Vol. 76/No. 18      May 7, 2012

The drive runs through June 10 and is part of a long-term effort to increase the readership of the socialist newsweekly among the broadest layers of working people. Consistent door-to-door sales in working-class neighborhoods is a key aspect.

Two members of the Socialist Workers Party in Minneapolis went to the Red River Valley in the Upper Midwest last weekend, where 1,300 workers have been fighting a lockout by American Crystal Sugar since August.

“In Drayton, N.D., we met for a few hours with five locked-out workers at the picket shanty to talk with them about their fight and other political questions confronting the working class,” writes Frank Forrestal. “The meeting was organized by Paul Dalhman, who has been reading the paper for several months.”

“I really like the Militant,” said Clayton Bronson, a locked-out worker who recently retired and a long-term subscriber. “After I read it I make sure my neighbors read it. It gets into several hands.”

Workers at the meeting bought two subscriptions and a copy of Teamster Rebellion by Farrell Dobbs.

In East Grand Forks, Minn., communist workers met with Manuel Rámon, a stalwart of the fight against American Crystal Sugar and long-term subscriber.

“Manny said he wanted a copy of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power by Jack Barnes,” Forrestal reports. “He said he had seen the ads for the book in the Militant, so he knew it was important.”

The book is offered at a reduced price with a subscription. So is The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning, also by Barnes. (See ad below.)

Terry Holm, another locked-out worker from Gardner, N.D., and a long-time subscriber, also got the Workers Power book. A few weeks earlier he had bought Teamster Rebellion. “I’m not much of a reader, but I guess I will have to change that now,” he said—reflecting a growing thirst among workers to understand the roots of the capitalist crisis and what working people can do about it.

Mary Martin, Socialist Workers candidate for Washington state governor, went to the Longview, Wash., area last weekend with supporters of her campaign. They sold four subscriptions to the Militant and two Workers Power books going door to door. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union waged a victorious eight-month fight in Longview against an attempt by EGT Development to keep the union out of its new grain terminal.

Robert Harju, a steamfitter, bought a subscription and a copy of Malcolm X, Back Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power. “As a working-class person,” he said, “I think we need to stand together and fight. This is what the paper talks about.”

“Five coworkers subscribed this week at the factory where I and another Socialist Workers candidate, Steve Warshell, work. Two of them got copies of the Workers Power book,” writes Jacquie Henderson from Houston. Henderson is the party’s candidate for U.S. Senate and Warshell is the candidate for Congress in Texas’ 18th District. Recent subscribers in the plant helped sell two of the five subscriptions, said Henderson.

You too can help win new readers to the socialist newsweekly. Discuss and share it with your friends and relatives. Order a small bundle. Adopt a goal. Contact a distributor listed on page 8 or contact the Militant (see page 2).
 
 
Related articles:
Spring ‘Militant’ subscription campaign April 14 – June 10 (week 1) (chart)  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home