Vol. 78/No. 20       May 26, 2014

Going into the last few days of the five-week Militant subscription and books campaign ending May 14, supporters of the Militant have 130 more subscriptions to go to hit the 1,800 goal. During the last week supporters signed up more than 400 readers, taking working-class politics onto doorsteps in cities and rural areas, as well as to picket lines, political events and social protests.

Félix Vincent Ardea and Beverly Bernardo sold four subscriptions as they participated in a 300-strong postal workers march in Montreal against the threatened end of home letter delivery, while three other teams fanned out going door to door in the city.

Annette Kouri and John Steele visited Shajia, who subscribed last summer and had just returned from a month’s visit to Bangladesh. “I was there at that demonstration!” she exclaimed when she saw the photo in the Militant of women garment workers marching in Dhaka May 1. She bought two copies of that issue and donated $8 to the Militant Prisoners’ Fund, which helps workers behind bars get the paper in the mail.

Eric Solovjovs and his wife Val, originally from Latvia, were among the participants in a May 9 action in Minneapolis against the Russian government’s efforts to destabilize Ukraine. “It turns out they have been reading the Militant for more than a year,” Frank Forrestal reported. “Eric got the sub at a labor protest supporting higher wages for janitors in front of Target.”

“The paper is the only source of information I get that I trust,” Eric Solovjovs said. “It’s the best paper out there on what is going on in Ukraine.”

“I think the whole system is broken,” T.P. Dwyer, a retired Boeing worker said as he signed up for the Militant on his doorstep in Auburn, Washington, May 11. “The Democrats are as bad as the Republicans. They made promises about being for working people and as soon as they got elected they put more taxes on working people and small businesses and gave tax breaks to companies like Boeing.”

“Three members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union renewed their subscriptions when we visited them,” Edwin Fruit said from Seattle. Byron Jacobs was a leader of the longshoremen’s fight against the union-busting lockout by EGT Corp. in 2011 and 2012. He was framed up on assault charges stemming from a peaceful union protest and sentenced to 32 days in jail. He spent 36 hours in solitary confinement.

“I can relate to what these paintings show,” he said when he looked at I Will Die the Way I’ve Lived, a book with Antonio Guerrero’s prison paintings depicting the conditions faced by the Cuban Five in solitary confinement. “While I was in solitary, they handcuffed me to a pole so I could hardly move. Guerrero reflects just what it is like in the hole.”

The book is one of 11 on revolutionary politics from Pathfinder Press on special offer with a subscription (see ad below).

Four people decided to try the introductory offer and two others renewed in connection with another showing in support of the Cuban 5 at the Bayview library in San Francisco May 4 (see article on front page).

“One was to an artist who called out from her second-story window when she recognized me as several of us were walking to the event,” Joel Britton reported May 5. “She had gotten a single issue a few days earlier and came downstairs with her $5. Later, she joined us for the exhibit.”

The final scoreboard — counting all subscriptions sent in by 9 a.m. EDT May 15 — will be printed in next week’s issue.
 
 
Related articles:
Spring ‘Militant’ subscription campaign April 5 – May 14 (week 5)  
 
 
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