The Militant - October 6, 2003 -- Fund supporters step up efforts to meet goal

Vol. 67/No. 34 October 6, 2003

Fund supporters step up efforts to meet goal

BY ANGEL LARISCY
The pace of contributions to the July 12-October 15 Socialist Workers Party-Building Fund has picked up over the past week, with more than $13,000 being collected toward the $80,000 goal. Organizers of the fund around the country have reported plans to use the final month to collect on pledges and win new donations.

The reports below of fund meetings addressed by SWP leaders demonstrate the response socialist workers are finding among workers and youth to the socialist perspective on political developments and the need to build the revolutionary party.

To contribute to the fund please send your donation to SWP, 152 W. 36th Street, Room 401, New York, NY 10018. All checks should be made out to SWP.

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BY RACHEL FRUIT
TAMPA, Florida—Margaret Trowe from Boston spoke here September 20 on the world capitalist crisis and the growing resistance of working people. Thirteen people attended the program and dinner and contributed $486. An additional $300 came in from people who were not able to attend. Trowe also spoke at a fund event in Miami the next night.

In response to one question about the union officialdom’s campaign to defend “American” jobs, Trowe said, “We have to build international links in the labor movement. When workers take over factories in Venezuela, that helps us, and they need to learn about the struggles of workers in the United States.”

A student at the University of Florida in Gainesville who had been part of the Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange in July spoke in the discussion about opportunities for political work on the campuses, including the fight to free the Cuban Five.

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BY MARTY RESSLER
PITTSBURGH—Laura Garza, Socialist Workers candidate for Boston City Council, spoke here September 20 on “The Working Class and the Fight for Women’s Rights.” Among other points, Garza described how capitalist industrialization draws peasants away from isolated village life into low-paid factory work. This puts them in position to be part of the labor movement, and—in the future—the “jail break” by women, rebelling against their second-class status, which will be part of the fight for socialism.

The 13 participants donated $590 toward the Pittsburgh goal of $3600, with $75 of that in new pledges.

The next evening Garza addressed the same topic in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Three members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union from a local meatpacking plant, a college student from Wilkes Barre, and two other young workers were among the dozen people who took part. The meeting raised $950.

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BY ILONA GERSH
DETROIT—At the September 20 fund event here, SWP and Young Socialists leader Romina Green spoke on “The 50th Anniversary of Attack on the Moncada Garrison in Cuba, 30th Anniversary of U.S.-backed Coup in Chile: One Way Forward to the Victory of Humanity. Follow the Moncada Road.”

Participants contributed $675 toward the local goal of $2,500. The next day, Green took part in a lively discussion at a house meeting with two immigrant workers from Mexico working in a Detroit meatpacking plant.

See fund chart

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