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From Fourth International, vol.6 No.4, April 1945, p.98.
Transcribed, marked up & formatted by Ted Crawford & David Walters in 2008 for ETOL.
Many letters from our subscribers attest to the high level maintained by Fourth International in its Marxist analyses of world events. For instance, the article by the Editors in the February issue, Civil War in Greece, brought forth considerable comment. We quote from a few letters.
D.D. of New York evaluates the article as follows:
“The FI achieved new heights of excellence with the publication in the March issue of the article on Greece. Nowhere in the bourgeois press have I read anything to compare with the careful wealth of information contained in the article. The authors’ presentation of the historical background of Greece, showing the inevitable 1ogic of present-day happenings there, is a triumph of clear, concise, knowing writing.”
M.P. of Rumson, N.J., comments about this same article:
“I enjoyed this issue of the FI, the article on Greece particularly. Everybody is so interested in the Greek events and this is good reading. My brother is in Greece, you know. He hasn’t been able to write much, of course, and I was glad to read this article. After seeing what he has seen, he writes that now he can see the futility of one person trying to help the people.”
A general appraisal of the magazine is given by D.H. of Wellesley, Mass.:
“The thoughtful articles in the FI are very informative and give material elsewhere unavailable.”
The following appreciation accompanied a new one-year subscription from L.K. of Chicago:
“Thank you for sending Fourth International for three months free of cost. I enjoy the well-written articles.”
Praise of the March issue comes from A.S. of Washington, D.C.:
“Congratulations on your March issue. The discussion on the Soviet Union and the Lily Roy book review gave me several hours of pleasure. Incidentally why didn’t you complete the latter instead of continuing into the next issue? Meanwhile I hope you find the ways and means to increase the size of the magazine.”
(The polemic by Lily Roy is a full size pamphlet and, because of space exigencies, it has to be published in installments.)
S.S. of New York also comments appreciatively about the March issue:
“Just finished reading the March issue of Fourth International It is good, starting with the Review of the Month and ending with the marvelous treatise, Socialism Reaffirmed, by Lily Roy, which is to be continued next month. I am looking forward to it. It is a perfect polemic against, and refutation of the ’Indian Burnham? I am sure that all the readers of Fourth International will find this material very informative and very instructive. In fact, I think it is a ’must’ reading. ... P.S. The title Twenty Years of Stalinist Degeneration must be a mistake.”
(S.S. is correct. The title is a mistake. A correction appears in this issue.)
A request from C.L of Philadelphia shows an interest in the study of Dialectical Materialism:
“I want Fourth International for May, June and August of 1940. I am interested in the articles on Dialectical Materialism. If you have any other issues containing material on the subject, please send these too?”
*****
Our agent, Jack Pearson of St. Paul, reports an incident which resulted from sending the FI to a reader of The Militant:
“We are sending the FI to some of The Militant subscribers and it has had some good results. One of the men brought the FI to work and after reading it passed it on to one of the other men. This was the January issue which contains the Convention Resolution on The United States and the Second World War. This man thought the article was so good that he gave it to the boss in order to prove an argument he had with him. The boss was reading the article at lunch time. I have to pass through the office to get to my job so when the whistle blew I opened the door and there was the boss with his feet on the desk, reading the FI. He usually goes out to see that the workers start work with the whistle, but this day he didn’t go out until he had finished the article. Later in the day three of the other bosses were in the office and my boss argued with them on the basis of the article”
*****
Newsstand sales for the New York area reached a new high with the February issue, according to a report from Sandy Robertson:
“The steady rise in newsstand sales over the past few months attests to the fact that our theoretical organ is reaching an ever-widening audience. With the placing of Fourth International on another newsstand on 14th Street and the doubling of the orders for three stands, we can say that every large newsstand on 42nd and 14th Streets now displays the FI. The February issue, despite the fact that it was only on the stands a little over two weeks, had a whirlwind sale. One stand which takes 20 copies was completely sold out just a few days after the FI had come out. Another stand in the Bronx also had a record sale.
“The increased individual sales from our literature rack at 116 University Place, along with accelerated newsstand sales, necessitates an increase of the bundle order for New York.”
*****
The article of Leon Trotsky in our March issue was published under the wrong title: Twenty Years of Stalinist Degeneration. The original and correct title reads: Does the Soviet Government Still Continue to Follow the Principles Adopted Twenty Years Ago? – Ed.
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Last updated on 6.9.2008