Vol. 81/No. 40 October 30, 2017
(front page)
The ‘Militant’ helps workers ‘know what’s going on’
He was glad to be back in touch, and got a six-month subscription and a copy of Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? by Socialist Workers Party National Secretary Jack Barnes. He said he would like to join members of the League in taking the paper and books to workers.
The Communist League in New Zealand, as well as the SWP in the U.S. and Communist Leagues in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, is on a nine-week drive to expand the reach of the Militant and books by SWP leaders. At the heart of the effort is knocking on workers’ doors in cities large and small, discussing the communist movement and its perspectives for fighting the disastrous effects of the capitalist rulers’ wars and economic crisis. Often this leads to meeting their families and friends, deepening the discussions.
In the past week members in New Zealand sold 10 more books toward their goal of 50, including five on workers’ doorsteps and two to co-workers.
We are on schedule for the subscriptions at the halfway mark of the campaign, which runs through Nov. 21. But we need to pick up the pace for the books. Party members report real interest in discussions about the struggle of the Kurdish people fighting for independence in the Middle East, the colonial status of Puerto Rico, and the deepening crisis of the two-party system in the U.S.
Joan Porter writes from Philadelphia that a Militant subscriber who works with her at Walmart joined her at a recent Militant Labor Forum there featuring Osborne Hart, SWP candidate for mayor of New York. The co-worker said she really enjoyed the presentation and meeting other workers. She bought Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? Is Socialist Revolution in the US Possible? “It’s the Poor Who Face the Savagery of the US ‘Justice’ System,”and made a contribution to the SWP’s $100,000 fall fund drive, which runs concurrently with the Militant and book efforts.
The books Porter mentions, along with Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power and The Clintons’ Anti-Working-Class Recordare five books offered at a special discount with a Militant subscription. They are written by Barnes and SWP leader Mary-Alice Waters. “It’s the Poor Who Face the Savagery of the US ‘Justice’ System” is by the Cuban Five, five Cuban revolutionaries who were framed up and imprisoned in the U.S. for up to 16 years for defending their revolution.
Pamela Holmes in London reports that Communist League members and supporters there met Keith Woods, a pharmaceutical plant worker and union member. He told them that the company has been replacing full-time workers with temporary agency staff, increasing the divisions in the workforce. Woods was attracted to the front-page article in last week’s Militant, “To Unite the Working Class Would Be Tremendous.” And he laughed when he saw the book title Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? “They try to make out that we’re stupid and backward,” he said, getting a copy.
Beverly Bernardo writes from Montreal that when she and Michel Prairie knocked on Zahra Yahiaoui’s door Oct. 12, she was pleased to hear about the Communist League’s campaign of Philippe Tessier for mayor. She responded enthusiastically when asked if she wanted to see some of the books in French and got Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? She signed up to receive Militant articles translated into French and to get emails about CL activities, “so I can keep in touch,” she said.
From Chicago Isabella Graham writes that a co-worker who is a new subscriber also got Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power. He and his wife joined Graham after work to look at the books. They bought Puerto Rico — Independence Is a Necessity by Rafael Cancel Miranda, Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? and Is Socialist Revolution in the US Possible?
“I asked them if they know anyone else they thought would be interested,” Graham said. “And the next day he brought me $15 for Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power in Spanish for his cousin.”
Graham also got a pledge for $10 to the party fund from another subscriber.
In Oakland, California, Carrie Larson reports that a co-worker who got a subscription to the Militant and a copy of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power also got a copy of a SWP statement calling for amnesty for immigrant workers. She told Larson she took a photo of it and sent it to her list of relatives and friends.
If you would like to help get Militant subscriptions and campaign books out, or make a donation to the party fund, contact the Socialist Workers Party office nearest you listed on page 8.
Related articles:
Fall campaign set to expand orders for Pathfinder books
Paris: Books by SWP leaders sell at protests, book fair
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