Vol. 79/No. 21      June 8, 2015

At picket lines, social protests and in working-class neighborhoods around the world there is growing interest in finding a road forward for working people in face of the attacks coming down on us from a capitalist system in crisis. The Militant is an invaluable source of information and perspectives for a class-struggle road forward for all those who stand up and fight back.

On May 20 and 21 fighters for an increase in the minimum wage organized protests outside McDonald’s headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, coinciding with the stockholders’ meeting there. Fast-food workers and their supporters organized buses to the two days of mobilizations for $15 an hour and a union. Militant supporters from Chicago, Twin Cities and Atlanta joined the actions.

“I’ve been looking for books like these,” Ramona Jones told Dan Fein, as she got Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power by Jack Barnes. After more discussion about the Cuban Revolution and its solidarity with Africa, Jones found a friend who loaned her money to buy Cuba and Angola: Fighting for Africa’s Freedom and Our Own. She was one of 15 new readers who got subscriptions during the protests.

More than 60 people attended a May 22 meeting at the Unitarian Church in Calgary, Alberta, where Cuban doctor José de Jesús Portilla spoke about Cuba’s mission in West Africa to fight Ebola.

“For many this was their first event in solidarity with the Cuban Revolution,” Katy LeRougetel reported May 24. “The Communist League had a table displaying Pathfinder books and the Militant, which drew a lot of interest. Seven people signed up for subscriptions and many also picked up books.”

Those who subscribe can buy any Pathfinder book or New International magazine at half price.

Nyabuoy Gatbel, 21, a university student of South Sudanese origin, got Capitalism and the Transformation of Africa by Mary-Alice Waters and Martín Koppel along with her subscription. “I want to know how the transformation is occurring because the problems in Africa are rooted in economics,” she said. Other participants picked up a wide variety of titles, among them Cuba and Angola, New International no. 12, featuring “Capitalism’s Long Hot Winter Has Begun” by Jack Barnes; Lenin’s Final Fight; and Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women.

“We have four appointments tomorrow,” LeRougetel wrote, “two with readers who want to renew and two with workers we met door to door who wanted us to come back.”

“My main focus is enforcing the union contract and safety on the job,” Amanda Hines, an aero space worker and member of International Association of Machinists, told Mary Martin when she knocked on her door in Marysville, Washington, May 25. What especially caught her attention was the article in the June 1 issue on how the rail bosses’ disregard for safe working conditions were responsible for the May 12 Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia.

“At work people call me over and say ‘I don’t feel safe.’ I look and say, ‘Heck, no! It’s not safe, and we are going to do whatever we need to make sure you go home safe tonight,’” Hines said.

“Please, put me on your mailing list so I can be aware of things in the world,” wrote a prisoner from Pennsylvania. “I’m in isolation, so it will be great for me to receive this.” Workers behind bars across the U.S. and beyond have a very high renewal rate and every issue is often read and studied by many other inmates.

This week Militant editor John Studer and Frank Forrestal, a leader of the Socialist Workers Party and former coal miner, leave on a 10-day reporting trip to Ukraine. The annual Militant Fighting Fund makes trips like these possible, and is also a precondition for the generous introductory offer to try the paper for 12 weeks for $5.

Last week the fund increased with $17,000, but collection of pledges need to pick up in the final stretch. Calgary raised its quota, narrowing the gap to our goal but still $4,000 short.
 
 
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