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From Fourth International, vol.5 No.12, December 1944, p.354.
Transcribed, marked up & formatted by Ted Crawford & David Walters in 2008 for ETOL.
A sure indication of the growing influence of Fourth International is the increasing number of unsolicited subscriptions. Subscriptions from Iowa, Minn., Connecticut, and Ohio were sent in on the printed coupon clipped from the magazine. Others – from Michigan, Massachusetts, California, New York, North Dakota – came in letter form. These letters are interesting and we quote excerpts from a few.
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The material contained in Fourth International is of lasting use and value and a month seldom goes by without our receiving requests for back issues. For instance, a subscriber in Seattle ordered a full file of New International (former name of Fourth International prior to May 1940) for 1934, 1935 and 1936. He informed us that he is going to get these issues bound to preserve them.
We still have some almost complete files of New International for these years and individual copies of various issues. If you lack miscellaneous issues to complete your file or would like to have a file for binding, write us at once. Single copies cost 40¢ each; a complete file $5.
From Milwaukee we received a request for a more recent back issue: “I would like to get two copies of the recent issue of Fourth International that contained an article about Gandhi, non-violence, pacifism, etc. Will you send them to me and bill me for them? I will remit immediately upon receipt of the bill.” (The articles referred to appeared in the October 1944 issue under the titles: Trotskyism in India, The Present Political Situation in India (Theses), Gandhi on the Road to Betrayal, The August 1942 Struggle, The Famine in India.
A letter from our Los Angeles agent reports a planned program of expansion for the near future:
“Many of our plans out here will really assume proportions after the convention. More stands for both The Militant and Fourth International are certain as well as placing many of Pioneer publications in stores. The list of FI subscribers should enable us to plug enough holes so as to sell another ten copies a month or to get at least that many more subs.”
Our agent in Akron informs us that the public library there will display Fourth International:
“The Akron Public Library has a new Business & Labor Service Department. I brought in several issues of The Militant and Fourth International today. The Librarian in charge seemed familiar with our literature and promised that they would be added to the service if we would send gift subscriptions. While only the current issues of most publications are kept on the open shelves in the Business & Labor Service, both current and several past issues are instantly available – on open shelves – to the interested reader.
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The cost of a subscription to Fourth International meant considerable sacrifice to a friend in Havana, Cuba:
“I want you to excuse me for my delay in sending you the subscription price of your newspaper and magazine. I didn’t pay you before because for sometime now I have not been enjoying good health and have scarcely worked. Although I cannot read much, I wish to continue to subscribe to your publications.”
A subscriber in Canada wants to make sure he will have a bound volume of Fourth International. He asks:
“If I am allowed to send the money order could you hold a bound copy of the FI until it is allowed entry into Canada?”
A reader of our literature in England sent the following letter of appreciation:
“I think the best way to thank you is by lending the books and pamphlets out to other workers so that they may become acquainted with our policy and movement in order to fit them for the great tasks that lie ahead of the Fourth International.
“I do not wish to take too much advantage of your generosity, but I would be most grateful if I could have Fourth International and The Militant regularly. I have quite a job to procure one of the few which reach our section. I will endeavor to obtain a permit to pay for the subscription if you can let me have a regular copy of each.
“Will close by thanking you once again and also be sending greetings to the 18 and wishing you success in their release in the near future.”
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Last updated on 12.9.2008