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From Fourth International, Vol.6 No.9, September 1945, p.258.
Transcribed, marked up & formatted by Ted Crawford & David Walters in 2008 for ETOL.
With the ending of the war, we will witness more and more an inevitable leftward swing in the American political scene. The revulsion against the war will, within time, unquestionably sweep the nation and find significant repercussions especially among the youth. For these reasons we can now look forward to broader and ever increasing audiences for our theoretical magazine. Advanced groups of trade union workers, returning soldiers and young intellectuals in the schools will show more and more interest in our rounded Marxist analysis of world events, and the program of the socialist revolution, the only program that offers a way out to humanity. Our agents should be very wide awake in discovering new channels for a wider distribution of our magazine.
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The newsstand sales of Fourth International continue to grow. With the August issue sold out on many stands soon after publication, we have again increased our press run. In New York, one newsstand, which had increased its bundle order in July, sent for additional copies of the August issue the day after the magazines were delivered. New York’s bundle order has been increased by 100 copies, which will temporarily take care of the stepped-up demand.
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The recent experience of many of our agents demonstrate that meetings constitute one of the best sources for the sale of the FI. In New York, the FIs are displayed on the literature table inside the meeting hall. The question “Have you seen the latest Fourth International?” has been sufficient to completely sell out the stock on hand. At the Trotsky Memorial meeting, in August, New York sold 37 copies.
As a result of references in The Militant to articles which have appeared in back copies of the FI we have received orders for 13 copies of the June magazine. One reader said that the article Interview With a Soviet Citizen” was what he had been looking for for a long time because of his interest in an appraisal of the status of USSR.
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Our English readers continue to write us appreciative letters. One reader states:
“I feel that I must write and say how much I have enjoyed and gained through reading Fourth International and The Militant.
“Your journal FI is without equal in the field of Socialist literature, whilst for The Militant I can only say that it has been invaluable to me in reaching a true analysis of the every-day activities of our American comrades.
“The election result here in Britain has borne out the prediction by Stuart in the FI of June 1944 when he wrote ‘England is on the verge of great revolutionary events.’
“Governmental power is now vested in the hands of labor fakers who have no intentions of utilising it for Socialist legislation; true, they may put one or two acts on the Statute Book which might mislead the workers for a period, but sooner or later Big Business will call for a showdown. When that crucial moment comes the workers will know that other weapons are required for the winning of Socialism.
“They will also go through the bitter experience of having American Finance ranged against them. This will have the salutary effect, however, of bringing in the American workers directly.
“Yes, great days are at hand in the Socialist movement. Let us go forward in Marxist fashion to meet them.
“Which brings me to the request I have to make. I would very much like a copy of Trotsky’s In Defense of Marxism as it is unobtainable on this side.”
Another British reader writes:
“I have become very interested in the Trotskyist movement here in Britain after lengthy discussions with some of the comrades on this side.
“During the course of these ‘talks’ the American Militant and the Fourth International have been referred to time after time on some topic or another. I should very much appreciate it if you would send me a regular copy of each of the above papers so that I may keep abreast of events in the US.”
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Last updated on 12.9.2008