BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
"One of my co-workers renewed her subscription to the
Militant because she liked its distinctive coverage of the
Cuban revolution," said Amtrak worker Tom Headley from
Washington, D.C. "Other co-workers who renewed their
subscriptions were interested in the labor coverage,
including the GM strike. They pointed to the audacity of GM
to move the dies out of the plant after the workers had
walked off the job. One Militant headline, `19,000 United
Airlines workers join union,' caught many people's
attention."
Headley said five co-workers renewed their Militant subscriptions and one renewed his sub to Perspectiva Mundial. "I expect there will be a couple more Militant renewals, " he added.
Headley is a member of the United Transportation Union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers who recently won his job back after being fired. He spent his first days back on the job looking up co-workers who had been part of the fight to have him reinstated. "Many people wanted to talk about the fight to get my job back and in the course of political discussions they renewed their subscriptions."
Headley's experience on the job points to the opportunities to increase the subscription base of the Militant among fellow unionists and workers involved in labor battles. With one week remaining in the campaign to expand the long-term readership of the socialist press, supporters of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial face a challenge to sell 184 Militant renewals and 78 PM renewals. During the third week of the drive, 68 readers renewed their Militant subscriptions, including 10 who purchased one-year subs. One person in North Miami Beach, Florida, who bought a 12-week trial subscription in April, mailed in a one-year renewal, paid for a copy of the Marxist magazine New International no. 7, and requested information about bound volumes of the Militant.
Sigurlaug Gunnlaugshóttir from Iceland reports that supporters of the socialist press there sold five renewals to the Militant, going over their goal by 67 percent. "We went through the list of all our previous subscribers, some whose subscriptions expired a year ago," she said.
"I'm still catching up after the bus trip for the July 25 action," wrote Ernie Mailhot from Miami. "Militant supporter Kay Sedam and I hardly slept since we were in constant discussions with several young people, including the head of the Puerto Rican student association at the University of Florida in Gainesville and members of the Orlando Committee to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War.
One of the people we talked to quite a bit was Amilcar Segarra, the son of Juan Segarra, who is one of the 15 Puerto Rican political prisoners held in U.S. jails. One of the members of the committee agreed to renew his Militant sub and we also sold four trial subscriptions to the Militant and five PM subs."
Below are several notes sent into the Militant Business Office reporting on the renewal campaign and recent sales of the socialist press. All renewals received by noon on August 4 will count toward the international goal.
- Dan Fein
At the Saturn gate we sold eight Militants before being chased off by the security guards. We later went to a Saturn worker's home who Militant supporters met the previous week. We talked to her for a couple of hours and she bought a six- month sub to the socialist newsweekly. "That way I'll get it every week and I can take it in to work and show other people," she said.
- Rich Stuart
Santos, an independentista and a member of the Electrical and Irrigation Industry Workers Union, bought a copy of Perspectiva Mundial. He had participated in the recent general strike of half a million workers on the island. Santos explained that the strike showed the strength of the union movement and the support from the people. It was a "movement of the people not just the independentistas," said Santos.
Participants at the march purchased 43 copies of Perspectiva Mundial, four copies of the Militant, eight PM subscriptions, three copies of New International, and 29 Pathfinder books and pamphlets. The demonstrators bought 14 titles about the Cuban revolution, including three copies of Junto a Che Guevara (At the side of Che Guevara) by Cuban revolutionary Harry Villegas (Pombo) and two copies of Caminos del Che about Ernesto Che Guevara in Africa.
- Ron Richards
"They want to get rid of all the full-time workers they can and replace them with part time, the same as at UPS," said Don Schoenberger, a bottler with 21 years at the brewery. Mike Juenger, like most workers who stopped, is angry that contract talks have dragged on since the March 1 expiration of the last contract. "If we had hit them with a strike in March this would be all over now. But our union hierarchy said to back off, so we don't make Busch mad," he explained. "But look at what Busch is doing to us!"
Fifty-three workers bought copies of the Militant over the two-hour sale at the plant gate. One worker asked what he could read to understand why Anheuser-Busch, like other corporations, is driving to break unions. After some discussion, he bought a copy of New International no. 10, with the article "Imperialism's March toward Fascism and War." - Ray Parsons