The international volunteer project, which began December 14, will strengthen and streamline the distribution and record-keeping for sales of Pathfinder books around the world. The timing of this project was important, as supporters of Pathfinder are stepping up efforts to expand sales of Pathfinder titles on street corners in workers districts, and to commercial outlets and libraries where working people go to find books.

More than 120 volunteers came from 19 U.S. cities as well as Australia, Canada, France, Iceland, and New Zealand to participate in the Pathfinder volunteer project. Many had taken off work from their jobs to be part of the effort. Other volunteers from the New York City area, including a number who work in the Pathfinder printshop, joined the project after work, often for three hours in the evenings. The project was hosted by the three New York branches of the Socialist Workers Party, which also organized housing for those who came from out of town, classes on Marxism, and several public forums. The forum topics included the fight against anti-Semitism, what the results of the 2000 presidential elections revealed about the factionalism within the U.S. ruling class, and struggles in the meatpacking industry.

Everyone who joined the project had the opportunity to participate in sales teams to distribute Pathfinder books along with the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial in either the Manhattan Garment District, Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan, or Brooklyn's Sunset Park.

"The efforts of volunteers from out of town boosted our work in the workers districts where the New York branches are located," explained Ruth Robinett, organizer of the Garment District branch of the SWP. Volunteers attended a class hosted by that branch on Wage Labor and Capital by Karl Marx. Others participated in classes hosted by socialists in Upper Manhattan on V.I. Lenin's Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.

Those volunteering would gather early in the morning each day at the Garment District headquarters of the SWP to discuss the progress made so far and the plan for the work that day, including goals for what they intended to complete.

The transfer of thousands of items of data from an old software program to the Internet-based accounting software system saves both time and money. Volunteers entered lists of all Pathfinder customers and an up-to-date inventory of the more than 700 titles distributed by Pathfinder. All told 6,420 entries were made in 1,913 volunteer hours. The volunteers worked in teams and double-checked their work, which resulted in very few errors being made.

Rafik Benali, a laid-off worker from France, was able to participate in the project from beginning to end. He along with other supporters of Pathfinder in France recently had success in selling some of these books to a number of bookstores in that country.

"The fact that we were able to finish ahead of schedule and have so few errors is something to be proud of," Benali said.

"I'm explaining to everyone in Houston how the effort was inspiring because everyone was driving together to complete the project--not because we felt the whip, but because we were motivated," said Dean Cook, a laid-off meat packer from Houston.

"The project put Pathfinder in a better position to respond to workers in struggle who are looking for the kind of literature we have," Cook noted. "As more struggles unfold, Pathfinder will be able to respond faster."

The Pathfinder project was part of a number of advances by the publishing house and its supporters, which includes efforts to increase sales of these books in cities throughout the country and worldwide by expanding the number of bookstores, libraries, and other outlets that carry them.  
 
Books to be completed for Havana fair
As the project was taking place, editors at Pathfinder Press were driving to complete two new books. They will go on the presses and be ready in time for the February 2–10 International Havana Book Fair, where an international team of Pathfinder supporters will be staffing a literature table. The first title is Haciendo historia, the Spanish-language version of Making History, which contains interviews with four generals of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba. This book was produced through a collaborative effort between Pathfinder and Editora Política in Cuba, which printed a Spanish-language edition of the title in 1999 that has sold out.

The second is Fertile Ground: Che Guevara and Bolivia, a firsthand account by Bolivian revolutionary Rodolfo Saldaña of his experiences helping to organize support for the 1966-67 guerrilla campaign led in that South American country by communist leader Ernesto Che Guevara. Guevara was killed by U.S.-backed Bolivian troops in October 1967. Fertile Ground explains why Bolivia was ripe for revolution in the 1960s, and how the revolutionary front led by Guevara was part of the class struggle unfolding in that country and the region.

Those who work in the printshop that produces Pathfinder books have also made advances in dedicating certain hours of time to printing these books and pamphlets. On December 31, workers in the printshop completed production on three Pathfinder titles: The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara, By Any Means Necessary by Malcolm X, and The Last Year of Malcolm X, in addition to beginning production on Rosa Luxemburg Speaks and The Jewish Question: A Marxist Interpretation by Abram Leon. That brought to seven the number of titles that rolled off the presses in the printshop in December. Nine Pathfinder titles were produced in November.

With the new financial accounting system in place through the efforts of the volunteers, a switch is being organized in the invoicing of Pathfinder books. From now on, the printshop will take responsibility for invoicing Pathfinder titles as well as for shipping the books out to the bookstores and libraries that ordered them.

On December 24 volunteers organized a thorough cleaning and some light maintenance projects in the Pathfinder building. Then, at the end of the day, some 70 Pathfinder supporters celebrated with a dinner and party hosted by the Brooklyn branch of the SWP.  
 
'We need these books'
A short program at the event noted the accomplishments of the week and a half of work. Natalie Tremblay, a Young Socialist from Montreal, spoke about the impact this volunteer labor made on her and remarked on how much she enjoyed getting to work with other volunteers of all generations from around the world.

"Our effort over the past 11 days helped to strengthen the communist movement. We need these books," Tremblay explained.

Janice Prescott, one of the more than 200 supporters of Pathfinder around the world involved in the Pathfinder Reprint Project to format and proofread all Pathfinder titles and place them on CDs to be rapidly reprinted when needed, detailed the efforts of the reprint volunteers to meet their goal taken in July to complete 30 books by the year's end.

"It is a race to see if we will get 31 or 32 titles," she reported, noting that the 30th title had just been delivered. By the year's end, volunteers had actually delivered 32 books.

The volunteers also turned in 10 CDs in December--the most ever done in one month. "Our goal is to complete 10 titles every month," Prescott reported. "We've picked up a lot of steam." She also noted that the volunteers on the Reprint Project had taken a goal to complete half of all Pathfinder titles, putting them on CDs, by May 1, 2001.

Norton Sandler, a leader of the Socialist Workers Party who headed a team of Pathfinder supporters who set up and staffed a booth at the Guadalajara Book Fair from November 25 to December 3, remarked on the tremendous accomplishments of this volunteer project. Sandler explained that Pathfinder publishes titles on the continuity of Marxism, books with speeches by the leaders of the Cuban Revolution, which for 42 years has been a living example for working people around the world to emulate, and titles by SWP leaders that explain and analyze the world we live in today as a guide to action. These books are essential for revolutionary-minded workers and farmers the world over, Sandler said.

Sandler also explained the effort to raise capital contributions of $1,000 or more to finance the work to get revolutionary books produced and into the hands of workers and farmers who need them. He urged participants at the meeting to contribute to the Capital Fund that goes for long-term improvements to the machinery and equipment in the Pathfinder printshop as well as to the facility that houses the printshop. Sandler concluded by announcing plans for a special "red weekend" to be held January 27-28 to continue work on needed maintenance projects at the Pathfinder building in New York.
 
 
Related article:
Reprint publishing project surpasses 2000 goal  
 
 
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