Vol. 77/No. 17      May 6, 2013

The goal is to win thousands of new and renewing subscribers, sell hundreds of books on working-class revolutionary politics, collaborate in political activity with working people attracted to the socialist press, and — beginning now — put together an Active Workers Conference this summer.

Socialist Workers Party election campaigns in cities across the U.S. will strengthen the effort to reach and involve workers, farmers and revolutionary-minded young people looking for a class-struggle road to confront the deepening crisis of capitalism.

The Active Workers Conference — July 18-20 in Oberlin, Ohio — will provide a unique and much needed opportunity for workers to come together, exchange experiences and discuss politics.

Participants will include workers who have been engaged in labor actions, skirmishes on the job and other political activities, as well as others attracted to the SWP election campaigns and interested in efforts to expand readership of the Militant.

The conference will include panel presentations and discussions by working people on union and social battles they have been part of, talks and classes on developments in world politics and other activities.

Supporters of the Militant will also organize a fund drive during the subscription effort — the Militant Fighting Fund — with an international goal of raising $115,000 to help cover operating expenses of the paper.

An important aspect of the campaign is an effort to sell hundreds of copies of nine books on revolutionary working-class politics offered at reduced prices with a subscription (see ad below).

Added to the list from the previous drive is The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions by Jack Barnes, national secretary of the Socialist Workers Party. As its back cover explains, it “is a handbook for the generations of workers coming into the factories, mines and mills — workers who will react to the uncertain life, ceaseless turmoil, and brutality that will accompany the arrival of the twenty-first century. … Above all, it aims to show why only the working class can lead humanity out of the social crisis endemic to capitalism in its decline. It shows how millions of workers, as political resistance grows, will revolutionize themselves, their unions and all of society.”

Militant readers will use the spring drive to bring solidarity along with an international revolutionary perspective to labor fights where industrial workers are putting up resistance. Such actions are important, no matter their size. Through experiences in the class struggle working people learn valuable lessons about the exploiters and ourselves, become aware of what we can accomplish and gain confidence to lead social and political struggles that prepare the fight for our class to wrest and wield political power.

As in recent campaigns, selling the Militant door to door in working-class neighborhoods will be at the center of the spring drive. Supporters of the paper will go more broadly into the working class, whose lives and outlooks are being shaken by the crisis — from big cities to small towns and rural areas; from coal mines in Appalachia to garment factories in Los Angeles, New York and Miami.

The Militant will be used to engage in discussions about our common interests as workers and the need for all labor to champion union battles and social struggles that help strengthen and unify our class.

Along these lines, the subscription drive and socialist election campaigns will help build actions like the April 29 United Mine Workers protest in St. Louis against union-busting moves by Patriot Coal, May Day actions pressing for legalization of undocumented workers, and the June 1 demonstration in front of the White House to demand freedom for the Cuban Five as part of “Five Days for the Cuban Five” from May 30 to June 5. (See ad on page 2 and photobox on page 7.)

These events will provide opportunities to sell hundreds of subscriptions and books. Because they are part and parcel of the political course of the May 4-June 25 drive, subscriptions sold at the April 29 and May 1 actions will count toward local quotas adopted by Militant distributors in each area.

Join the international effort to expand the circulation of the Militant. If you’re interested in taking part in the Active Workers Conference, start planning now and contact distributors in your area (see directory on page 8).

This column will cover the campaign on a weekly basis. Your reports, comments and photos are crucial. Send them by 9 a.m., EDT, Monday morning.  
 
 
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