Vol. 75/No. 4      January 31, 2011

Over the next week each area will be relooking at their quotas and plans to organize discussions with every subscriber. The goal is to get a high number of those whose subscriptions to the socialist press have expired, or will expire in the coming weeks, to sign up and continue receiving the paper.

Quotas adopted in different areas now total 290. These figures fall far short of the real opportunities posed by this campaign. Forty-seven renewals have already been recorded. A majority of these were mailed directly to the Militant.

Many of the quotas adopted by local areas were decided quickly and don’t reflect a serious review of subscription lists, and making concrete plans to meet with as many subscribers as possible to win them to renewing.

Every area has a gold mine of individuals who signed up for the paper in the fall, when more than 2,000 people bought subscriptions after political discussions about the working-class struggles covered in the paper. Supporters of the Militant also sold close to 1,800 copies of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power by Jack Barnes, most in combination with a subscription.

Many of these were sold by socialist workers in factories. “A few nights ago as I drove my forklift around the plant on night shift, I stopped to talk to one subscriber about renewing who said, ‘I can budget that,’” writes Maggie Trowe of Des Moines. “When I passed him again he pulled out a $20 bill for a six-month renewal. Later as we lined up to clock out another coworker called me over and did the same.”

The Militant is especially valued by workers involved infights against the bosses’ speedup and unsafe conditions.

The Militant recently carried coverage of the mine disaster in New Zealand. Socialists there made visits to the area to get the paper out. One miner in the town of Greymouth decided to renew for six months after discussions on the recent events. Several workers made statements to the Militant about the mine disaster to be used in future coverage.

In Chicago socialists kicked off the renewal campaign by making calls to set up appointments to visit people and talk politics. As a result they secured three subscriptions right away.

Alyson Kennedy writes, “We got more than 15 subscriptions at Malcolm X College during the last drive. We plan a table there and other follow-up work next week to get renewals.” Campaigning for John Hawkins, Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of Chicago, will open up more opportunities to win long-term readers of the paper there.

These are just a few examples of the interest there is to tap into if supporters of the socialist newsweekly reach out and grab it. As socialists sign up long-term readers they will also continue to get out to union struggles, protest actions, factories, and campuses to win introductory subscriptions.

Join the campaign! Sign up your coworkers, friends, and those you are involved in political activity with to renew their subscriptions or sign up for new a subscription of six months or longer. Both kinds of subscriptions will count toward the campaign to increase the long-term readership. You can contact a distributor in your area, listed on page 8, to help.

Reviewing our plans in each area and allowing more time to carry them out will make it possible to regularly get the Militant into the hands of hundreds of workers, farmers, and students. Many are looking for honest reporting about the struggles of working people and an analysis of the news from the point of view of the working class.  
 
 
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