Campaigners also sold 1,845 copies of the pamphlet The Transformation of Learning: the Fraud of Education Reform under Capitalism. This fell short of the goal of 2,000, but surpassed the initial goal of 1,500, which was later raised in light of rapid sales in the first few weeks. This marks real progress in conquering the practice of proletarian pamphleteering.

Despite not achieving all the goals, the campaigning--and the response to it--over these 10 weeks was proof of the tangible opportunities for socialist workers and young socialists to systematically expand the sale of revolutionary literature among politically minded workers and farmers.

During the final three weeks of the drive, socialist workers stepped up their sales at factory gates and to co-workers on the job. They organized regular sales in working-class neighborhoods using street tables and going door-to-door as part of establishing a presence in workers districts in several areas. This is progress that now can be built on over the coming weeks, especially to follow through with working people and youth who are seeking out a revolutionary working-class organization to join and who can be won to the communist movement.

"We sold 22 subscriptions to the Militant and four to Perspectiva Mundial during the last week of the circulation campaign," wrote Ramona Black, a meat packer in St. Paul, Minnesota. This last push enabled supporters of the socialist press in the Twin Cities to make their local quotas for both publications.

Black said they sold six Militant subscriptions and two PM subs going door-to-door in working-class communities the previous weekend. "Two Militant subscriptions and two subscriptions to PM were also sold at a union meeting of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789," she added. "A few days later three more members of Local 789 bought Militant subscriptions, two of them grocery workers."

Róger Calero, who works at the Dakota Premium Foods slaughterhouse, where Local 789's union victory was certified by the National Labor Relations Board, said working with others in the plant to build the union there has led to opportunities to get the socialist press into the hands of more workers.

"A few days ago workers at a table in the lunchroom were passing around a copy of the Militant and discussing an article by another co-worker, Amy Roberts, reporting on their resistance to the company's attacks on the union," Calero remarked. "It had a big impact on people that someone who works at the plant and is active in the fight would write this. Two people subscribed on the spot."

Argiris Malapanis, who works at a meat processing plant in Miami, said, "The turning point for us came when we began to discuss my campaign for U.S. Senate and the presidential race with some co-workers in the final week of the campaign. We sold a Militant subscription and The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning pamphlet that week. The week following the election, with everyone discussing the results, we sold a Perspectiva Mundial subscription and two pamphlets."

In Detroit, Chris Hoeppner reports that Socialist Workers vice-presidential candidate Margaret Trowe recently joined the regular weekly sales team at the entrance to the Thorn Apple Valley meatpacking plant where he works. Hoeppner also participated in the campaign event at the plant gate. He said that discussions continued in the plant over the course of the following days and three people decided to subscribe to the Militant. "I had not known some of the people before the event," said Hoeppner. "The regular plant gate sale and campaigning is the biggest difference from the last subscription campaign when I sold one subscription."

In Chicago, Joel Britton, a meat packer who recently came off probation, met with campaigners of the Militant and PM at the plant gate where he works and introduced them to his co-workers. They sold nine copies of the Militant, two copies of PM, and one copy of the new Pathfinder pamphlet. The next day one co-worker bought a subscription to the Militant and another purchased a PM subscription.  
 
'Militant' sub base expands in coalfields
The Militant's subscription base in the coalfields has expanded. "I just sold a sub to a retired miner from West Virginia and we sold three more on the job," wrote Frank Forrestal, a coal miner in Pennsylvania. "A few had seen it when other supporters of the Militant brought it to sell at the coal portal, and my campaign for Senate also helped a little bit. The biggest response was mainly from people we had worked with. They realized we were hard workers and that we were solid union people with political views. We are taken very seriously, especially by miners who are new to being in a union. The main thing now is the follow-up." Forrestal sold subscriptions to nine co-workers.

Socialist workers from Birmingham and Atlanta joined together in a sales team to Kannapolis, North Carolina, where Pillowtex, a major textile company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy November 14. They sold 10 copies of the Militant and two copies of The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning to workers coming out of a meeting organized by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, said Lauren Hart, who is a textile worker in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"On November 19 we sold 14 copies of the Militant at the company's plant in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. One woman gave us her phone number to talk more."

Jorge Lertora and Ruth Robinett went to a laundry plant in Oceanside, New York, where they sold all seven copies of Perspectiva Mundial they had. "As a result of the successful strike the workers organized more than three weeks ago, the company is faced with a November 27 contract signing deadline," said Lertora. "Several workers told us they would be walking out at that time along with workers at nearby Tartan Textile laundry plants in Freeport and Hempstead, Long Island."  
 

The meeting was built on 24 hours notice by students who posted the campus with leaflets, notified others by phone and e-mail, and spent time with the Pathfinder literature table set up earlier in the day in the Teachers College lobby.

A presentation was made by Claudia Hommel, a socialist from Chicago. The program lasted for more than two hours, and when the room was needed for another class, several students continued their discussions in the cafeteria.

Students bought four subscriptions to the Militant, six copies of the pamphlet, along with $170 of other Pathfinder titles. Some of them asked for more information about the Young Socialists. Many students asked for a return visit, and via e-mail the sponsors have received several requests from those who missed the table and event to learn how to order the pamphlet and receive notices for future presentations.  
 
 
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