Vol. 74/No. 16      April 26, 2010

With this issue of the paper we are at the halfway point of the eight-week campaign to win 2,000 new readers, while selling thousands of copies of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power, by Jack Barnes, and simultaneously raising $110,000 for continued publication of the Militant.

Capitalist politicians and their economic analysts are now working overtime to proclaim the end of the economic downturn. The message is, “Why fight, things are getting better?”

The Militant explains a different reality for working people. As the long-term world capitalist depression drags on-—with its temporary upticks and recoveries—workers are facing a future of more mine disasters, more deportations of immigrants, more restrictions on abortion rights, millions out of work, and further cuts in hospitals and other vital social services.

The Militant also explains another reality for working people: that millions in the United States and around the world are willing to respond to a discussion about the devastating effects of the capitalist crisis and how working people can fight for revolutionary change. Through sales of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power and subscriptions to the Militant, vanguard fighters are engaging in that discussion.

For distributors of the Militant the positive response during the first four weeks of the subscription drive is reason to step up the campaign. The chart shows that 960 readers have gotten subscriptions, and 994 have bought the book, since the drive began four weeks ago. We should be at 1,000 subscriptions, so we are just shy of where we need to be.

If you think what you are reading about in the pages of the paper and in Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power is valuable, help get them around. Lend the paper and the book to coworkers, friends, and family. Encourage them to subscribe and buy the book for just $15.

The campaign to raise $110,000 for continued publication of the paper is behind schedule at this point in the drive. As of this week $34,571 has been sent in, 31 percent of the goal. Distributors of the paper will have to place more attention on organizing and following through on the discussions with those who have made financial pledges, and to winning new contributors.

Nearly every area has begun sending in payments and several cities are sponsoring Militant fund meetings to build momentum for the fund-raising campaign. Through these efforts the drive to make the fund can catch up to the campaign to sell the paper and Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power.

We encourage our readers to send in a few paragraphs or short articles about their efforts to sell and discuss revolutionary perspectives with coworkers, young people, and others.

Please make checks payable to the Militant.

—Paul Mailhot, Editor