Vol. 79/No. 23      June 22, 2015

At protests against cop killings, in actions for raising wages and unionization, at picket lines and plant gates, at doorsteps in cities and rural areas, at political meetings and candidates’ debates, partisans of the paper won more than 2,200 new and renewing readers and raised more than $117,000 to keep the Militant coming out.

“I like the Militant because it covers the working person,” said Kenny Lewis, who works at Ford’s assembly plant in Chicago. “We have got to have a voice. I am going to keep subscribing.” Lewis is a member of United Auto Workers Local 551 with 19 years in the plant. He is one of a dozen workers there who signed up during the drive.

The United Auto Workers contracts for Ford, General Motors and Chrysler are set to expire Sept. 14, and members are discussing how to reverse two-tier wage concessions and fight to boost wages. “We haven’t had a raise in 10 years,” Lewis said, while “these companies are making record profits.”

Dan Fein, a Walmart worker in Chicago, signed up his co-worker Tawaski Hughes a few weeks ago. “The Militant has a revolutionary outlook that I like,” Hughes said. “The fight for $15 an hour is important to me and the community.”

Hughes bought a copy of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power by Jack Barnes, taking advantage of the offer during the drive to buy any Pathfinder book or New International magazine at half price with a subscription. “I look forward to reading the book,” he said. “I am tired of fiction. I want something relevant to the struggle today.”

Yesenia Gonzalez, a college student, bought an introductory subscription at a rally during a five-day strike by port truck drivers in Los Angeles.

“The paper is very interesting because there are topics that I haven’t really heard about before,” even if she doesn’t have time between work and school to read all of it, she told Militant supporter Deborah Liatos. “My father also reads it.”

Her father, Alfredo Gonzalez, a port truck driver for 20 years, spoke at a May 29 Militant Labor Forum on “The Growing Movement for Increased Wages and a Union.”

“On Sept. 2, 2014, I was injured after I slipped and fell,” he told forum participants. “Now I’m on disability with no pay. We work hard and want a fair contract. We want to be members of the Teamsters union. That’s why I’m here in the struggle.”

A few days later Gonzalez told Liatos on by phone, “The forums are very useful. I would like to come back when I can. It’s also very useful for people to read the Militant.”

Larry Sells, a machine operator in La Vista, Nebraska, is a long-term reader of the paper. At a June 5 Militant Labor Forum in Omaha, he got a statement issued by the Socialist Workers Party opposing the death penalty. He made 20 copies and used it in discussions with a neighbor, two bank tellers and workers at FedEx and UPS, as well as some co-workers. One of the tellers told him that her parents are for the death penalty but she is not.

“Sells told this story at a social organized to raise money to get people to the Active Workers Conference,” Rebecca Williamson reported. “He said most of the 20 copies were gone by then.”

The conference, sponsored by the Socialist Workers Party, takes place in Oberlin, Ohio, June 18-20. (See ad on page 7.)

Join in the work to expand the readership of the Militant. Contact the distributor nearest you listed on page 8.
 
 
Related articles:
More than 2,200 subscribers! April 11 – June 2 (Final)
Militant Fighting Fund April 11 – June 2 (Final)
 
 
 
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