BY MAGGIE TROWE

As we go to press, over $120,000 has been received for the $125,000 1996 Pathfinder Fund. This brings the total to 97 percent of the goal. In order to make sure the fund is completed in full, organizers decided to extend the deadline one week. All funds received in New York by Tuesday, November 19 at noon EST will be counted on the final chart, which will appear in the Militant printed Thursday, November 21.

Pathfinder supporters in cities around the world have been making an extra effort to contact every potential contributor and collect money from every person in their area who made a pledge. As a result, envelopes full of checks have been flooding into the Pathfinder office for the last week.

In Detroit, Holly Harkness reports that fund supporters found they might be slightly short of their goal, so they got on the phones calling everyone who might be interested in supporting the fund, and organized a raffle. They are selling tickets to co-workers and others to help meet their goal.

Supporters in many cities held special fund-raising meetings last weekend to bring home the fund. In Chicago and Peoria, Illinois, the guest speaker at the fund meetings was Tom Leonard, a longtime socialist who spoke on "Racism, Anti- Immigrant Discrimination, and the Labor Movement." The leaflet for the event explains: "As a young merchant seaman, Tom Leonard witnessed the devastation of and working-class resistance to World War II in Europe and the rise of the anti-colonial revolution in Asia. He draws on his experiences as a union activist and revolutionary working-class fighter to explain the impact of these giant world events on working-class and union struggles."

Mámud Shirvani, one of the most popular speakers on the Pathfinder Fund meeting circuit, spoke at a well-attended meeting in Miami. Shirvani coauthored the introduction of To See the Dawn: Baku 1920 - First Congress of the Peoples of the East, a collection of documents that bring to life the work of the Communist International to support struggles of the peoples in the colonial world. This book is one of Pathfinder's consistent sellers.

Nat London, a fund supporter in Paris, France, reports, "We have made our Pathfinder Fund Drive of $750!!" Salm Kolis from Atlanta sent this message: "We are sending payments totaling $885 for the Pathfinder Fund. Our goal in Atlanta was $2,700.... This brings the contributions from Atlanta to $3,285." Robbie Scherr from Seattle reports that supporters there have sent in a total of $10,091 - well over their $9,000 goal.

This week Pathfinder's printshop delivered two reprints, The First Ten Years of American Communism by James P. Cannon, a book that recounts the impact of the 1917 Russian revolution on working-class fighters in the United States who built the communist movement here, and The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions by Jack Barnes. This title is a political handbook for a growing layer of young fighters.

Any final contributions can be made payable to the Pathfinder Fund and mailed to Pathfinder, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014.  
 
 
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