BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
Supporters of the Militant are facing a challenge to get on schedule in the international campaign to sell 1,400 subscriptions to the Militant, 450 subscriptions to Perspectiva Mundial, and 600 copies of the Marxist magazine New International. That's why the socialist newsweekly is asking supporters in every city to step up their efforts for a special target week of sales activities starting Saturday, April 5 through Sunday, April 13.

The goal of this special effort is to be on schedule in the international drive by the end of the week, getting partisans of the socialist press in the best position to meet the goals in full and on time by April 26.

In addition to daily sales teams and weekend mobilizations, activists can map out plans for regional teams, some of which can be launched from the Young Socialist convention in Atlanta. Political events like the Young Feminist Summit scheduled for April 11-13 in Washington, D.C., a MEChA Chicano student conference in East Lansing, Michigan, April 10-14, and a rally organized by the United Farm Workers to support strawberry workers fighting for a contract on April 13 in Watsonville, California, will provide huge opportunities to talk to young fighters and win new readers to the socialist press.

One event where socialist activists met a number of people interested in discussing and buying communist literature was the Black Land Loss Conference in Enfield, North Carolina. It was a "lively event," said Militant supporter Joan Paltrineri from Greensboro. "We sold six Militant subscriptions and seven copies of New International to Black farmers." Paltrineri said one farmer bought a Militant subscription, the Pathfinder pamphlet Apartheid's Great Land Theft, and New International no. 4 which features "The Fight for a Workers and Farmers Government in the United States."

"That farmer is from Georgia and is planning to attend the Young Socialists convention," Paltrineri stated. "He told us he wants to learn more about socialism." Paltrineri said Militant supporters who participated in the conference sold almost $300 worth of Pathfinder titles, including five copies of the pamphlet Farmers Face the Crisis of the 1990s.

In Peoria, Illinois, "distributors of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial were able to catch up through some campus and community sales," wrote socialist workers Shelton McCrainey and Charlene Adamson. McCrainey said they geared their sales teams to build for the Young Socialist convention. The team contacted a high school student in St. Louis who was a previous subscriber to the Militant and is planning to attend the gathering along with a student from Western Illinois University. McCrainey reported two Militant subscriptions were sold going door to door around student housing at Bradley University in Peoria. They also sold a total of 10 Pathfinder titles and two Pathfinder Readers Club memberships at the literature tables they set up.

"Door to door canvassing in Beardstown, Illinois, a small city with a large meat-packing plant organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers, netted three Militant subs and one subscription to Perspectiva Mundial in less than one hour in an apartment complex," Adamson said. She added that on their way home the sales team stopped to see someone they met last year who was from the Dominican Republic. He bought a Militant subscription and a copy of New International.

Ned Dmytryshyn of Vancouver reports socialists there sold two Militant subscriptions going door to door on the campus of the University of British Columbia. Dmytryshyn, a member of the International Association of Machinists, said they also sold a subscription at a fund-raising event for the Young Socialist Fund drive there. "We have a delegation of three YS members going to the convention in Atlanta and a lot of high school students around who would like to attend but can't because of school work."

The Militant encourages its distributors to send in reports on their plans for the target week, and keep forwarding photos and stories about good sales opportunities they've had.  
 
 
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