Vol. 75/No. 3      January 24, 2011

Militant/Maggie Trowe

David Rosenfeld (left), Socialist Workers candidate for Iowa governor in 2010, showing Militant newspaper to locked-out grain mill workers in Keokuk, Iowa, January 4.

"We now have three renewals in Chicago," writes Alyson Kennedy. "We met with an Afro-American worker tonight for over an hour. He renewed and had read some of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power by Jack Barnes." Supporters in Chicago began organizing teams to make calls over the weekend and have set up a number of similar meetings as a result.

In Twin Cities, Minnesota, Frank Forrestal reports, "We picked up a renewal from a Delta worker who spoke at our forum on labor struggles a few weeks ago." Supporters there also signed up two participants at their most recent Militant Labor Forum to renew.

Many workers who are being approached about renewing their subscriptions are talking about the value of the Militant in learning about other workers' struggles and appreciate the integrity of the paper’s reporting about their fights.

One worker involved in the fight against the lockout by Roquette Industries in Keokuk, Iowa, commented positively about seeing his coworkers reading the Militant in the union hall and at the picket shack.

The campaign to win hundreds of readers to re-up on their subscriptions will go hand in hand with deepening discussions on politics today and introducing workers to revolutionary books such as the new Pathfinder title Soldier of the Cuban Revolution by brigadier general Luis Alfonso Zayas.

The introduction to the book by Mary-Alice Waters has been printed in English and Spanish in the Militant. The book is available at a special price of only $14 through April 15.

A feature of the renewal drive will be communist workers in factories signing up coworkers for long-term subscriptions. "Before the drive began we already had four coworkers renew," reports Dan Fein, who works at a pharmaceutical factory in the Bronx. Fein said he was confident other coworkers would renew, while at the same time new readers will be won to the paper.

In addition to renewals, all new subscriptions of six-months or longer will count toward renewal drive quotas.

Over the past weeks a couple dozen workers and students who bought introductory subscriptions in the fall have sent in renewals directly to the Militant. They often include notes like "Keep up the good work," and "I love to read the Militant!" One reader's wife called the office to make sure his renewal had been received. She said a one-year subscription to the paper is what her husband wanted for Christmas.

The Militant has also increased its prison subscriptions by 15 in the past year, as workers behind bars seek out answers to the crisis of capitalism and want to read about working-class struggles.

Over the next four weeks areas should chart a campaign to talk to every subscriber won during the successful fall circulation campaign. As this is done supporters of the paper will be able to deepen relationships with those who are looking for answers to the worldwide economic crisis and want to discuss the possibilities for the working class to take political power.

The renewal campaign runs through February 8 so select a quota that is challenging and will help increase the long-term readership of the paper. Readers and supporters of the Militant are encouraged to send in reports of how the campaign is going in their area, what is being done to successfully sign up readers, as well as what workers like about the paper.  
 
 
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