Vol. 75/No. 42      November 21, 2011

Examples of selling Militant subscriptions to workers and young people from Seattle and San Francisco to London, and Auckland, New Zealand, over the last week show the openness to a paper published in the interests of working people, as millions are affected by the deepening world crisis of capitalism.

In Seattle, members of the Socialist Workers Party sold 23 subscriptions along with eight books on revolutionary working-class politics offered at special discount during the drive. (See ad below.) Six copies of Teamster Rebellion were sold along with Teamster Power, both part of a four-volume series by Farrell Dobbs.

Ten subscriptions and five books were sold in Longview, Wash., going door to door or at the International Longshore and Warehouse Union picket lines. ILWU Local 21 is engaged in a months-long battle there against a union-busting effort at EGT Development’s grain terminal at the Port of Longview.

Mary Martin reported that since July 31, a total of 99 Militant subscriptions and 57 books have been bought by ILWU members and supporters, including 51 titles from the Teamster series.

From San Francisco, Joel Britton wrote, “Ten coworkers at industrial kitchens where supporters of the Militant work have signed up for subscriptions in recent weeks, one for a one-year renewal.”

“Five subscriptions were sold November 5 by a team that went to San Jose,” he added, “going door to door in a working-class neighborhood and participating in an immigrant rights protest organized by Voluntarios de la Comunidad and joined by Occupy San Jose activists.”

According to Britton, another “five subscriptions were sold at performances in Richmond and San Francisco of La Colmenita, the National Children’s Theater of Cuba, whose U.S. tour ended here on October 28.”

On November 2, he continued, “37 participants in an Occupy Oakland mass day of action signed up for Militant subscriptions, including a one-year renewal. Most of these were sold at the Socialist Workers 2011 Campaign tent near City Hall, where many thousands gathered to protest ‘an economic system built on inequality and corporate power,’ as a poster calling the action put it, as well as the October 25 brutal attack by cops on participants in Occupy Oakland.”

“The highlight of the Militant subscription drive this week in New Zealand,” reported George Fyson from Auckland, “was a visit to the picket line of members of the Meat Workers Union in Marton, about 2.5 hours north of Wellington. Some 100 workers at the Canterbury Meat Packers plant there have been locked out after they refused to accept a 20-30 percent pay cut. Workers on the picket line responded well to the article on the locked-out sugar workers’ battle in the U.S. and five bought subscriptions.”

“Members of the Communist League in London,” wrote Paul Davis, “have now sold 101 subscriptions toward their goal of 120. Prior to and after a meeting to present Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power by Jack Barnes at the London School of Economics, seven subscriptions to the Militant were sold along with six of the book.

“Nine subscriptions were also sold at a London demonstration in solidarity with antigovernment protests in Syria the previous weekend,” added Davis, “and a further six during a door-to-door sale in the working-class neighborhood of Greenford in west London.”

Quotes from workers, farmers and youth attracted to the working-class perspective offered by the Militant are key to this weekly column. Bring your pen, notebook and camera with you whenever you reach out with the paper!
 
 
Related articles:
Fall 'Militant' subscription campaign Oct. 1-Nov. 20 (week 5) (chart).  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home