The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 67/No. 29           August 25, 2003  
 
 
Concerted effort is
needed in drive to up
‘Militant’ long-term readership
(front page)
 
BY SAM MANUEL  
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Socialist workers, Young Socialists, and other Militant and Perspectiva Mundial supporters upped the pace of the effort to increase the long-term readership of the socialist periodicals. During the second week of the three-week campaign, they sent in 75 subscription renewals to both periodicals, compared to 21 the first week of the drive (see chart linked below).

A substantial challenge remains, however. With one week to go, 140 Militant and 69 Perspectiva Mundial subscription renewals—a total of 209—are needed to meet the overall goals. Accomplishing this would mean that one in five of those who subscribed for the first time last spring re-upped.

Supporters of the drive in Cleveland, Omaha, and San Francisco are the first to make their goal for Militant subscription renewals. Their task now is to substantially surpass their local quota.

Those in Detroit are not too far behind. “One meat packer agreed to help talk to several subscribers he works with about renewing,” wrote Ilona Gersh from Detroit. “They were among those who immediately responded to Calero’s incarceration by the INS by signing petitions and collecting funds,” she said in a note accompanying three sub renewals.

A similar response from fellow unionists on the job and other workers who subscribed recently is noted elsewhere. In Omaha two readers of PM at the Swift meatpacking plant decided to renew this week. One of them has been reading PM for over two years, reported Jacob Perraso.

Jenny Benton reports from Twin Cities, Minnesota, that a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 renewed subscriptions to both the Militant and PM. He supported the fight of Róger Calero against deportation and spoke at a meeting that was part of Calero’s “Fight to Win” tour stop there co-sponsored by the union.

In New York, partisans of the socialist press got eight renewals from Militant and PM subscribers last week. That puts them within striking range of both local goals. They got a good response over the August 10-11 weekend picking up several renewals after phone calls to subscribers. Sales teams included a visit to Long Island to talk to day laborers in Farmingville, where protests have taken place against an anti-immigrant firebombing. Another team visited a neighborhood in Brooklyn where police raided an apartment August 4 and shot an unarmed woman.

These examples point to the potential to hit the targets by August 17, when the campaign ends. The overall goal is to get 225 Militant and 80 PM readers to renew their subscriptions. During this last week of the drive all supporters are urged to send in daily updates. The Militant will bring the scoreboard up to date as soon as reports come in and post it on its website on a daily basis. With a concerted effort, victory is in sight.

See campaign chart  
 
 
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