Vol. 73/No. 20 May 25, 2009
Militant supporters fell short of meeting the international goal by only 21 subscriptions, finishing at 99 percent.
Throughout the drive Militant volunteers combined participation in activities in defense of workers’ rights, for legalization of immigrants, in support of the Cuban Revolution, against the Israeli military assault on Gaza, and other political work, with introducing the revolutionary press to workers, students, and farmers.
Sales on campuses, in working-class communities, and at political events, were the main avenues through which supporters of the paper won new readers.
In the last two weeks of the drive leading up to and beyond the May Day demonstrations in cities across the country, many supporters of the Militant organized to gain the momentum needed to reach their quotas. Socialist workers from Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia combined their efforts on May 10 to sell seven subscriptions to workers from Guatemala and others who work in the poultry plants and in the hard-hit construction industry of the Delmarva Peninsula, reports Glova Scott from Washington, D.C.
“Picking up renewals, meeting people at the Cuba conference in Kingston, Ontario, participating in the Tamil struggle, and supporters around the country giving a last push helped to finish the drive with 116 subscriptions,” writes Annette Kouri from Canada.
In addition to extensive sales in working-class neighborhoods and on the job, distributors of the Militant turned a lot of attention to meeting students on college campuses. Through participating with students in political activity and reaching out to them through sales in student center cafeterias and off literature tables, hundreds of young people signed up for the Militant during this drive.
In New York City, Seth Galinsky reports, “We sold 11 subscriptions at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and Hunter College campuses in the last two days of the drive.”
The success of the subscription campaign means a lot of rewarding follow-up work is possible now for Militant volunteers who value the paper and want to spread its revolutionary perspective. Over the next month the job is to get to know those who are reading the paper, and join them in working-class struggles.
'Militant' subscription drive: Final Results