Vol.62/No.7 February 23, 1998
Workers, Antiracist Fighters Buy `Militant'
As the U.S. government steadily advances toward an assault on
Iraq, supporters of the Militant have begun a month-long
campaign to sell the Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, New
International (NI) no. 7, and the new booklet Celebrating the
Homecoming of Ernesto Che Guevara's Reinforcement Brigade. That
New International issue features the article "Opening Guns of
World War III: Washington's Assault on Iraq," by Jack Barnes.
The purpose of this working-class campaign is to explain the
truth about Washington's impending war and to recruit
revolutionary workers and young people to the communist
movement. Cities and unions are ranked on the chart based on an
average of where they stand in meeting their sales goals for
the Militant and New International. The following stories from
worker-correspondents report initial experiences in this
effort.
*****
DES MOINES, Iowa - Socialists here got off to a good start in
campaigning against imperialism and its wars. One promising
result was that in selling at two demonstrations against
attempts to reinstate the death penalty in Iowa, five people
signed up to find out more about the Young Socialists.
We also sold at a demonstration demanding "U.S. Hands Off
Iraq," on the campus of Drake University, going door-to-door in
the working-class neighborhoods of Des Moines, and in Tama,
Iowa, where workers - many of them immigrants - were recently
involved in a sit-down strike at Tama Packing. Socialist
workers also sold papers at plant gates and on the job at
factories organized by the United Auto Workers, United Food and
Commercial Workers, and United Steelworkers unions.
Tom Alter
*****
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Of the 49 Militants sold by socialist
workers here in the first week of the sales campaign, 15 were
purchased by demonstrators at a February 8 rally of 250 people
at the White House called by the American-Arab Anti-
Discrimination Committee to protest the U.S. government's war
threats against Iraq.
Another 14 copies were sold by a team including two Young
Socialists at a February 7 anti-Ku Klux Klan rally in
Annapolis, Maryland. Several antiracist demonstrators were
attracted to the YS literature table's signs and Pathfinder
books calling for "U.S. Hands off Iraq." Many who stopped at
the table asked for information on the 1990 - 91 Gulf War and
said they were too young to have followed it at the time. Six
unionists bought the Militant on the job where socialists work.
Among Machinists, an Iranian-born worker bought NI no. 7 and a
second worker who subscribes to the Militant became convinced
by the paper's antiwar coverage to attend a February 1 picket
line of 25 people at the White House called by the Socialist
Workers Party and YS.
Mary Martin
*****
LOS ANGELES - On February 7 a team of socialist campaigners
sold 8 Militants and 2 Pathfinder titles to GIs in Oceanside,
California, near the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. A
literature table with large signs reading "Hands off Iraq! Lift
the sanctions now!" attracted attention throughout the day.
Young Marine recruits who stopped by the table expressed a wide
range of opinions about the U.S. war threats.
Some GIs knew people in units that have recently been sent to
the Persian Gulf. Most expressed the idea that "maybe we have
to" go to war, but only a few showed enthusiasm. Even among
those who disagreed with the Militant headline "U.S. inspectors
out of Iraq," several got into serious discussions about the
slaughter in the 1991 Gulf War, its aftermath, and the prospect
of a new war. A Chicano GI bought Che Guevara Speaks and
Socialism and Man in Cuba along with the Militant. As a result
of these successes, Militant supporters here raised our goal
from 300 to 360.
Mark Friedman
*****
SYDNEY, Australia - One highlight of the week here was that
members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union sold 5
Militants at the F. Muller and Southcorp factories, and
socialist workers sold another two Militants at a weekly plant-
gate sale to maritime union members at Port Botany. Meanwhile,
Communist League members and Young Socialists sold nine
Militants at an emergency picket at the U.S. consulate here on
February 2, protesting the imperialist war moves against Iraq.
Ron Poulsen and Bob Aiken
*****
CHICAGO - Supporters of the Militant in Chicago sold 96
Militants out of a weekly goal 100. A team of two traveled to
Peoria, Illinois, to visit UAW members who work at Caterpillar
and sell at plant gates and in working-class communities. There
is heightened discussion among the Caterpillar workers over the
likelihood of an "agreement in principle" between UAW officials
and CAT. Two unionists purchased the paper at a Caterpillar
plant in East Peoria and the following day a Caterpillar worker
bought a copy of NI no. 7.
Danny Booher
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