The Militant (logo) 
   Vol.65/No.45            November 26, 2001 
 
 
Sales campaign responds to Afghan war
 
BY MAURICE WILLIAMS  
Campaigners in the circulation drive to win new readers to the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial are using the publications to respond to the accelerating assaults on workers' rights in the United States, such as the plans announced by the U.S. government to use military tribunals to prosecute noncitizens and test the waters on use of sedition laws. The participants in the international circulation drive are taking the periodicals to workers and young people to explain the latest stage of imperialist aggression in Afghanistan and Central Asia.

The Militant has received reports from areas across the country indicating the potential for wining new recruits to the communist movement among workers and youth. Many of them are interested in getting a paper that presents scientific explanations and facts about Washington's war in Afghanistan. Reading the Militant each week is one of the best ways to deepen political education and strengthen the capacity to fight imperialism.

Our eight-week circulation campaign is in its final seven days, and partisans of the socialist periodicals and New International are using every one of them to meet local and international goals.

Joe Swanson from Des Moines said socialist workers in that city are taking advantage of the growing thirst among young people who seek answers to the instability and social devastation wrought by capitalism. "We called a number of youth who bought Militant subscriptions in the last few weeks and talked with them about buying copies of New International. We also invited them to come to see a film about the Russian Revolution. Some of them plan on purchasing one or two issues of the Marxist magazine."

Swanson said they boosted their subscription campaign during the target week selling two Militant subscriptions to meat packers, one on a college campus, and three going door-to-door in a workers district in the city. This past week they sent in eight Militant subscriptions and eight PM subscriptions, which put them on a course to make all their goals. "We plan to get back to Amana, Iowa, where workers on strike are voting on their contract. Some of us who work in meatpacking plants are taking off work to sell subscriptions and Pathfinder titles on a campus where we learned from a student about a day of action against the war."  
 
Students show serious interest
From Atlanta, José Aravena wrote, "This was the second week in a row that we sent a sales team to Atlanta University. We met three students who showed serious interest in our literature. One of them who came to the Militant Labor Forum later that evening had bought a Militant subscription, a copy of New International no. 10, featuring the article 'Imperialism's March toward Fascism and War,' and By Any Means Necessary by Malcolm X. The following day he joined us in a demonstration protesting the war in Afghanistan, and said he is also interested in attending the November 17–18 meeting of the Young Socialists planned in Chicago." Aravana said they have gained momentum over the past week sending in 10 Militant subscriptions and seven PM subscriptions, which has propelled them toward success in the circulation drive.

"Last Friday, November 9, more than 300 overwhelmingly young demonstrators marched from Carnegie Mellon University to the University of Pittsburgh chanting, 'What do we want? Stop the war! When do we want it? Now!''' wrote Kathie Fitzgerald from Pittsburgh. "We set up a table of Pathfinder books and pamphlets that was surrounded by students checking it out. A leader of the Arab Student Organization bought a subscription to the Militant as well as NI no. 10. He bought the NI because he wanted to understand how capitalism works."

Fitzgerald added, "Socialists here are finding that young people getting involved in protesting Washington's war against Afghanistan are eager for an explanation of imperialist war and excited to find a newspaper like the Militant. Of the 10 subscriptions sold during the target week here, seven were purchased at the antiwar demonstration and one by a garment worker. We also sold 50 copies of the Militant that week."

These efforts are examples of what can be done in the final days of the drive to end with a strong finish. Some people who bought the paper have sent in subscriptions after reading it. Over the course of the circulation drive the Militant business office has received coupons filled out from page 2 from a number of areas, including four from New Jersey, three from the Los Angeles area, four from San Francisco, and three from the state of Washington.  
 
Paper route subscriptions
A number of people who purchased individual copies of the Militant have told supporters that they would get a subscription if they could get the paper delivered every week or pick it up on the job or at weekly Militant Labor Forums, instead of through the U.S. mail. In response, distributors are beginning to sell subscriptions that will be delivered through paper routes, or on the job, or at the weekly forums. New readers who are interested in getting a subscription can contact Militant supporters at the addresses listed on page 12.

As a final reminder, the Militant will count on the final scoreboard all subscriptions received at the business office in New York by Wednesday, November 21 at 12:00 noon.
 

*****

BY ALICE KINCAID AND LEA SHERMAN  
WORLAND, Wyoming--Two Militant supporters teamed up to travel to Worland, Wyoming, and Greeley and Colorado Springs, Colorado, over four days. In Worland, in the northern part of Wyoming, three workers bought subscriptions to the Militant and seven others each purchased a copy of the paper. Worland is the site of a six-month-long strike against Crown, Cork and Seal, one of the largest manufacturers of aluminum cans in the world.

The team sold the Militant at the Holly Sugar plant at shift break on the morning of November 12. Holly Sugar produces cane sugar from sugar beets that are grown by farmers in this area. Many workers stopped to talk. We pointed out that the Militant covers workers' struggles, including the strike at Crown, and also explained that it opposes the U.S. war against Afghanistan. One worker wrote a check for a subscription on the spot. Several seasonal workers at the plant gate told us they were strikers at Crown, Cork and Seal and bought the paper.

The seasonal workers are hired from September until December, make 50 percent less than the "permanent" workers, and receive no medical benefits. One of them stopped his vehicle at the side of the road, came over and said, "Well, I'm a striker and if you can come all the way from Colorado, I can buy a paper."

After the sale at the sugar plant the team went to the picket shack at Crown, Cork and Seal and spoke to several strikers for a follow-up story. Another striker on the picket line agreed to get a Militant subscription after we pointed out an earlier article in the paper on their fight and also on the Brookwood mine explosion in Alabama.

When we returned to Holly Sugar to sell the Militant to workers during the afternoon shift change, one of them, who was also a striker who had bought a paper in the morning, stopped to talk and said he was going back to the picket shack. We went back to meet him there and had a lengthy discussion with him, his wife, and another striker. He ended up buying a subscription.

The next day the team headed to the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, where we set up a table outside the university center and sold a Militant subscription, six papers, and two Pathfinder titles, To Speak the Truth, and Revolution in the Congo. So far the team has sold four subscriptions to the Militant and 13 copies of the paper. We plan to travel to Colorado College to set up a literature table and meet with students there.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home