somewhat more than in recent years.

As in previous years at the festival, an international team of Pathfinder volunteers staffed a large and attractive booth within the Book Village that is part of the event. Team members came from Canada, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

The most popular Pathfinder title at the three-day festival was The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning, with 19 copies sold. Other best sellers included: 18 copies of each of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution and The Second Declaration of Havana; 13 each of We Are Heirs of the World’s Revolutions and Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle, both by Thomas Sankara; and 10 copies of Capitalism’s World Disorder. All told, 96 of the books and pamphlets sold were part of the Pathfinder Supersaver Sale. (See ad on Page 6.)

“I’m not yet a communist but want to change this society because all this is too much injustice,” said Christiane David, an office cleaner in Paris.

At first, she quietly listened to a discussion between someone opposed to the Cuban Revolution and a member of the Pathfinder booth team. Then, as the discussion ended, she asked about learning more about Cuba. “They seem to look after their workers in that country,” she said. “Here they have no respect and this has to change. Give me something good to read; I like to read.” She eventually bought Capitalism’s World Disorder in French and issue number 5 of the Marxist magazine Nouvelle Internationale containing the article by Mary-Alice Waters titled, “Defending Cuba, Defending Cuba’s Socialist Revolution.”

This worker’s thirst for a better understanding of today’s world, for learning more from fighters in Cuba and around the world, was expressed by a number of workers and youth who came by the table, one of the busiest and most political at the Book Village during the weekend. Pathfinder’s large display of books and pamphlets was a magnet for those interested in discussing the lessons of 150 years of struggle by the working class internationally, and a scientific explanation of today’s capitalist crisis and the way forward for working people.

Émeline Miegakanda, a college student majoring in English who is Black, passed by the table and stopped when she saw Malcolm X titles. After some discussion, she bought By Any Means Necessary by Malcolm X and the pamphlet Revolution in the Congo. Later on in the afternoon, she came back to deepen the discussion and purchased a copy of The Changing Face of U.S. Politics by Socialist Workers Party leader Jack Barnes.

Thibault, a student living in Denain, a working-class town in the north of France, had met Pathfinder during last year’s Fête and came back to the booth this year. He purchased a three-volume set of Lenin’s works in French. “After this purchase, I only have 10 euros left for today and tomorrow, but with these books, I should be alright,” he said. ”You’re the only revolutionary table here because you’re the only ones who sell books of revolutionists,” he added.

While most of the 220 books sold were in French, 35 were in English, 12 in Spanish, and 2 in Farsi. Contacts were made with three bookstores, including one from Bordeaux that specializes in jazz, and another that operates both in Paris and in the African country of Cameroon.
 
 
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