Titles on politics, history draw at Montreal Book Fair

By Michel Prairie
January 9, 2023
Militant/Mary Ellen Marus

MONTREAL — There was increased interest in books about working-class and revolutionary history and politics at the Pathfinder booth at the Nov. 23-27 annual Montreal Book Fair. Volunteers from Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and New York City sold 138 books and 13 subscriptions to the Militant, almost 50% more than last year. Some 75,000 people took part in the fair. Sales and discussions were triggered by displays of the Militant’s coverage of the courageous fight by 55,000 school workers in Ontario against an anti-strike law imposed by the provincial government.

During the two weeks leading up to the book fair, presentations on the newest Pathfinder title — Labor, Nature, and the Evolution of Humanity: The Long View of History — were held, one in French at the Port de tête bookstore and the other in English at the de Stiil bookshop. Some 30 people attended the events featuring a panel of Josette Hurtubise, a primary school teacher; David Lefrancois, a university teacher in history and theories of education; and Michel Prairie, Pathfinder’s French-language editor.

This collection of articles and writings by Frederick Engels and Karl Marx, founding leaders of the modern communist movement, and George Novack and Mary-Alice Waters, leaders of the Socialist Workers Party, was Pathfinder’s best seller at the fair, with 23 copies sold.