https://themilitant.com/2019/11/02/swp-drive-to-sell-books-to-explain-party-its-program/
SWP drive to sell books to explain party, its program
By Brian Williams
Vol. 83/No. 41
November 11, 2019
SWP member Maggie Trowe talks with GM striker Kenneth Matczak at his
doorstep in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Oct. 18. “We’re trying to raise the
standard for all workers,” he said about their walkout. He got a
Militant subscription and Is Socialist Revolution in the US Possible?
Militant/Samir Hazboun
SWP member Maggie Trowe talks with GM striker Kenneth Matczak at his
doorstep in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Oct. 18. “We’re trying to raise the
standard for all workers,” he said about their walkout. He got a
Militant subscription and Is Socialist Revolution in the US Possible?
Socialist Workers Party members and supporters in Chicago have been
taking the Militant and books by SWP leaders and other working-class
revolutionaries to workers at GM strike picket lines and some other
large United Auto Workers-organized plants in the area. “We’ve met a
number of workers who want to know more about the SWP’s program,”
reports Ilona Gersh.
At an afternoon plant gate sale Oct. 21 at the Ford assembly plant
there, workers bought one subscription, 31 copies of the paper and three
books — Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power; Are
They Rich Because They’re Smart; and The Working Class and the
Transformation of Learning, all by SWP National Secretary Jack Barnes.
The plant employs some 6,000 workers.
“There was a lot of interest in the GM strike and the teachers strike
taking place here,” said Gersh. “One worker who bought a single copy on
an earlier sale stopped by this week to sign up for a subscription.” At
another afternoon shift there 12 days earlier workers snapped up five
subscriptions, three books and dozens of papers.
At a plant gate sale at the Chrysler assembly plant in Belvidere Oct.
25, UAW members purchased two subscriptions and 19 singles, Gersh said,
and another subscription and two single copies were sold knocking on
workers’ doors in the area.
At a rally of striking Chicago teachers and other school workers the
next day, party members and supporters sold six subscriptions and 11
books, including In Defense of the US Working Class.
Chicago distributors rapidly ran out of the 80 papers they had ordered
for the week, so 50 more were rushed to them in time for another Ford
plant gate team Oct. 29.
The nine-week drive to sell 1,100 Militant subscriptions and 1,250
books goes until Dec. 10. It runs concurrently with the Socialist
Workers Party’s fall campaign to raise $100,000 to finance its ongoing
political work.
The SWP aims to expand readership of the books and the Militant, and to
introduce working people to its revolutionary program. Party members
offer them the opportunity to read about lessons from previous
working-class struggles on how to build an effective independent
fighting movement to counter the bosses and their government. They focus
on discussions with working people on their doorsteps in cities, towns
and rural areas, and at labor actions and social protests.
To encourage greater understanding of the party’s revolutionary program,
all Pathfinder books and copies of the Marxist magazine New
International are being offered at 20% off. In addition, eight titles
are offered at half price when purchased with a Militant subscription.
An invaluable new book has just been added to the party’s arsenal — The
Turn to Industry: Forging a Proletarian Party by Jack Barnes. The
introduction is printed in a special four-page spread in this issue.
Through Dec. 31 the title is being offered at a special price of $12,
$10 with a Militant subscription.
Fund drive starts strong in Oakland
In Oakland, California, party members have already collected over half
of the $12,000 quota adopted by the SWP branch there. “We’ve had an
enthusiastic and early response to a letter appealing for contributions
to the Party-Building Fund we sent out in the first week of the drive,”
wrote Carole Lesnick.
“The party’s work described in the Militant has been quite an
inspiration for fund contributors,” she said. “We included a sub blank
for those whose subs were about to expire. Four people have sent them
back so far — three resubscribing for a year.
“We’re working on getting new contributors,” Lesnick said. “We’ve gotten
$13 from campaign teams talking to workers and look to increase this.”
Those wanting to join the effort to broaden the reach of the Militant
and revolutionary books and to kick in to the fund drive, can contact
the SWP or Communist League branches listed in the directory.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •After 40-day strike GM workers approve contract
•Back strikers’ fight against copper bosses’ union busting
•SWP drive to sell books to explain party, its program
•Protests in Iraq, Lebanon target government, Tehran interference
•2020 campaign reflects crisis of US rulers’ two party system
•UFCW union local says ‘No!’ to any prison ban of ‘Militant’
Feature Articles •The Turn to Industry: Forging a Proletarian Party
Also In This Issue •Hong Kong protests back Catalan independence fight
•Blackjewel miners’ encampment protest wins back pay
•Striking Chicago teachers, school workers win support
•Florida ex-felons push back restrictions on right to vote
•Socialist Workers Party Fund Drive Oct. 5 - Dec. 10 (Week 3)
•Fall Campaign to sell Militant subscriptions and books Oct. 5 - Dec. 10
(Week 3)
On the Picket Line •Steelworkers in New Brunswick fight Glencore lockout
•Quebec senior residence workers strike for wages and more staff
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David Hume
“ In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees
of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral
evidence. A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence. ”
― David Hume,