BY PAT HUNTER
Four weeks into the campaign to raise $125,000 to help
finance Pathfinder's continuing reprint program and several
new books, $7,285 has been received. At the same time, the
potential to meet and surpass the goal by the November 15
deadline is shown by pledges to date adding up to more than
$76,000. Supporters around the world are considering goals and
plans to maximize their contributions.
Simultaneously, the campaign to expand the availability of Pathfinder books is showing its first results. At the end of last week, Pathfinder received an order for five titles-with the check included-from a bookstore in Virden, Illinois. Last November, Virden was the location of a demonstration and rally both commemorating a battle between union miners and the Chicago-Virden Coal Co. 100 years ago and supporting the members of the United Mineworkers of America on strike against the Freeman United Coal Co. at that time.
Pathfinder supporters in Boston were the first ones to send in a definite goal and a plan for achieving it. Close behind came news that supporters in New Zealand have set a goal of raising $2,550, of which $104 has already been collected.
Greg McCartan, a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, is heading the fund effort in Boston. The garment worker explained the three-point plan to raise $4,100 which has been worked out by a broad layer of supporters. Next week, an appeal letter explaining the aims of the 1999 Pathfinder Fund will be issued by three of these supporters-two from the garment and textile industries and one active in the work in defense of the Cuban revolution, all of whom value Pathfinder books. Boston supporters are also planning a fund-raising event featuring Martín Koppel. In addition to editing the Spanish-language monthly magazine Perspectiva Mundial, Koppel was part of the meetings that resulted in Pathfinder's upcoming new title Making History, Interviews with Four Generals of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces. This book is on course for its launching-along with the Spanish edition to be issued by Cuba's Editora Política-in November at the Guadalajara book fair in Mexico. The third focus for Boston's fund-raising will be an event where supporters will discuss their experiences from a recent visit to West Africa,. They will report discussions they had with many workers who support the Cuban revolution and the revolutionary course charted by Thomas Sankara during the 1983-87 revolution in Burkina Faso.
To find out more about the fund, to get involved or make a contribution, contact your nearest Pathfinder bookstore listed on page 12. Please make all checks and money orders payable to Pathfinder, earmarked Pathfinder Fund, and send to: Pathfinder, 410 West Street, New York, NY 10014.