Vol. 73/No. 13      April 6, 2009

Militant/Betsey Stone

Supporters of Militant at Socialist Workers Party stand distribute socialist newsweekly and Pathfinder books during March 21 action in San Francisco against wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and in support of Palestinian struggle. Action kicked off Militant spring 2009 subscription campaign.

A total of 45 participants in the antiwar rally in Washington got subscriptions as they discussed political issues on a variety of topics with Militant distributors on the buses, at the rally, and after the march.

"The economic crisis was a big thing on people's minds," said Ben O'Shaughnessy, organizer of the Militant subscription campaign in Chicago who also participated in the Washington demonstration. "There was also a lot of interest around the article on the class struggle in Israel." Militant supporters from Chicago sold five subscriptions during the march.

A similar demonstration took place in San Francisco that day, where some 2,000 people turned out to protest Washington's wars. Among them were socialist candidates and their campaign supporters calling for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all imperialist troops from their wars abroad. Supporters of the paper there sold 12 subscriptions along with 6 copies of the Pathfinder booklet Is Socialist Revolution in the U.S. Possible? It sells for $4 along with a $5 introductory Militant subscription. They also sold four copies of Capitalism and the Transformation of Africa, which is $5 with a subscription for a $10 total.

On March 21 campaign volunteers for Betsy Farley, Socialist Workers congressional candidate in the 5th district in Illinois, sold 3 subscriptions and 50 single copies of the Militant at two meetings in the Chicago area attended by many immigrant workers. The socialist candidate and her supporters have been actively building actions for May 1 and have gotten a good response to the campaign's demand for unconditional legalization for all undocumented workers.

"The Militant sub drive has kicked off to a good start here," writes Bob Aiken, in Sydney, Australia, where 14 subscriptions to the paper have been sold during the drive so far. "We sold three subs at a meeting on Palestine at Macquarie University, four at a forum organized by the Guatemala solidarity committee, and two at a protest against the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," he reported.

Your help is needed in this campaign. To find out how you can be part of the subscription drive and expand the readership of this unique voice of the working class, contact your local Militant distributor.

'Militant' Subscription Drive: March 21 – May 12, 2009