The response described by Holmes to what the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial offer working people is typical of reports received over the past week. The international subscription drive has steamed into its third week at 31 percent of the international goal in only the first 16 days. Campaigners have sold 613 subscriptions to the Militant and 146 to Perspectiva Mundial. They are also reaching out broadly with a special Pathfinder Supersaver Sale offering dozens of books and pamphlets at big discounts.

In Toronto, the drive got a boost when “Reinaldo, a driver originally from El Salvador, subscribed to the Militant with his wife and then decided to join the sales campaign,” writes Patricia O’Beirne. “In a week’s time he sold seven subs to Perspectiva Mundial and a copy of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution in Spanish at two meetings discussing politics in El Salvador.”

Among the new subscribers are 20 coal miners, whose subscriptions were collected at mine portals, on door-to-door sales teams, and on the picket line at the Co-Op mine in Utah over the past two weeks.

Janine Dukes in Birmingham, Alabama, sends this description of the success she’s had at the textile mill where she works.

“I’ve been showing the ‘Build April 25 march on Washington’ supplement advertising the Pathfinder Supersaver Sale to co-workers at the mill,” Dukes writes. “The weaver on the job next to mine purchased Malcolm X Talks to Young People and Marianas in Combat after looking over the ads. He was intrigued by the picture on the cover of Marianas of the all-women platoon in Cuba’s revolutionary army. Another co-worker took the supplement and filled in the form for a subscription to the Militant. Four co-workers now subscribe to the Militant or Perspectiva Mundial.”

In many cities, campaigners are getting an especially warm response from those planning to attend the April 25 march on Washington for a woman’s right to choose abortion.

From Detroit, Ellen Berman writes, “I sold three subscriptions volunteering as a clinic escort at an abortion clinic in the area. Every Saturday a small group of ‘right-to-lifers’ gather at this clinic holding huge blow-ups of aborted fetuses and yelling at the women going into the clinic. There were only two of us acting as escorts, myself and another woman, a retired typesetter. She said she has been volunteering once a month for the last two years.

“We had lots of time to talk. When I told her I was a socialist, she said she votes Socialist, or Communist, or anything that’s not Democratic or Republican because, she said, they are both the same. When I showed her the Militant, she liked it so much she bought a six-month subscription for herself, an introductory subscription for her neighbor, and one for her daughter, who lives in Hawaii.”

Maggie Trowe reports from Boston, “We set up a table with the Militant and Pathfinder books at a conference called ‘From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom’ at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. The conference drew more than 300 students. We sold every single Supersaver book we had on the table—31—plus eight other titles. Eight students signed up for subscriptions—seven to the Militant and one to Perspectiva Mundial.”

Campaigners in Los Angeles and Hazelton, Pennsylvania, have raised their goals. The total of local goals still falls 110 subscriptions shy of the 2,000 needed in the drive.

See sales drive chart
 
 
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Fund meetings feature ‘Militant’ reporting trips  
 
 
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