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   Vol.65/No.28            July 23, 2001 
 
 
Thirst for revolutionary books
(editorial)
 
The sales of revolutionary literature at tables set up outside showings of the film Lumumba, now beginning to play in theaters in North America, highlight the thirst among working people and youth today in gaining an understanding of anti-imperialist and revolutionary struggles. Thousands are attracted to the fight led by Patrice Lumum-ba to liberate the Congo from its colonial masters and assert the independence, dignity, and worth of the people of that African nation. Many want to draw the lessons of the imperialist counterrevolutionary war that claimed the lives of Lumumba and thousands of others.

That is why many people attending the movie have welcomed the newly reprinted Pathfinder pamphlet Revolution in the Congo, a portion of which is reprinted in the Militant this week. We encourage readers to help get this issue of the Militant around as broadly as possible, encourage others to get a copy of the pamphlet and related Pathfinder titles, and plan on attending the showing of Lumumba in your area. New York-area Militant Labor Forums are scheduling meetings in the coming weeks to discuss these questions, something that can also be done elsewhere as the movie gets around.

Socialist workers and young socialists are introducing a wide range of Pathfinder books to those attending the movie, and are finding a real interest in communist works, from the Communist Manifesto to Cuba and the Coming American Revolution. There is a wealth of information on the struggle against imperialist domination and the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba published in To Speak the Truth by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara and Malcolm X Talks to Young People. The speeches by Malcolm X also show how a revolutionary leader in the United States campaigned among working people to expose and condemn the war being waged by the imperialist powers against the people of the Congo.

Socialist workers can take advantage of the showings of Lumumba in other cities to set up literature tables at the theaters to give movie-goers the opportunity to purchase this pamphlet, a broader range of Pathfinder titles, and buy subscriptions to the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial.

The response to the Lumumba film and Revolution in the Congo reflects the wider interest in revolutionary ideas among fighting unionists, farmers, youth, and political activists. Many see the growing conflicts in the world between working people and the capitalists and want to read books that present a scientific assessment of the possibilities for making a revolution in the heart of world imperialism, a perspective which will become increasingly attractive to broader layers of vanguard workers and farmers involved in battles to defend their unions, in protests against cop brutality, and in demonstrations to defend affirmative action, and other struggles.
 
 
Related articles:
Patrice Lumumba and revolution in the Congo
 Imperialism vs. Congolese freedom struggle
  
 
 
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