Waters highlighted the cumulative increase in sales of Pathfinder books. "In the first eight months of this year we have already surpassed the total sales of Pathfinder books for all of 2000," she reported to those attending the meeting. "This is a registration of the increased working-class resistance as well as the ability of the Socialist Workers Party, Young Socialists, and the party's supporters to respond to the openings today."

She noted the advances by SWP branches and Young Socialists in setting up regular street tables in workers districts, opening new bookstores in these districts, selling on campuses and at plant gates, and initial steps in organizing supporters of the communist movement to place Pathfinder titles in bookstores, libraries, and classrooms.

"And that was all before September 11," Waters said. "We are already seeing the growing potential, and the thirst for these books as the U.S. rulers prepare for a war against the people of Afghanistan."

Waters reported that Pathfinder has published a record number of titles in multiple languages over the last year. These include Fertile Ground: Che Guevara and Bolivia, Playa Girón/Bay of Pigs: Washington's First Military Defeat in the Americas, and Cuba and the Coming American Revolution.

"We will now begin preparing New International no. 12, our response to Washington's accelerated war moves," Waters announced, referring to the magazine of Marxist politics and theory. She said Pathfinder was preparing a new edition of Too Many Babies: The Myth of the Population Explosion by Joseph Hansen and a Spanish translation of The History of American Trotskyism by James P. Cannon. Also in preparation are titles containing interviews with Brig. Gen. Delsa "Teté" Puebla, the highest-ranking woman in Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces, and Víctor Dreke, a leader in the early 1960s of the campaign against counterrevolutionary bands in Cuba's Escambray mountains and second-in-command of Ernesto Che Guevara's column of anti-imperialist Cuban combatants in the Congo.

"We will also begin work on the first of several major works by Lenin, as part of a 'Birth of Bolshevism' series, now that all other sources of these books from Moscow to Peking have dried up," reported Waters. The series will include What Is To Be Done, To the Rural Poor, and One Step Forward, Two Steps Back.

The enthusiastic and systematic efforts of nearly 200 Pathfinder volunteers worldwide who are involved in the Pathfinder Reprint Project have been essential in the production of a record number of reprints, Waters said.

A growing number of these volunteers, together with SWP and YS members, have also been taking steps to carry out regular visits to place books by revolutionaries in commercial outlets.  
 
Expanding Pathfinder to stores, libraries
The campaign to sell $500,000 in books and pamphlets spans 18 months from January 2001 through June 2002. The initial goal of $325,000 by the end of this year is well within reach, with average monthly sales for this year already $52,000 higher than for the same period last year, a 29 percent increase.

Socialist Workers Party branches, working with party supporters and Young Socialists, will set monthly goals for Pathfinder sales through literature tables, Pathfinder bookstores, Militant Labor Forums, and other events, as well as goals for the number of books placed in retail outlets and libraries. The success of the campaign will depend on the efforts of leaders of the party branches to carry out this work with other Pathfinder representatives on a consistent, weekly basis.

Many Pathfinder bookstore directors and sales representatives attending the September 30 meeting said in interviews that their experiences to date indicate the goals can be met. San Francisco Pathfinder bookstore director Bernie Senter reported nearly $1,400 worth of sales in September. "With war on the horizon, we've noticed that people who had read Pathfinder books before are coming into the bookstore to buy more and are renewing their Pathfinder Readers Club memberships." The club offers members big discounts on Pathfinder titles.

A year ago Pathfinder supporters began a long-term effort to organize sales visits to retail stores, campuses, and libraries. "There are a number of supporters now who want to greatly expand the availability of communist literature in the shops where workers buy books. But the main challenge is consistently leading the effort," said Tony Hunt, director of Pathfinder Press Distribution in London.

In the first seven months of this year, five supporters in London visited 10 bookstores, placing 260 books and pamphlets worth close to $3,000. One central London store alone purchased 139 books , Hunt reported.

"Our initial progress took organization and leadership." Hunt explained. "We worked up lists of specific stores to be visited, trained supporters of Pathfinder in how to present the books, and helped collect materials they would need, such as a binder with as many covers as possible. The covers show how attractive Pathfinder books are and the back covers give a brief description of each book's content. First-time salespeople accompanied an experienced sales person on a training visit."

The placement work in retail outlets has been accompanied by an increase in sales by the Pathfinder bookshop in London from $11,500 in the first nine months of last year to $13,900 this year.

Claudia Hommel from Chicago described a recent visit by Chicago volunteers to regional managers of a national bookstore chain. The hosting manager explained that the "Current Events" shelves in their stores were empty. He thanked them for bringing "books with real substance" and promised to place an order. Tom Headley from Washington, D.C., reported on a visit he made the day after the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, netting a 54-book order.  
 
Book fairs offer special opportunities
The Southeast Booksellers Association book fair was held September 20-23 in Memphis, Tennessee. After learning about the fair several months ago, Pathfinder supporters in Atlanta, Charlotte, and Birmingham raised funds and helped staff a booth there.

Bill Arth explained, "Some two dozen bookstore owners asked for a follow-up visit from a Pathfinder representative. Now the real work begins to set up new accounts in this region." Supporters are meeting to map out a strategy to do just that.

Over the summer, the film Lumumba played in movie theaters around the country. Socialist workers and Young Socialists responded to this special opening by setting up literature tables at the movie sites. Reporting from Seattle, Cecelia Moriarity said, "In addition to our regular tables in the working-class area where the Pathfinder bookstore and Socialist Workers election campaign headquarters are located, we set up tables at the film showing. Our sales in the third week of August alone were close to $700. This included 91 copies of Revolution in the Congo and 42 other titles. Seven books were sold to workers at Alaska Airlines."

Over a four-week period this summer when the film was showing, socialists in Chicago sold $2,400 worth of Pathfinder titles, some 70 in all, including 277 copies of the pamphlet Revolution in the Congo.

Katy LeRougetel, from Toronto, reported that Pathfinder supporters there recently faxed a leaflet to bookstores they had visited earlier this year. The leaflet promotes several books that highlight the struggles against imperialism and its war drive. "You have to be persistent," LeRougetel said. "Having the sales campaign and the campaign against imperialism's war drive together gives supporters a real focus and extra motivation to re-approach bookstore and get new accounts."
 
 
Related articles:
Join campaign to sell Pathfinder
Pathfinder has record sales at book fair in Sweden
 
 
 
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