The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 76/No. 13      April 2, 2012

 
Int’l campaign to win long-term
‘Militant’ readers ‘best in years’
(front page)
 
BY LEA SHERMAN  
The campaign to gain long-term readers of the Militant newspaper was a resounding success! Partisans of the paper sold 559 renewals and long-term subscriptions, 112 percent of the 500 international goal. All but one area made its local quota.

The success shows the opportunities today to expand circulation of the socialist newsweekly among working people, who become more open to communist politics as they confront and resist the assault by the bosses and their governments on our living standards, working conditions and political rights.

“This has been our best renewal effort in years. We picked up 12 this past week, putting us at 52 for the drive,” said Frank Forrestal, who joined other communist workers from the Twin Cities visiting locked-out American Crystal Sugar workers in North Dakota last week. “Many are long term: 13 are for six months and 14 are for one year. Eighteen are to locked-out sugar workers.”

“The Militant has done right by us. I am very impressed. The time and effort that goes into it, and the range of things it covers,” Terry Holm, a locked-out sugar worker who renewed for a year and bought a copy of Teamster Rebellion, told members of the Socialist Workers Party. “It is a really good newspaper. I also like the Spanish section although I don’t speak Spanish. Another thing I like is that it is not just about our lockout and the Red River Valley, it covers struggles all over the world.”

“I like the paper because it’s objective,” said Manuel Jérez, a worker in an elevator repair shop in Miami who renewed for a year. “By objective, I mean on the side of workers. It’s what we look for to tell the truth. The truth is in the paper.”

Maggie Trowe and Helen Myers sold six renewals during a visit to Keokuk, Iowa, the scene of a hard-fought battle against a 10-month lockout by Roquette America that ended last July. Two members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 48G renewed their subscriptions at the plant gate. And two members of the Lee County Labor Council in Keokuk signed up for six-month subscriptions. A health worker, whose brother was a stalwart on the picket lines during the lockout, got a one-year renewal.

In the U.S. many of the subscriptions were longer term. Some 115 for six months, 91 for one year and 17 two-year subscriptions were sold along with 229 three-month renewals and 181 introductory subscriptions.

This successful renewal campaign puts us in a strong position for the Militant spring subscription drive.
 
 
Related articles:
‘Militant’ Renewal Drive Feb. 11 – March 18 Final Scoreboard (chart)  
 
 
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