Hundreds of thousands of people, somewhat more than in recent years, took part in the September 13–15 festival, which is organized each year by l’Humanité, the newspaper of the French Communist Party (PCF).

The Pathfinder team included members of the Communist Leagues in Canada and the United Kingdom, the Young Socialists in the United States, and nine supporters of the communist movement in France and Belgium. In the numerous discussions on the coming imperialist assault on Iraq, these volunteers explained that while the French rulers frequently differ with Washington, and chafe under the humiliations of their status as a secondary imperialist power, they are preparing to join their forces to those of their U.S. rivals. And they are stepping up their nationalist rhetoric as they do so.

The Pathfinder volunteers also met a lot of interest as they described the resistance by working people in the imperialist countries to the capitalist offensive, and the keen response that socialist workers and youth encounter in their soapboxing election campaigns in the United States. They also fielded questions ranging from Pathfinder’s origins and history to the politics of Che Guevara, Thomas Sankara and Malcolm X--revolutionary leaders whose speeches and writings are printed by the working-class publisher.

As these discussions proceeded, sales of the Marxist magazine Nouvelle Inter- nationale (New International) no. 5 featuring the article "The Opening Guns of World War III: Washington’s Assault on Iraq" and Capitalism’s World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium by Jack Barnes--both of which shed light on these questions--continued to rise.

Participants at the fair bought nine copies of Capitalism’s World Disorder and 13 of various issues of New International in both French and English. They also purchased about 30 English-language books--more than ever before--along with 24 copies of the Militant, 14 more than a year ago. Thirteen people bought the newly published French-language edition of James P. Cannon’s The History of American Trotskyism, 1928–38: Report of a Participant, making it the team’s top seller. Since this edition was first published four months ago, 124 copies have been sold in France.

The total sales value amounted to $1,400, an increase of 45 percent over last year.  
 
Basque fighter: ‘breath of fresh air’
One of those who stopped by the stand was Basque independence fighter Gabriel Mouesca. He wanted to thank Pathfinder, he said, for "the breath of fresh air" it had given him during his 17 years in a French prison for his political activities. He was released last year.

When Mouesca was first arrested, he and his supporters purchased a number of titles from the revolutionary publishing house, particularly books by Che Guevara. These now form the core of the political library that he and his still-imprisoned comrades put together at the Fresnes prison, just outside of Paris.

"The writings of Che Guevara," Mouesca told Militant reporters, "were our intellectual sustenance which allowed us to continue all those years in prison." At the Fête de l’Humanité stall Mouesca bought the New International with the article "Opening Guns of World War III," a copy of Capitalism’s World Disorder, and Puerto Rico: Independence is a Necessity by Rafael Cancel Miranda.  
 
 
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