“He told us he wants to keep up with the Utah fight by reading the Militant every week,” Farley said. The young miner also commented on the immigration cops’ arrests of hundreds of immigrant workers at Wal-Mart. “It’s not right; they should make them all legal,” the miner said.

With the campaign nearing its end, participants are picking up the pace. In the past week, they sold 103 subscriptions to the Militant, cutting the overall deficit from 10 percent to 8 percent. If they continue with this approach of daily sales and determined follow-up, all three goals can be met.

Campaigners have to sell 200 Militant and 72 Perspectiva Mundial subscriptions to reach the international goals of 950 and 400 respectively. They need to fight especially hard to make the book goal of 500. The special deal of a 25 percent discount on one book with every sub has proven very attractive, and has frequently helped to persuade readers to subscribe. Maggie Trowe in Boston told the Militant that garment workers in a number of cities plan to contact new readers who did not purchase a book with their subscription to see if they want to take advantage of the offer.

Campaigners in Des Moines are on the verge of completing all their goals, and going over to aid the international effort, reported Edwin Fruit November 17. A steady rhythm of sales to meat packers and other workers, and weekly tables on university campuses, have all produced results. Through these efforts, Fruit said, “We have seven new subscribers at Iowa Sate University in Ames. During the drive, interested students have given us their names and telephone numbers, and we have called them to let them know when we’ll be back on campus.” Iowa campaigners met success at a recent antiwar conference at Drake University too. “No one else at the conference brought newspapers and books, and we found a keen interest in our material,” Fruit said. “Several students from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls bought subscriptions. They told us the campus paper they help distribute reprints Militant articles some times.”

From New York, Mike Fitzsimmons described sales over three hours from a literature table in Brooklyn November 16. “We set up by a busy subway stop,” he said. “One person after another stopped to discuss political developments. They had serious questions: ‘What is socialism? What is it about Cuba and why do you carry so many titles by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro?’”

By the end of the day, the campaigners had sold two subscriptions to the Militant and one to Perspectiva Mundial, along with a number of Pathfinder titles. “A few more tables like that over the next week, and we’ll make our goal,” said Fitzsimmons.

Next week’s Militant will report the final results of the drive. Subscriptions and reports of book sales received by noon on Tuesday, November 25, will be counted toward the international goal. Go to it!

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