Vol. 77/No. 22      June 10, 2013

Hundreds of Iranian publishers participate each year, as do many from around the world, usually represented by distributors based here. There was a section with books in Arabic, as well as a number from Afghanistan, where the Farsi language is widely spoken. The London distributor of Pathfinder Press has had booths at the fair for more than two decades.

Women and Revolution: The Living Example of the Cuban Revolution, a new title by Asela de los Santos, Mary-Alice Waters, and others, was Pathfinder’s best-selling title here. Next was Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power by Jack Barnes, a leader of the Socialist Workers Party in the U.S. Issues of the Marxist magazine New International, in English and Spanish, were also popular with visitors. The issue featuring Capitalism’s Long Hot Winter Has Begun by Barnes sold out.

“I want to know how the revolution happened,” said a young woman who made a beeline for books on Cuba. On a second visit she bought Women and Revolution. She said she had previously read Pathfinder’s Marianas in Combat by Teté Puebla, published in Farsi by Golâzin Publications. It tells the story of the first all-women’s unit in the Rebel Army, which under Fidel Castro’s command led the revolutionary overthrow of the U.S.-backed dictatorship in Cuba in 1959. Golâzin also publishes Farsi editions of Pathfinder’s Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women by Joseph Hansen, Mary-Alice Waters, and Evelyn Reed, as well as Reed’s Woman’s Evolution.

Other Iranian publishers selling translations of Pathfinder books included Azad Mehr, which publishes The Origins of Materialism and Empiricism and Its Evolution, both by George Novack.

Talaye Porsoo publishes Farsi translations of more than 30 Pathfinder titles, with 10 more now in the works. It sold hundreds of those books during the fair. Among its recent translations are the first volume of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power and U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War, both by Jack Barnes, and The Revolution Betrayed by Leon Trotsky. The latter title was part of a prominent display of new books organized by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in the main building where Iranian publishers had booths.

A few visitors from Kabul, Afghanistan, stopped by the Pathfinder stand. A student from there left with Che Guevara Speaks. Afghanis living in Iran also came by. The publishers union of Afghanistan had a booth at the fair, as did Erfan, a well-known publisher and distributor selling a range of titles. The Afghan stands were busy the final weekend, as young Afghanis, a good number Iranian-born, gathered around them.

“I found you by accident at last year’s fair and bought Malcolm X Speaks,” said a young man who came by the Pathfinder booth. “It was excellent, I want more of your books.” He ended up buying Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power and Cuba and Angola: Fighting for Africa’s Freedom and Our Own. The latter book tells the story of Cuba’s 1975-1991 internationalist mission that helped defend Angolan sovereignty against a U.S.-backed South African invasion and accelerated the battle in South Africa to overthrow the apartheid regime.

The young man returned a few days later and picked up several more books, including Teamster Rebellion by Farrell Dobbs and The Cuban Five: Who They Are, Why They Were Framed, Why They Should Be Free. For the big majority who came by the booth The Cuban Five, on display at the very front, was their first introduction to the case of the five Cuban revolutionaries framed up and imprisoned in the U.S. since 1998.

A woman from Khuzistan, the oil-producing region in southwestern Iran, bought Woman’s Evolution. She returned later with a friend to get more books. A librarian from another large city bought a dozen books.

The event was widely covered by Iranian media. The nationwide daily Ettelaat and Radio Farhang (Culture Radio), which broadcast live from the fair, did interviews with a representative of the Pathfinder distributorship.

The fair was marked by the effects of the world capitalist crisis and imperialist trade and financial sanctions against Iran. Working people here are being hit by sharply rising living costs, with inflation running at more than 30 percent, according to government figures. Iran’s currency, the rial, has dropped two-thirds against the U.S. dollar since late 2011, making imported goods much more expensive. Booksellers at the fair discounted titles substantially to make them more affordable.

There is also growing unemployment in Iran, as factories shut down in face of shortages of materials and spare parts from abroad.  
 
 
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