Vol. 74/No. 11      March 22, 2010

“This is a book about the dictatorship of capital and the road to the dictatorship of the proletariat,” writes Barnes in the introduction. Released in January, the book presents the historic vanguard place and weight of workers who are Black in the fight against all forms of capitalist exploitation and oppression over several generations.

The book draws the lessons of a century and a half of class struggle and the political legacy of the highest-caliber proletarian leadership, from the October 1917 revolution in Russia to the Cuban Revolution. It explains why racism, violence, and exploitation that are endemic to the capitalist system can only be uprooted with the conquest and exercise of state power by the working-class vanguard.

Most importantly, it addresses the question of what is to be done and what kind of movement has to be built to accomplish this historic task.

At the center of the spring campaign to win new readers of the Militant will be the effort by the paper’s supporters to widely distribute this book. To help boost this campaign the Militant has printed thousands of additional copies of the feature supplement, first printed in October 2009, which contains the author’s introduction and several pages of photos from Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power. This will be an effective tool for Militant supporters in their efforts to sell the book.

The Militant supplement is available in English, French, and Spanish. It can be purchased in bundles for just 10 cents each, with a cover price of 50 cents. Order your bundle today by contacting us at themilitant.business@mac.com or (212) 244-4899.

Although the campaign begins March 13, many have already been getting the book out to coworkers, friends, and others over recent weeks. Following are reports from our readers.  
 
New Jersey
I’ve sold 10 copies of the book Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power at my workplace. Nine were sold with subscriptions to the Militant.

Most of the sales have been to coworkers who have bought communist literature in the past or have read the Militant before. Showing them the book was enough to make the sale, which is good because half the sales were to coworkers on other shifts. The photo inserts are really attractive and when you don’t have much time to talk, they do the talking for you.

One coworker, John, encouraged me to post a flyer about the book (I did post one from the Pathfinder Web site in the cafeterias). That resulted in someone approaching me. John even commented on his Facebook page about the book.

One of the two books that were sold to coworkers who had not previously gotten literature from me was to a Black coworker who was talking about a vacation he took in Nicaragua. We were in a class renewing our forklift licenses and the discussion got on to the exploitation of the Third World. I showed him the book the next day. He bought it right away.

The book sells itself. Workers who are feeling the pressures of the huge increase in productivity (we’re all working much harder) appreciate the fightback this book represents.

—Richard Ariza  
 
New Jersey
I am thrilled to have introduced the Militant to three new readers at work who also bought the Workers Power book. One coworker initially only wanted the paper but after he read an excerpt in it from the book, he asked the next day if he could still buy that title. He tore through it, finished it, and bought a couple of other Pathfinder titles.

—Jane Harris  
 
New York
Myself and another Militant supporter were on the subway in New York when we found ourselves in the middle of an animated discussion among high school debate team members who had just won a tournament. They were discussing why Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam.

We took out a copy of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power and began explaining what the book is about. Everyone within earshot was straining to hear and to look at the book. Several students entered the name of the book in their Blackberries. One student said, “Malcolm was a Muslim. I’m a Muslim too, and I’m a socialist. I want to know how workers can run society.”

—Rachele Fruit  
 
San Francisco
As students throughout California mobilized March 4 against funding cuts to public education, Militant supporters joined in the actions. In San Francisco, 15 copies of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power were sold to participants along with about 150 copies of the paper and supplement, and two subscriptions.

—Eric Simpson  
 
Seattle
Those campaigning with the book in Seattle have found new openings to use the feature supplement with the author’s introduction. We realized we hadn’t really been using the French language supplement, as we had ordered only 10. We found the other day during a sale to students at a nearby campus that by offering the supplement in all three languages we will sell it. One Italian student bought the supplement in English and French, his second and third languages.

—Mary Martin
 
 
Related articles:
Bolshevik Revolution and U.S. Black struggle
‘Militant’, book campaign presents communist response  
 
 
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