Last week Militant campaigners also began to turn a corner on collecting contributions toward the $90,000 Militant Fund, which runs concurrently with the subscription drive. Nearly $19,000 was sent in—the highest one-week collection yet. Similar amounts need to be collected weekly for the remaining three weeks of the effort.

The following two reports give a taste of the opportunities.

At a Cinco de Mayo celebration in West St. Paul, 29 people signed up to subscribe. Carlos Sánchez, part of a team staffing the table, reports that at times it was so mobbed with people that the team could barely keep up.

“We need to organize the workers,” said José, a roofer who signed up for a subscription at the rally, asking that his full name not be used. “It’s dangerous work and there is no health insurance.”

In addition, two people added their names to the list of endorsers of the Militant Defense Fund and a total of 17 Pathfinder books were sold. One of the top book buyers was a cleaner originally from El Salvador. She and her daughter left the table with four titles—the Essential Works of V.I. Lenin, The Communist Manifesto in Spanish by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State by Engels in Spanish, and To Speak The Truth, speeches by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, central leaders of the Cuban Revolution.

Meanwhile, Militant supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, were holding an event that day for the Militant Fund. The meeting featured a panel of speakers that included Brian Taylor, a meat packer in South St. Paul, Minnesota, who has taken part in Militant reporting trips to Cuba, Venezuela, and Equatorial Guinea; Harold Ruggless, president of United Auto Workers Local 271; and Shannon Wohl, 28, a Militant supporter from Des Moines who helps sell the socialist newsweekly.

Taylor pointed to the millions of workers who took part in the May 1 actions around the country. He noted, “We can see the attraction to the Militant by the numbers who have subscribed to the paper recently.”

“I do work within five-thousands of an inch, so I appreciate good tools,” said Ruggless. “The Militant is a good tool.” He said the paper, which he helps get around his workplace, provides inspiration and shows that working people can change society.

Wohl described participating in house visits with meat packers from Sudan and going to recent demonstrations for the rights of immigrant workers in Des Moines and Sioux City, Iowa.

Among those in attendance was a worker from the Tyson hog plant in Perry, Iowa, and another from Pine Ridge Farms, a hog cut-and-kill in Des Moines. Both came after being invited by co-workers who help distribute the Militant.

Click here to see the sub drive scoreboard.
Click here to see the 'Militant' fund drive chart