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From New International, Vol. I No. 5, December 1934, Inside back cover.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.

The New International continues to make its way. Issued from now on by the Workers Party of the US (the new party formed in the merger of the Communist League and American Workers Party), its growth, swift till now, should he even greater. 4,000 copies are issued now; the immediate goal aimed for is 6,000. It is a realizable and reasonable ambition. The New International now is read everywhere; India is now in the list and The New International literally circles the globe.

Comrades in China write: “The New International is deserving of the most unstinting praise. Indeed a mighty weapon for our cause! And how the ‘theoretical’ trash of the Stalinists pales before it.”

A Canadian reader in northwestern Canada says “The magazine is ‘it’, right from the beginning.”

A subscriber from the South, in Mississippi, declares: “Thanks for the NI. Just a hurried scanning of them is enough to make me want to subscribe: enclosed check ... wishing and predicting a tremendous success.”

A railroad engineer from California says: “I am forcibly struck with one impressive feature of the matter printed in your periodical, and that is its scientific analysis of questions ... You people write like Karl Marx ... I am afraid Marx would not think much of Stalin ...”

The Akron, Ohio, agent says that, “Everyone here thinks the magazine is great.”

A student at Harvard asserts: “The NI is the best revolutionary publication I’ve ever seen in its field.” And, by the way. interest among college students in revolutionary problems is evidenced by the fact that bundles of the NI are handled by students in a number of colleges.

Subscriptions continue to come in right along. Of the sub-getters Rae Spiegel has been the best. Now there will be an opportunity for others to get under way with a sub drive. Bundle orders remain on a sound foundation, with even some additional orders. Cape Town, South Africa, has increased its bundle again, this time from 30 to 40. Johannesburg agents handle a like number. Scotland, England. Australia continue their good work.

In spite of the fact that this issue of the review appears towards the end of the month, considerably belated, we have nevertheless decided to make it the December number. The delay in coming off the press has been due essentially to the fact that the time needed and the difficulties involved by the holding of the convention of the Communist League and, following it, the fusion convention which founded the Workers Party, made it impossible for us to meet our deadline. However, we are determined not to omit any issues, but to bring our subscribers and readers in general one issue of the review every month. We beg them to take our difficulties into consideration and to accept our apologies.

In order to catch up with our regular publication date, we are planning to publish the January issue right on the heels of the current number. Although the rate of publication will now mean shorter intervals between issues, we believe that all our friends will cooperate with us in our task of bringing the magazine to the point of a systematic and regular dateline in the future. A minimum of difficulties will be involved if distributors and agents throughout the country also make a special effort to dispose of each current issue as rapidly as possible, so as to clear the way for the coming number. In addition, it will be easier for the management to get the issues out on time if settlement is made promptly for all the bundles ordered.

Last month we called the attention of our friends to the campaign we are undertaking to assure the regular and easy publication of our review by strengthening its financial basis To accomplish this means:

A strong subscription list. The first and solidest base of a working class periodical is its regular subscriptions. By decision of the founding convention of the new party, we are out to get a circulation of six thousand copies within a period of six months. We will be closer to our goal by every subscription that is sent in. The low rates make it possible to approach virtually every radical and thinking worker for $1.50 for a year or at least for $1.00 for a six months subscription.
Our bundle order circulation must be raised. We have already attained good results in this field, better, in fact, than we expected at the beginning. Bundles of the review now reach not only every important city in the country, but every important center in the English-speaking world – Toronto to London-Glasgow-Dublin to Johannesburg to Sydney to Shanghai to Winnipeg. No difficulty is encountered in disposing of comparatively large amounts of the review, and many branches of the party and the youth organizations add to their local finances with the profit made on sales. As the official organ of the party now, it is incumbent upon every local organization to see to the widest possible distribution of the magazine. Increased sales in this field will bring us more quickly to the 6,000 circulation and, moreover, strengthen our financial basis.
We are aiming at the establishment of a modest pledge-fund, to be paid every month by those in a position to contribute. A minimum monthly contribution of a dollar means only a quarter a week, and there are many comrades who can make such a donation to The New International without difficulty. If the pledge fund is raised and maintained, it not only means a guaranteed magazine every month but also assures us that we shall not have to raise the price of the review in order to meet the high costs of publication. We want to keep it at 15 cents so as to put it within reach of everybody.

The Manager

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Last updated on 26 February 2016