Manager’s Column

From Fourth International, August 1946, Vol.7 No.8, p.226.
Transcribed, edited & formatted by Ted Crawford & David Walters in 2008 for ETOL.

Letters from our agents indicate they are working on new ways of increasing the circulation of Fourth International.

A. Field of Minneapolis writes: “The sub for E. Dennis was obtained by one of our comrades who was in Indiana. Mr. Dennis is a Militant subscriber. The comrade went to see him, had a very interesting discussion with him, sold him a sub to the FI. He also told him about the vacation school. Dennis was very much interested and is planning to attend.”
R. Cappy of Tacoma reports: “The one bookshop on which we placed the FI seems to be doing very well. We are looking around for other bookshops which sell magazines and hope to place the FI there. In this town it is only the bookshops that carry any liberal or radical magazines.”
Bill Singer of Connecticut advises that they obtained 10 out of 11 FI subs from Militant readers. He said: “They like The Militant and some of them had already seen the FI before – they are ready subscribers to Fourth International.”
Philadelphia needs more FI’s each month. Irene Fitzgerald has asked us to “increase Philly’s bundle order to 50 copies a month.”

* * * *

We welcome Leon Forth, new literature agent for Chicago. He outlines briefly some plans for future work:

“Could you please send me a current bill for the FI, showing recent payments. I feel fairly sure that this bill will be paid up shortly …. Very soon we are going to put on a drive to get the FI on a number of newsstands here.”

* * * *

The analytical material contained in Fourth International is of lasting importance and requests for back issues are numerous. A teacher in Ann Arbor, Mich., sent us $5 requesting that we send him “as many back issues of Fourth International containing articles by Leon Trotsky as $5 will buy.” He is “interested in studying Leon Trotsky’s writings of his last period, say from 1932 on.”

Back issues of Fourth International contain numerous articles by Leon Trotsky which have never appeared in any other publication. We have a nearly complete stock of these loose copies and will be glad to furnish prices upon request.

Jarvis Dusenbery of Perry, N.Y., ordered four copies of the June issue and enclosed $1 in payment.

A subscriber in Washington, D.C., sent in 50 cents for two copies of the June 1945 issue of the FI “for two friends.”

* * * *

Readers express great appreciation of Fourth International.

I.S. of Canada writes:

“My wife received your letter. Yes, we have each been receiving a copy of Fourth International since I subscribed for it last July. We did not expect to have two copies come and I intended to write you about it, but farming is a pretty busy job and I just neglected to do so. However, I have not been letting such important and really good reading go to waste. I try to keep them circulating as much as possible. I certainly would not like to be without it for my own use ... I am sending you $3. I would like to send you more money, but our crop was very poor last year and we are none too flush to carry on for the balance of this season.”

Belle Montague of Cambridge, Mass., appraises the June issue:

“At last I have seen in print a true, comprehensive picture of our epoch …. the ruins, blood, ashes, starvation, murder and torture that distinguishes this period in which we live ... not to speak of a correct description of the master criminals of New York and Washington, the most bestial rulers who have ever soiled our earth with crimes so monstrous as to appear almost unbelievable.

“I refer to your article Review of the Month, in the June issue of the magazine. As soon as I had read it myself, I at once visited my friends in the workers’ district, here in Cambridge, and shared it with them, as they cannot very well afford to subscribe.

“All of them – more than 70 persons – urged me to write to you and express their feelings as well as my own, but I truly find it difficult to express my admiration for the article in question. Such an article is worthy of being quoted by future historians as a description of our times, and Fourth International is the only magazine in this country worthy of the time and attention of a thinking person these days. I can hardly say more than this.

“I would like to enquire if it would not be possible to publish the Review in the form of a pamphlet for widespread distribution ... I, myself, would like the pleasure of distributing several hundred copies right here in Cambridge. Please consider this suggestion seriously. Do not allow this article to be filed away and forgotten – it is too valuable, too precious. It is marked by an element of greatness that reminds one of Marx.”

* * * *

E. Brent of Detroit has found a solution to the “gift problem.” She writes:

“Last year I won a bound volume of the FI and when my husband returned from a long trip at sea I gave it to him as an anniversary gift. The 1945 bound volume arrived this year just in time – the day before our anniversary.”

Bound volumes of Fourth International for 1945 can be purchased from $4.50.Order from Business Manager 116 University Place New York 3, N.Y.

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Last updated on 10.2.2009