The Militant (logo) 
Vol.63/No.46      December 27, 1999 
 
 
Youth drawn to Pathfinder at Mexico bookfair seek lessons of workers' struggle  
 
 
BY NORTON SANDLER 
GUADALAJARA, Mexico—"'Who are you and where do you come from?' I must have been asked that four or five times," said Luis Rivera, an electrical worker and a Young Socialists activist who participated as a volunteer in staffing the Pathfinder Press booth at the Guadalajara International Bookfair.

The young people and others who asked this question were attracted to the books Pathfinder publishes—books that draw on the lessons of the revolutionary workers movement over the past 150 years and also books that both analyze the world today and map the road forward for struggling workers and farmers—and by the volunteers who took time off work and school to distribute them. Eleven Pathfinder supporters from across the United States took a stint staffing the Pathfinder booth during the November 27–December 5 fair.

The books that received the most attention from bookfair participants were Pathfinder's new title Making History, Interviews with Four Generals of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces, which was printed just in time for the bookfair; Capitalism's World Disorder: Working Class Politics at the Millennium by Jack Barnes; and the Spanish-language Nueva Internacional no. 5, featuring the article "U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War."  
 

A major event in Latin America

The fair was attended by 315,000 people, according to event organizers. This annual bookfair is a major event for presenting fiction and nonfiction titles in Latin America. Nearly 1,000 book publishers and distributors from 26 countries had a vast array of titles on display this year. Most were in Spanish, though some booths included titles in Portuguese, Chinese, French, German, and English.

Many prominent writers and reviewers from across the Americas attend the programs that are organized over the eight days of the fair. This year they included Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago, winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize for literature, and Mexican writer Sergio Pitol, who was awarded the 1999 Juan Rulfo prize for Latin American and Caribbean literature during the fair itself.

Chile was selected as the featured country this year. A large elevated pavilion was dedicated to displaying books from that country. A series of daily programs celebrated the arts in Chile, from literature to dance to film, and a restaurant with Chilean food was installed adjacent to the pavilion.

The fair was divided between days open to the public and those that were open only to those involved in the book trade. This is a major arena in Latin American for book sellers and distributors to do business and exchange book promotional ideas.

There was a big turnout of librarians from Mexico. Some 200 librarians also attended from the United States, including 40 from California alone. They came to the fair to locate and purchase books for the rapidly expanding Spanish-speaking population that use libraries across the United States.

Numerous librarians and others in the book trade visited the Pathfinder booth. Arrangements were made for further discussions with several of them. One San Francisco Bay Area librarian purchased a copy of Capitalism's World Disorder for herself and ordered copies in both English and Spanish for the library.

Pathfinder representatives were also able to meet with several potential distributors in Mexico to discuss promotion of Pathfinder's growing list of Spanish-language books as well as its more than 300 titles in English. New this year was the presence at the fair of companies organizing to sell Spanish-language books throughout the Americas across the Internet.

On the public days the fair was jammed with large crowds. On several mornings throngs of children and teenage youth packed the large Expo building where the fair was held. In the late afternoon and evenings until 9:00 p.m., the fair would again be jammed with university students, workers, and others from the area. Wave after wave of young people and others visited the Pathfinder booth every evening. The Pathfinder volunteer team distributed 5,000 brochures promoting Pathfinder's new titles.  
 

Fair reflects political climate in Mexico

Several events held during the bookfair reflected the political climate in Mexico and affected political discussions at the Pathfinder booth. The book Palabras de Cárdenas (Words of Cárdenas) was launched early in the fair. This title features speeches and writings by Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, presidential candidate of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) for the June 2000 Mexican presidential election. Cárdenas walked through the exhibition hall escorted by a large entourage. Supported by the Alliance for Mexico, a coalition that includes many left parties, Cárdenas promotes a "third road," a vision of future capitalist Mexico modeled after the United Kingdom under its current prime minister, Anthony Blair.

Another presentation was made on the new book by Vicente Fox, the presidential candidate of the Party of National Action (PAN). The PAN is the major opposition party to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has held the presidency of Mexico since the 1920s. During the bookfair the PAN, the traditional right-wing party in Mexico, announced an electoral coalition with the Green Ecological Party of Mexico (PVEM).

The Pathfinder volunteers also took time to meet workers and students around the city. Members of the team visited the large Corona brewery at shift change. Workers there described the grinding conditions of life in Mexico. These trade unionists and other workers who stopped by the Pathfinder booth explained that the minimum wage in Mexico today is the equivalent of US$3 a day. Higher paid workers, including some at the brewery, get paid in the range of $15 a day. Many workers we spoke to stated that conditions have stabilized since the Mexican peso collapsed in 1994, but that they have to work many more hours a week than they did a few years ago to survive, even if this means holding two or three jobs.

We also spoke to numerous cab drivers and others who had lived for stints in the United States, particularly in California. One cab driver proudly explained that he had been active in the dry wallers construction fight in the Los Angeles area several years ago.  
 

Protests by peasants, students

On December 1, small corn farmers announced plans to block roads in 40 towns across the state of Jalisco the next day unless the government addressed their demand to raise corn prices to $155 a ton. The protests were called off after the state and federal governments reached an agreement to grant the farmers price subsidies of an additional $13 per ton through Jan. 15, 2000.

At the same time, ranchers protested with their animals in Mexico City, causing chaos in the country's capital. They were demanding to know how the recent agreement reached between the Mexican government and the countries that make up the European Union would affect farm prices. They also were also demanding an increase in the agricultural budget and agricultural supports.

Student struggles are a big feature of politics in Mexico today. At the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), in Mexico City, students have been on strike since last April. On November 30 four striking students stopped by the booth. Within minutes they and four Pathfinder volunteers were engaged in animated discussion about their struggle. The discussion moved from the booth to the floor of the Expo, with about 10 participants sitting down discussing politics.

The next evening these same UNAM students returned to the booth to drop off literature explaining the demands of their struggle. This helped provide the impetus for dispatching Pathfinder team members Manuel González and Linda Joyce to travel to Mexico City for three days to get a first hand feel for the strike. (See article on facing page).

We learned that ferment is spreading at the University of Guadalajara as well. Several teams of Pathfinder volunteers were dispatched to that campus during the bookfair. On the first trip, the team began to display the Pathfinder titles they had with them on the steps leading to a campus building. Within minutes, students provided the team with a table and chairs to make it easier to exhibit the books.

Students at this large university who are protesting the lack of funding from the Federal and state government have been holding classes on a daily basis in the Plaza de Armas, a well-known plaza in the center of the city. Each day a different department moves its classes from the campus.

On December 2 Young Socialists activists Luis Rivera and Bobbi Negrón spoke to a University of Guadalajara psychology class of 20 students after they were invited there by a professor who had visited the Pathfinder booth two days earlier. Following the discussion with 20 students about politics in the United States and the goals of the Young Socialists, the professor invited the YS to return to speak to his class next year. The professor said that with more lead time, he will organize a bigger meeting then.

Several students from this university visited the Pathfinder booth directly as a result of the campus visits. Others attending the bookfair were attracted to the displays featuring Pathfinder titles that could be seen down a long aisle from 50 feet away

One student, Alejandra, visited the booth several times. On December 2, after many members of the Pathfinder team had to return to work, Alejandra spent two hours helping out in the booth, and enthusiastically introducing bookfair participants to Pathfinder titles.  
 

Cuban publishers draw interest

Several publishing houses from Cuba participated in the bookfair. Stopping by this booth, you could often hear animated political discussions taking place, reflecting the fact that many in Mexico are attracted to the Cuban revolution. On November 30, some 20 organizations in Guadalajara sponsored a citywide meeting in solidarity with the Cuban revolution and against imperialism to celebrate the Cuban publishers' participation in the bookfair. A resolution recently passed by the Mexican Senate calling for an end to the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba was distributed to the 300 participants.

During the fair itself, a press conference was held featuring Omar González, president of the Cuban literary institute, and Cuban writers Miguel Barnet, and Eduardo Heras León. They discussed plans for the upcoming international bookfair in Havana and answered questions on the Cuban book publishing industry, which burst forward with the 1959 Cuban revolution. They also discussed the impact that the "special period," brought on by the collapse of preferential trade agreements with the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, has had in limiting the number of titles that can be produced under conditions of extreme shortages and printing supplies.

Barnet explained that Cuba's modern publishing industry began with the literacy campaign initiated after the 1959 revolution, which resulted not only in a massive culture of reading but also generated and gave impulse to large number of writers, poets, and essayists in Cuba. A special program on Cuban literature was held on December 3 featuring five Cuban writers.

Leaving after our final night there, the Pathfinder team ran into four supporters of the Cuban revolution standing by the front door of the expo holding up a large banner reading "Solidarity with the Cuban revolution."

Books on the Cuban revolution were among those that drew the most interest at the Pathfinder booth. "Today there is more interest in Che than anything else among the young people," said Francisco, a student and teacher, who along with a friend purchased a dozen Pathfinder titles over the course of a couple of days. "This is a real change," he added. "A years or two ago it would have been Marcos," the central spokesperson of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), a peasant movement in the state of Chiapas that has been involved in a protracted conflict with the government.  
 

Political polarization in Mexico

The discussions at the Pathfinder booth also reflected political polarization in Mexico. On at least four occasions booth visitors requested books by Adolf Hitler. "Hitler was a revolutionary too," one young man told us.

We asked Francisco about this. "In the markets you can not only find pins and badges with Che Guevara's picture on them, but you will also find some of the same vendors selling pins with swastikas," he said. The most prominent fascist group is called Aurora 2000. Francisco said he had seen groups of teenage youth putting their posters on walls in the city a couple of times recently. "When you ask them what they are doing, they run off," he concluded.

Many youth who came back to the booth wanted to know where a publishing house like Pathfinder comes from, how long it had been in operation. Others asked questions about the team staffing the booth, which reflected several different political generations with the youngest being in their late teens and early 20's. Also attractive was the fact that the booth was staffed by industrial workers. Several of the volunteers were able to describe their experiences in the airline and rail industries to bookfair visitors.

Participants at the gathering purchased books from the Pathfinder booth at reduced prices. A title that normally costs $15, even reduced 40 to 50 percent, costs most of a day's pay for a relatively high paid Mexican worker. Nevertheless, we sold more than 250 books at the fair and on campus. The biggest sellers among the books we sold were Making History with 23 copies, 18 copies of Capitalism's World Disorder, and 15 copies of Nueva International No. 5. Thirty-five people bought copies of the Spanish-language monthly Perspectiva Mundial, and four subscribed to the magazine.

YS activist Bobbi Negrón, present for the entire time the Pathfinder booth was open, summed up her experience saying, "I was fortunate to speak to workers and students in Guadalajara. We addressed the problems inflicted upon us by the enemy we all face, capitalism. This experience with all its aspects has allowed me to realize that it is possible to have Pathfinder books in library's across Mexico but also to have Young Socialist chapters there."  
 
 
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