Students at the fair purchased 160 titles distributed by Pathfinder—in English, Spanish, French, and Farsi, one of the languages of Iran. On the first day, two international students purchased two titles in Spanish: Episodes of the Congo Revolutionary War by Ernesto Che Guevara and Nueva Internacional no.1, the issue of the magazine of Marxist politics and theory featuring “Opening Guns of World War III: Washington’s Assault on Iraq.” Four copies of the latter title were sold in various languages overall.

A young Iranian living in Spain came by the Pathfinder stand. He was very surprised. First, because of the range of Spanish titles. Secondly, because of the subjects of the books. He purchased the following in Spanish: The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions; Che Guevara: Economics and Politics in the Transition to Socialism; In Defense of Marxism: The Social and Political Contradictions of the Soviet Union on the Eve of World War II; and numbers 1-4 of the journal Nueva Internacional.

Two young women, architecture students who are studying Spanish, purchased Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara, the central leader of the revolution in Burkina Faso, West Africa, in both Spanish and Farsi. They also bought two copies of the Farsi translation of Socialism and Man in Cuba by Che Guevara. Another student bought Nueva Internacional No. 2, featuring “Che Guevara, Cuba, and the Road to Socialism”; Episodes of the Congo Revolutionary War; and The Marxist Theory of Alienation. A law student who was studying French said he believed Iranian laws were modeled on the French pattern and wanted to be able to read law books in French. He picked up two titles in French, The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and Where Is It Going? and Cuba and the Coming American Revolution.

Another student with a degree in English purchased Israel’s War against the Palestinian People. She came back a couple of days later and bought What Working People Should Know about the Dangers of Nuclear Power and Genocide against the Indians. Another woman, who was studying in a newly established major called “Problems and Rights of Women,” bought Women and the Nicaraguan Revolution.

An English-language student purchased The Long View of History and Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle. She also bought the Farsi translations of these two titles. Similarly, another student bought Puerto Rico: Independence Is a Necessity and its Farsi translation.

A student interested in the Russian revolution picked up History of the Russian Revolution and My Life by Leon Trotsky, as well as Questions of National Policy and Proletarian Internationalism by V.I. Lenin.

A student looking for philosophy books purchased The Communist Manifesto; The Last Year of Malcolm X: The Evolution of a Revolutionary; Humanism and Socialism; and Pragmatism versus Marxism. Two students bought An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory.

An international communications student looking for books on Africa for his thesis decided to buy Nelson Mandela Speaks and New International no 5, featuring “The Coming Revolution in South Africa,” plus three Farsi titles, How Far We Slaves Have Come!, by Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro; Malcolm X Talks to Young People; and Sankara’s pamphlet on the fight for women’s equality and the African freedom struggle.

A total of 65 copies of Pathfinder books and pamphlets in English, Spanish, and French were sold, encompassing 55 different titles. The number books sold in Spanish, 18, was significantly higher than usual.

Ninety-five Pathfinder titles translated into Farsi were sold as well, including 16 of the Pathfinder titles that have been translated into Farsi by the Tehran publishing house Talaye Porsoo. A young man bought Malcolm X Talks to Young People and Sankara’s We are the Heirs of the World’s Revolutions. He came back the next day to express his appreciation for the effort to translate and publish such valuable books in the native tongue. He bought a few more Farsi titles: Socialism and Man in Cuba, The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning, Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle, and Making History.

A young woman who is a reporter for a magazine purchased Feminism and the Marxist Movement and Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle. She said she intended to introduce the books to the public in an article.

Two young students picked up Socialism on Trial and mistakenly thought the book was against socialism. After learning the book is a record of the trial of leaders of the Teamsters union and of the Socialist Workers Party in the United States, framed up and jailed under the Smith “Gag” Act in the 1940s for their opposition to imperialist war, they decided to buy it.

The most popular Farsi title was Socialism and Man in Cuba, which sold 20 copies; followed by Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle, 17 copies; and Feminism and the Marxist Movement, 13 copies.
 
 
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2,700 books on revolutionary politics sold in October  
 
 
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