BY VALERHE JOHNSON
NEW YORK - With this issue Militant readers are getting their first on-the-scene report from Albania by an international team headed up by staff writer Argiris Malapanis. The reporting team includes Tony Hunt from London and airline workers Natasha Terlexis and Bobbis Misailides from Athens.

Even before the Militant team set foot in southern Albania, the heart of the popular uprising against the pro- capitalist regime of Sali Berisha, the first envelope had already arrived in the mail from several readers in Houston. The accompanying note read succinctly: "$42 to go to Militant to contribute to trip to Albania."

Our front-page coverage speaks for itself. What a contrast between the truthful reporting of a socialist newspaper, which gives a voice to fighting workers and peasants in Albania, and the crudely class-biased pieces served up by the hack writers of the New York Times or Washington Post - every word dripping with hatred and fear of workers, who to them are nothing but "looters and thugs" creating "chaos," "anarchy," and an all-round bad example to working people elsewhere in the world.

The Militant has explained from the start that this insurrection by working people is the biggest obstacle to the imperialist powers' attempts to restore capitalism in Albania. The workers state there, as in Russia, has proven stronger than the petty-bourgeois caste that has monopolized political rule, first under the Stalinist regime and now under an openly pro-capitalist government.

Since its first issue in November 1928, the Militant has consistently defended the Soviet Union and other workers states as a historic gain for the working class. The Militant has opposed imperialist attempts to overthrow them, from German imperialism's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1939 to the current U.S. threats of intervention against Albania and the NATO powers' march toward war against Russia.

As the Houston readers underlined with their immediate response, funds are urgently needed to cover the expenses of the international reporting team in the Balkans. But these are a small part of the overall costs of producing a working- class newspaper every week - paper, ink, equipment, shipping, and other expenses. The $110,000 Militant Fund helps meet these operating costs.

And that money from supporters is needed not just in the future, but right now.

The biggest task facing supporters of the Militant right now is the collection and payment of pledges. As you can see from the chart, local pledges now total well above the international goal - but the fund drive has been slipping behind every week. With $18,714 in hand, we are at 17 percent of the goal but should be at 33 percent. A mid- course correction is needed to catch up and stay on schedule.

That challenge can be met both by continuing to reach out broadly for support among working people and others, and with organized, day-by-day attention to the collection of pledges already made. The cities that are on time, such as New York, are those where, regardless of whether supporters have already hosted a Militant Fund meeting, consistent work is being done on weekly collection of payments.

Militant readers are planning attractive fund drive meetings in a number of cities in the next couple of weeks including Des Moines, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia.

Kevin Johnson from Newark wrote in to the Militant describing the fund celebration in that city. "Supporters collected $1,191 at the event, bringing them to nearly $2,000 in total collection of their goal of $7,500," Johnson reported. "Ben Ademoyega, a factory worker from Newark, attended the event. He has been reading the Militant for five years. `The Militant supports workers and tells the truth without the view that we are satisfied with the capitalist system,' Ademoyega said. `It is a good paper for workers to read every week.' "

Johanna Ryan from Peoria, describing one way they broadened out their appeal for funds, reports that "$100 of this was raised by telephoning Militant subscribers while staffing the Pathfinder bookstore on Saturday afternoon."

Tony Prince writes that a highlight of the recent fund meeting in Cleveland, which is in first place this week, "was the participation of about 10 students from around the country who were in Cleveland to participate in a national conference of the Campus Outreach Opportunity League. Several of the students remarked that this was the first time that they had heard a socialist speaker."  
 
 
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