SWP, ‘Militant’ expand reach deeper into the working class

By Dan Fein
June 11, 2018
Mechanic Corey Whiteloch in Surrey, suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of many new Militant readers. He signed up when Lynda Little knocked on his door April 14, and got Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? by Jack Barnes, contributed to Militant Fighting Fund.
Militant/Katy LeRougetelMechanic Corey Whiteloch in Surrey, suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of many new Militant readers. He signed up when Lynda Little knocked on his door April 14, and got Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? by Jack Barnes, contributed to Militant Fighting Fund.

The Militant extends a warm welcome to the 1,540 people who subscribed for the first time or renewed their subscriptions in the course of a just concluded eight-week campaign of the Socialist Workers Party to expand the paper’s readership, sell revolutionary books and raise money for the Militant Fighting Fund.

The fund campaign raised $119,904, nearly $8,000 over the goal! Some 1,360 copies of books by party leaders and other revolutionaries were snapped up by working people interested in learning more about the roots of today’s economic, political and moral crisis and the party’s revolutionary program.

Many of you came across the paper at demonstrations and strikes by teachers and other school workers that swept five states, demanding pay raises, dignity, more funding for public schools and pensions. Party members and other workers brought support to these actions and returned home to discuss with co-workers how to deepen solidarity and strengthen the unions.

This work continues. Alford Slee and I — who both work at Walmart — visited the Teamsters Local 727 strike picket line in Northlake, Illinois, last week. Afterwards Slee said, “Bringing solidarity is important. It’s how we can win.”

Many party branches won new contributors to the annual Militant Fighting Fund, helping expand the number of workers who join the fight to sustain a working-class newspaper. A thank you goes out to those who contributed. These funds have made possible recent reporting teams. The paper’s editor, John Studer, and Martín Koppel, have just returned from Puerto Rico where they learned more about how working people are responding to the disregard shown by the island’s colonial government and the U.S. rulers to the devastation from last year’s hurricane.

The fund drive also made possible a reporting trip by Rogér Calero and Maggie Trowe to Nicaragua where they provided the paper’s readers with eyewitness reports on the deepening political crisis in that country.

Door-to-door campaigning in working-class neighborhoods is where we also met workers inspired by the teachers’ struggle who picked up subscriptions, bought books by SWP leaders and made financial donations.

Ibrahim, a courier service worker, told Don Mackle and Tamar Rosenfeld that he had not expected to meet members of the Socialist Workers Party in Jersey City, New Jersey, after they knocked on his door. He had recently moved there from Egypt. He picked up a subscription to the paper and a copy of Is Socialist Revolution in the US Possible? by SWP leader Mary-Alice Waters.

When Rosenfeld called him a few days later he said he enjoyed reading “the article about people who have subscribed to the paper, who talked about their situations and their families.” He added, “They are workers just like me.”

Mike Tucker from Auckland, New Zealand, writes, “The campaign by members of the Communist League here to sell subscriptions and books coincided with a by-election for the city council’s Maungakiekie-Tamaki local board, which encompasses several working-class districts. The League stood Annalucia Vermunt, a factory worker and union member, to raise a working-class voice. During the election campaign 15 people picked up subscriptions to the Militant and 14 bought one of the campaign books. Vermunt joined protests by nurses and school workers and was invited to address a high school history class on communism and the Cuban missile crisis and its relevance for today.”

To the readers of the Militant: Keep your eyes open for union fights, as well as other actions in the interest of the working class! Bring your co-workers, friends, neighbors, and relatives to the protests! This is the road toward our unions becoming the fighting mass organizations that we need, that can fight for the class interests of all workers, union and nonunion, native-born and immigrant, Black and Caucasian, women and men.