The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 75/No. 6      February 14, 2011

 
Campaign to win long-term
readers is picking up steam
(front page)
 
BY ANGEL LARISCY  
The drive to win 400 long-term readers to the Militant by February 15 is picking up steam. Supporters of the socialist newsweekly around the world are getting a positive response as they reach out to recent subscribers and ask them to renew.

At the end of week two of the campaign total quotas add up to 384, an increase of 23 from last week. So far local areas have sent in 165 names of individuals who signed up for another three, six, or 12 months of the paper (see chart on page 4).

In addition, more than three dozen people have signed up for three-month introductory subscriptions in the past week. With some extra effort supporters of the Militant can often convince a new reader who is interested in working-class politics to sign up for a six-month subscription.

Around the world Militant supporters are finding interest in the paper at rallies in solidarity with the demonstrations in Egypt. Both single copies and introductory subscriptions have been sold to those who want to read the truth about the ouster of the dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and the ongoing struggle to overthrow Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.

Those who value the paper for its reporting on working-class struggles around the world are encouraged to participate by renewing and helping to win others to subscribe.

New subscribers can contact a distributor in their area, listed on page 10, and ask them to come visit for a discussion. Supporters of the Militant also always bring with them a good stock of books on socialism and the struggle for workers power.

Below are some reports from local areas that give a picture of the opportunities to win long-term readers.
 

*****

Many of the subscribers we are contacting are inspired by the workers' revolt in Tunisia and Egypt and want to discuss politics.

Logan Evans, one of two students at Western Washington University in Bellingham who decided to renew, said, "The media sources like the BBC say the dictators provide stability but I like the Militant's articles that tell the other side and take the side of the workers."

At a protest in Yakima, Washington, January 25 to call for the release of immigrant workers arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a former subscriber and a new subscriber signed up.

—Mary Martin
Seattle

Workers who read the Militant appreciate its class bias in favor of the working class. A team in New York contacted subscribers and talked to a woman factory worker in the Bronx who said she was about to send in her renewal. The team offered to come by and pick it up. When they did, they were invited in by the woman and her husband, a bus driver.

She explained she reads every article in the Militant in Spanish. "It gets right to the point," she said. She has been working at her current job, where there is no union, for six years and makes only $7.25 per hour. Her husband said he is better paid but can't get 40 hours work a week.

The couple also looked over several books the team had brought. The woman wanted to buy Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power, but her husband was more interested in Is Socialist Revolution in the U.S. Possible? They finally decided to buy both in addition to renewing for six months.

—Cindy Jaquith
New York

Norma Peoples, a union painter who renewed her subscription for six months last week and bought several Pathfinder books, met with distributors of the Militant again this week to buy a six-month subscription for her brother, who works in a foundry. She also ordered six copies of Blacks in America's Wars for friends.

Socialists who work at Sky Chefs and a local foundry are following up with coworkers this week to secure renewals as well.

—Frank Forrestal
Twin Cities, Minnesota

 
 
Related articles:
Subscription Renewal Drive - Week 2  
 
 
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