The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 69/No. 42           October 31, 2005  
 
 
‘Militant’ sub drive goal doubled to 3,000
(front page)
 
BY PAUL PEDERSON  
Militant
readers sold another 300 subscriptions to the paper last week, bringing the total sold in the first four weeks of the circulation drive to 1,401. That’s near the original target of 1,500 at only the mid-point of the effort.

Last week, readers of the paper in 15 cities increased their quotas, too. These now add up to 2,677—about 500 more in local projections.

Given this political response to the paper among workers—unprecedented in decades—the Militant has doubled the international goal of the drive to 3,000 subscriptions and extended the effort by a week to November 20.

Here are some of this week’s highlights:

“I’m going to bring this paper into work,” said a worker at a nonunion coal load-out as he subscribed. “The guys at work really need to see this. Everybody should be union.”

Nine people participated in an effort to reach underground coal miners in Utah and Colorado October 14-19. As of October 17, they had sold 15 subscriptions at mine portals, truck stops, and house visits in mining communities. A high point of the effort was a sale at a power plant adjacent to the Deer Creek mine in Utah. Contract workers there snapped up 30 copies of the paper and three subscriptions during a shift change.

Two coal haulers also subscribed in mining communities. They were interested in the news on the Teamsters organizing independent truckers in the South. And both said they needed the union in their workplace to address stagnating wages and long hours.

In addition to the subs, 90 copies of the paper, and one copy each of the book Cuba and the Coming American Revolution and the pamphlet The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning were sold on the team in the West (see special offer on page 7).

Joyce Fairchild and James Haywood, Militant supporters in London, sold the paper at truck stops and meat plants in the region.

“At Chester a truck driver, Anita Haywood, subscribed and bought a copy of The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning. She said, ‘You haven’t got a life in this job. We can’t make a living working 48 hours a week. With a decent rate we wouldn’t have to work all these hours.’”

The team sold two subs to truckers, one to a meat worker, two to students at Manchester University, and two dozen copies of the paper. Overall 33 subs were sold in the United Kingdom last week, nearly doubling their total.

“I agree they should jail the cops who beat him,” said Howard Allen, 70, of New Orleans, referring to the cops who brutalized Robert Davis in that city’s French Quarter October 8. “They should fire them all starting with the mayor.”

Allen, a retired seaman, met Militant reporters a week after the hurricane struck and subscribed. When Anthony Dutrow and José Aravena, Socialist Workers Party candidates for mayor and city controller of Houston, respectively, returned October 14, Allen asked for a Militant bundle to sign up others for subscriptions. “They need this paper,” he said of his neighbors. After starting with a bundle of half a dozen copies, he sent in an order for another 20.

Readers who would like to follow Allen’s example can purchase a bundle for resale at the rate of $.70 per copy. A batch of subscription cards will be included. Please call us or send a note (see information).

Click here to see the sub drive scoreboard  
 
 
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