An appeal for the fund was made at an October 1 Militant Labor Forum in San Francisco, and those attending contributed $1,300, putting San Francisco close to the top of the chart. Making regular use of these forums in every city to solicit payments and win new pledges is an important way of keeping up a weekly campaign pace.

Speaking at the San Francisco forum were Joel Britton, the Socialist Workers Party candidate for the San Francisco Board of Education, and two Young Socialists, Ben O'Shaughnessy and David Argüello, who are also running as part of the socialist tickets in New York and California, respectively.

O'Shaughnessy pointed out that Young Socialists in several cities have taken quotas in the campaigns to raise funds and increase readership of the socialist newsweekly. This includes Detroit; San Diego; Amherst, Massachusetts; Albany, New York; and Tampa, Florida.

Joe Swanson from Des Moines reports that Militant supporters there have been organizing systematic visits to subscribers of the paper in Iowa and Nebraska over the weekend, winning a number of contributions.

"Two supporters of the Militant did some house meetings in Omaha, Nebraska, Saturday afternoon," Joe said. "The visits netted one renewal subscription from a meat worker and one new subscription from a construction worker. The team collected $20 for the Militant Fund."

Swanson said a similar effort in Lincoln, Nebraska, brought in $30 for the fund and an additional $50 pledge. Two other longtime Militant subscribers contributed when supporters of the fund visited them. In all, these visits raised $240 from new contributors in the region, Swanson reported.

Click here to see the fund chart