MONTREAL — Pathfinder Books, which features books by leaders of the Socialist Workers Party and other revolutionaries worldwide, from Fidel Castro to Russian revolutionaries V.I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky, mounted a sizable stand at the Nov. 19-23 Salon du livre here.
The annual book fair presented over 500 booths. It’s a major cultural event in Quebec for families, schoolchildren, working people of all ages, book sellers, distributors and authors. This year over 100,000 people attended.
The Pathfinder booth was a hive of discussion on the deepening crisis of capitalism today, Israel’s defensive war against Hamas to prevent another Holocaust, other flashpoints in the class struggle, and the need for working people to break from the capitalist parties and build our own party to fight for political power.
Volunteers at the table also got out the word about the upcoming Nov. 29 march and rally organized by the united Quebec labor movement, along with doctors, students and others. The protest targets a series of new laws attacking the labor movement and political rights by the Quebec government. Many said they knew about the action and planned to participate.
“We sold 262 books and 22 subscriptions to the Militant,” Philippe Tessier, who organized the booth, said. “That’s almost double the amount that was sold in previous years, reflecting the sharpening of the class struggle in Canada and internationally.”
The best sellers were Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara, the communist leader of the 1983-87 Burkina Faso Revolution, with 19 sold, and 17 copies of Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? Class, Privilege, and Learning Under Capitalism by SWP National Secretary Jack Barnes.
Other big sellers were 15 copies of Cosmetics, Fashion, and the Exploitation of Women by Mary-Alice Waters, Joseph Hansen and Evelyn Reed and 12 copies of Revolution and the Road to Peace in Colombia: The Example of the Cuban Revolution by Fidel Castro.
Arian Villar Carlin, a Montreal engineering student, said she bought Cosmetics, Fashion, and the Exploitation of Women because “women need to fight for their rights. We need to understand how the fashion and cosmetics industries manipulate us to make profits. This book says that it’s capitalism which is behind this. I want to read this book to understand this better.”
William Boucher, a young warehouse worker, bought The Fight Against Jew-Hatred and Pogroms in the Imperialist Epoch: Stakes for the International Working Class. It explains the origins of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, pogrom and how working people can fight to defend Israel’s existence as a refuge for Jews.
“I want to learn about what is happening in the world. What has led to the social movements we see today,” Boucher said.
Canadian National freight train conductor Billy Labrie, a member of the Teamsters union, also bought the book on fighting Jew-hatred, as well as a special offer at the booth of three issues of New International, which explain what’s behind the deepening crisis of world capitalism. The featured articles are titled “Washington’s Assault on Iraq: Opening Guns of World War III”; “Imperialism’s March Toward Fascism and War”; and “Capitalism’s Long Hot Winter Has Begun.”
“I think it is crucial to look at what underlies the challenges facing the trade unions in the fast-changing world around us,” Labrie said.
Pathfinder volunteers at book fairs like this around the world have netted significantly higher sales than in previous years. Workers and youth are looking for explanations and a road forward.