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From New International, Vol.4 No.3, March 1938, p.66.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
YOU’LL pardon us, we’re sure, if we open with a few words from other lands: South Africa speaks first ... P.K., Capetown, “Enclosed is a draft for Modern Books and, in future, for 125.00. Please open an account send 30 copies ... Naturally, The New International is excellent and this is as it should be.” Johannesburg follows up Capetown with an order too ... Australia: Sydney book shop places order for 18 copies and Workers Party branch for 30 copies ... But these Englishmen! Margaret Johns, London, “It is certainly very useful to have The New International appearing again. We missed it very much when it closed down ... For the next issue, please send six dozen (72) direct to the Socialist Book Shop, 35 St. Bride Street, and five dozen (60) direct to me. I hope to get further orders ...”
Fitzroy of Battersea, “Enclosed please find $2.00 for additional 13 copies of January issue (total 25); please send as quickly as possible.” Follow-up letter from Fitzroy: “Enclosed please find cash for February issue of NI We were very favorably impressed by the first.” . . . Leeds, England: “Congratulations on the NI. It is enormously valuable to us, both for propaganda and for educating our younger and less experienced comrades, and we have already sold out all we got.” Liverpool, Book Shop: “We have placed orders for a supply of The New International with London ... We can assure you that all possible will be done to spread the circulation of the journal.”
Vancouver, B.C., has increased its order to 40 copies. Newsstands are selling the magazine despite Stalinist threats. “They keep telling the newsman,” writes our comrade, “to take them off, but he only laughs at them. The NI is highly praised and we consider the articles of a very high order. We impatiently await the next issue.”
Los Angeles, Cal., took the biggest forward stride. Comrades write that it “is wonderful to have the NI with us again”. And comrade Fishier concretizes this interest by asking us “to increase our order to 200 copies instead of the previous 100 copies”. E. Ryan of Oakland says that “literature sales are slowly but steadily mounting, and we hope to be able to increase our bundle order again. In the meantime 40 copies will be sufficient”. From the Campus at Berkeley, Haskell states that they “have found it possible to dispose of more copies of the NI. Increase our order from 10 to 20 copies. We are delighted to find such interest in the publication and feel that in a University town such as Berkeley, it can probably do a tremendous amount of valuable educational work.”
C Martell, Akron, Ohio, writes that he is “happy to confirm the bundle order of 40 NI’s every month. I feel sure that we can easily dispose of that many here. I am hoping we shortly shall be increasing our order”. Cleveland, says J.M.C., is endeavoring to get more subscriptions. Toledo increases its order from 5 to 20 copies, and Youngstown, Ohio, from 10 to 15. New Haven, Conn, doubles from 10 to 20; Lynn, Mass, twice orders extra bandies of the January issue. St. Louis, Mo., sends in a batch of subscriptions, and Boston, Mass., writes Leonard, is now following up all contacts on mailing lists. Paul McCormick, Denver, Colo., declares that: “A very fine spirit exists among the comrades. I am convinced that within a short while well begin to show progress and become effective in the labor movement ... Be sure that we are strong for The New International and will do all we can to promote it.” Chicago continues to set the pace. Karl Shier, ably directing literature distribution and sales in Chicago, and given especially fine support by the Chicago YPSL members, and the Party too, says: “The Chicago membership meetings of the Party and the YPSL convention took up literature quite seriously ... I have good literature agents to work with ... The distribution of the February issue is swell. The consensus of opinion is that the second issue is better than the first.” The Chicago comrades got out a very fine 4-page advertising folder for the NI, which was distributed at their pre-convention mass meet-ins;. Numerous book shoes are handling the magazine. The Chicago University YPSL Circle sold out its bundle quickly and ordered an extra 20 copies.
In greater New York, the NI is circulating well, but with more systematic effort much more can be accomplished. The SWP branches, which is contrary to the case everywhere else, are doing much better than the YPSL circles. Robert Gorman, district literature agent of the New York YPSL, is working very hard to develop NI circulation, but to date the New York Yipsels have yet to accomplish what they are capable of. Come on, New York Youth! The NI belongs to and serves you as no one else. Morris Miller does excellent work in covering the New York newsstands. The Labor Book Shop disposes of 150 copies. Subscriptions are coming in slowly as yet from New York, and elsewhere, too. The Upper West Side, Manhattan, branch, took a forward step by having its entire membership subscribe to the NI A deed that helps the members and NI handily.
There is a need now for the Party and YPSL branches to undertake organized subscription drives for the magazine. Numerous contacts and sympathizers lists can be canvassed with good effect, we are sure. Publishing The New International is a costly enterprise. The cost of production exceeds our wholesale selling rates.
The job is up to our supporters. Read and circulate the NI. Subscribe! Send Contributions. For a better and larger New International!
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Last updated on 4.8.2006