These include 66 people renewing their subscriptions, some 17 percent of the total. Militant supporters are working to keep this rate up or increase it. That would mean winning nearly 500 renewals as part of the international goal of 2,600 subscriptions. Achieving the renewal quota would be an important step in expanding the Militant’s long-term readership.

Reports on how this effort is combined with signing-up new readers are beginning to come in.

“On Sunday, September 10, several of us set up a table at 207th Street and Broadway, a working-class neighborhood in upper Manhattan,” said a note from Alyson Kennedy, a Militant supporter in New York. “At one point, Manuel Sánchez and I went door-to-door to visit readers whose subs had expired or were about to run out. A seamstress who works in a factory in Manhattan’s midtown garment district, originally from the Dominican Republic, said she’s been reading the paper and likes it. She readily agreed to renew.”

“Another five workers who walked by the literature table bought introductory subscriptions,” Kennedy continued. “They included a worker from Jamaica. He said one of this favorite books was How Far We Slaves Have Come! by African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela and Cuban president Fidel Castro. Another worker from Mexico wanted to subscribe and a couple of people met him at work the next day after he got paid, and he signed up. They then sold three more subscriptions going door-to-door in the area. We also sold several in the Black community, Harlem and Mt. Vernon.

“Overall we’ve sold 45 subs, including 5 renewals, since August 24,” she said. “These include 16 that supporters of the paper sold at the September 7 rally for immigrant rights in Washington (see front-page article), a number of which were sold on the buses on the way to D.C. ”

A total of 47 people subscribed and more than 200 bought copies of the Militant at that rally of 5,000, said Doug Nelson, a supporter of the paper there.

Partisans of the paper are reaching out to workers on the job and through sales outside factories or other worksites. This is part of expanding and maintaining the Militant’s subscription base in the working class and labor movement.

This reporter was part of teams distributing the Militant outside a building in midtown Manhattan full of garment shops, where about a dozen workers bought copies of the paper over the last two weeks. Some are beginning to buy a copy twice in a row, laying the groundwork for more subscriptions.

All readers are urged to send in reports about similar outreach efforts by Monday nights.

Click here to see the fund chart
Click here to see the Militant sales goals chart