The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.1           January 6, 1997 
 
 
Organizing A Distribution Center For Revolutionary Literature

Project to advance communist propaganda work is example of voluntary labor  

BY GREG McCARTAN AND BRIAN TAYLOR
NEW YORK - "We shipped out 700 books today to Pathfinder customers," said Karen Ray, who works in Pathfinder's printing division here and organizes the new pick-and-pack fulfillment service for the publisher.

"The printshop has reproduced a number of Pathfinder titles over the past month," she said. "We've kept the books here, and have begun filling partial orders as they have been invoiced by Pathfinder. It is one step toward what we'll have up and running before New Year's Day: a pick-and-pack operation of all titles distributed by Pathfinder. We will be shipping the revolutionary books and pamphlets directly to customers all over the world."

Some of the titles shipped this week are Socialism on Trial, by founding leader of the SWP James P. Cannon. This book had to be quickly reprinted because of increased demand from Pathfinder bookstores where socialists are organizing classes to introduce young people to the communist movement. Another title, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, by Frederick Engels, had to be reprinted this month due to continued large classroom orders for the pamphlet, Ray said. In one day, 558 copies of this basic work of Marxism were shipped to four universities.

The Politics of Chicano Liberation, edited by Olga Rodríguez, was reprinted for the third time this year and shipped directly to customers after it was finished in the bindery. A fourth title, Nouvelle Internationale no. 5, the French-language magazine that contains the article "Imperialism's March Toward Fascism and War," by Jack Barnes, was printed and finished in one week's time so communists in Quebec could sell it to other participants in a December 7 demonstration against government cutbacks in Quebec City.

Pathfinder business manager Sara Lobman explained, "We are confident that our new fulfillment service will insure that we have a steady flow of books to workers and youth who need them in their political work. We can improve service to our customers in the timeliness of order delivery, the accuracy of the shipments, and the quality of the books when they arrive. We will be able to turn orders around more quickly in response to important developments in the class struggle."

Ray said that orders received from Pathfinder will generally be filled and shipped to customers within one day. "No other fulfillment house could provide this kind of service," she said.

This is especially important given the increased sales over the past year of Pathfinder titles by socialists around the world. In November, for example, socialist workers and youth sold more than 2,000 books and pamphlets to co-workers, students, and others involved in political activity internationally.

Fund to raise needed capital
To set up the pick-and-pack operation, and to make other long-term publishing projects possible, a capital fund of $280,000 for loans or contributions of $1,000 or more was launched at four regional socialist educational conferences held at the end of November. "We've received a tremendous response since the fund was launched less than three weeks ago," said fund director Dave Prince in a December 18 interview. "So far 62 people have stepped forward and $197,700 has been pledged. These results put us in a position to rapidly complete the $280,000. These large contributions are applied toward capital expenditures on the physical plant and equipment, which includes setting up the pick-and-pack operation and completing the repairs on the south wall of the Pathfinder building. We will then be able to look toward accelerating payments on major equipment purchases."

Contributions have ranged from $1,000 to $20,000. Socialists who are members of the International Association of Machinists; Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers; and United Auto Workers unions are organizing to pool year-end bonuses to contribute. Donations have also come from bequests, industrial accident settlements, and other windfalls.

A transformation of the six-story south wall of the Pathfinder Building is well under way. The first insulated panels were set in place this week. This new weather- resistant paneling is needed because of deterioration over the years of the brick wall. Continued exposure would have severely weakened the structure of the building. All of the wall paneling will be in place by the year's end.

Chris Hoeppner, the general manager of the shop, pointed out that "Pathfinder books are read, studied, and discussed by a wide layer of working people and youth looking for answers to the breakdowns and instability brought about by capitalism. This project will put communists around the world in a better position to place producing and distributing these books at the center of their work, whether it be in the unions among coworkers, in protest actions and coalitions they join around the world, or as they reach out to build solidarity with the Cuban revolution, the strike by steelworkers at Wheeling- Pittsburgh Steel, and other workers in struggle."

The print shop is staffed by communist workers who work for an average three-year stint to produce the revolutionary arsenal of literature. Workers in the shop design, typeset, prepare the film and plates, print, collate, bind, and cut books and pamphlets. They also take on a large volume of commercial work which helps keep skills honed and generate a surplus that goes toward the production of revolutionary literature.

A new challenge and opportunity
Workers in the shop are now taking on the additional responsibility of organizing the "pick-and-pack" operation. Regular shipments are sent to Pathfinder in London, where orders from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are received, processed, and filled. A fulfillment company in Quebec services Canada, as well.

For the rest of the Americas, the Pacific, and Asia, books will be sent directly to customers from Pathfinder in New York. These include orders for a single copy of a title from people who get ahold of a Pathfinder catalog or see an advertisement for a Pathfinder book; from Pathfinder bookstores, which constitute an important part of Pathfinder's overall sales; from universities where Pathfinder books are used for classroom texts; and from retail stores and libraries who want Pathfinder titles to fill out selections available to customers or patrons.

Hoeppner explained that the printshop is built "on the political consciousness and disciplined organization of communist workers. We produce the political weapons workers and youth need to educate themselves and the entire working class on why we must organize a revolutionary struggle to replace the government of the capitalists with one of workers and farmers, opening the road to the fight for socialism.

"In addition," he said, "we must organize an efficient, competitive, and high-quality commercial operation. Having a steady stream of Pathfinder books to reprint, and figuring out how many to run, when to print them, and how to make sure they are always available is a real opportunity. It will make us a more efficient and productive operation."

Pathfinder reprints
Pathfinder and the printshop are making simultaneous steps to insure that every title published by Pathfinder stays in print and available for communist workers and youth to utilize in the course of their work.

By December 31 the shop will have delivered, among other titles, reprints of Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Spain, by Felix Morrow; On the Irish Freedom Struggle by Bernadette Devlin McAliskey; What Is Surrealism?, by Andre Breton; Humanism and Socialism, by George Novack; The Bolivian Diary, by Ernesto Che Guevara; and Puerto Rico: U.S. Colony in the Caribbean, by José Pe'rez.

Books are reprinted on two state-of-the-art Heidleberg sheetfed presses. "Our goal is to run Pathfinder books for 30 hours a week on each press, which means 30 hours of labor time," said press operator Rose Ana Berbeo. "One of the moves we made this week was to go to three shifts on the presses. This year," she said, "we've done considerably more commercial sheetfed work than previously. Having a list of Pathfinder titles to print each week means you can organize a more efficient and rational schedule."

Pathfinder also is working to improve the covers, typography, and annotation of its titles. Members of the Pathfinder staff have begun a daily schedule of scanning and proof-reading titles that are not currently in electronic form. This process prepares the manuscript to be typeset with modern, more readable type. Sexism and Science, the first book scanned, proof read, and corrected by the staff, will be completed this week. A plan for getting every Pathfinder title in digital form will be drawn up over the next month.

Setting up the pick-and-pack operation
Members of the Socialist Workers Party, the Young Socialists, and other supporters of Pathfinder launched a one-month project at regional socialist educational conferences at the end of November to transform an underutilized floor of the building into a professional facility where the books produced in the printshop will be housed for the fulfillment of orders.

Volunteers from around world have been pitching in for one day to several weeks so the new operation will be up and running by New Year's Day. More volunteers are needed from December 21-31, says project organizer Kevin Dwire. The books needed to get the fulfillment process up and running will be delivered in five truckloads. They will need to be inspected, processed, inventoried, and shelved by a big crew of volunteers.

"There has been a tremendous response so far," Dwire said. "Workers who have plant shut-downs have volunteered their time, youth who recently joined the Young Socialists have pitched in from around the country, and workers and youth in the New York area have been coming in on the weekends and after work."

Salm Kolis, a leader of the SWP in Atlanta, who is a member of the United Auto Workers union and an assembly- line worker at Ford, is organizing the volunteer crews. Kolis said she "took time off work before a plant shutdown to help lead the project to get the pick-and-pack operation set up." Rail workers, garment and textile workers, airline workers and others have also come to New York to pitch in.

Kolis said her experiences in Atlanta over the past months has reconfirmed for her the indispensable place of reading, studying, and selling revolutionary books and literature. "We have a growing number of workers and youth interested in and joining the Young Socialists and the party," she said. By utilizing these political weapons while participating in political activity, the communist movement became a pole of attraction for youth and workers seeking to join a disciplined and organized proletarian socialist organization, Kolis explained.

Laron Letzerich, a 22-year-old college student from Salt Lake City, Utah, explained how he came to join the volunteer efforts. "The first contact I had with the YS was about a month and a half ago when I saw a flyer for a past event for [SWP presidential candidate] James Harris," Letzerich said. He went to the address on the leaflet, which was the Socialist Workers Party campaign headquarters as well as the local Pathfinder Bookstore.

There, socialists invited Letzerich to attend the regional socialist educational conference held in San Francisco. "I was already reading these books when I went to the conference," he said. "I decided the YS is something I want to be a part of." In addition to joining the YS he also decided to take part of his semester break to do voluntary work at the Pathfinder Building. The crew has torn down several walls to reorganize the third floor layout, installed new outlets for phones and computers, begun the consolidation and reorganizing of supplies, and repainted most of the walls.

Much work remains. "We are trying to make room for thousands of boxes of books," Kolis said. Brand new shelves have been purchased. At least 100 shelves need to be assembled with 3,200 screws, and each shelf needs to be labeled. The lighting system on that floor will also have to rearranged, the floors repaired, and the packing and shipping area set up.

Kolis explained that when the books arrive, each box needs to be opened so each individual book can be thoroughly cleaned and inspected to make sure it meets the high standards set by Pathfinder, culling out any damaged books. Titles will be counted and inventoried, then placed into standard boxes that fit tractably into the shelves.

The first step for those who come for the project is a tour of the entire Pathfinder building, during which volunteers can get a feel for the kind of work done throughout the building and the importance of maintaining and strengthening the production and distribution of revolutionary literature containing the history of working- class struggles and the lessons of the fight for socialism.

Socialists in New York and Newark are also making sure out- of-town volunteers and local supporters keep involved in political events in the city, as well as participating in socialist educational classes.

Several people interested in learning more about the socialist movement participated in the most recent class in New York on the communists' use of propaganda in making the Russian revolution, given by Megan Arney, a leader of the Newark branch of the Socialist Workers Party. A class on The Politics of Chicano Liberation will also be held, given by the editor of the book Olga Rodríguez.

"Having a reliable printshop and way to produce revolutionary propaganda and educational materials has been a constant preoccupation of the revolutionary workers movement for 150 years," Kevin Dwire said. From the time of Marx and Engels, up through Lenin and the Russian revolution, communist organizations have given central priority to the publication, promotion, distribution, and financing of newspapers and books.

"The steps we are taking here," he said, "are aimed at strengthening our ability to do that today and in the years to come, as more and more opportunities and need open up for these political weapons."  
 
 
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