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From New International, Vol. I No. 2, August 1934, Inside back cover.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
THE first issue of The New International met with a gratifying reception, to judge by the circulation reports and the letters received from all parts of the world. The demand for additional copies far exceeded the number printed and in several cases we were unable to fill the orders sent in. (We request comrades having unsold copies in good condition to forward them to us: they will be credited accordingly.)
The Los Angeles agent increased his order from 15 to 35 and then to 75 copies. Waukegan wrote: “Congratulations. The first issue of the magazine was excellent. It was received with great enthusiasm. It will fill a great need” – and raised the order from 10 to 15.
From St. Louis we are written by our agent: “Instead of 10 send 20. Foster’s Bookstore sold out 10 in two days and is now ordering 25.” Boston raised its order from 25 to 50 for the second issue and Cleveland took a jump from a bundle of 15 to 85. The comrade in Newcastle writes: “The New International is far, far beyond our highest expectations. You may depend on me to do all I can to keep it going. Here is $5.00 to help sustain it” – an excellent example to others, we hope, as is also the increased order from 10 to 15 copies. Pittsburgh, not far away, raises its order from 15 to 25.
Philadelphia, which calls the review “great” increases its order from 40 to 100 per month, and distant Salt Lake City from 10 to 20. New Haven writes: “Already sold 10 copies; please rush 10 more.” And Youngstown, which is taking 40 of this issue says that the “demand for The New International is greater than the supply. If at all possible please rush 10 more copies at once”.
Chicago is handling a total of 225 copies and in New York some 600 have been sold of the first issue – the Manhattan Spartacus Youth Club alone having run up its sale from an original 25 to 50 copies.
The circulation in other English-speaking countries is also very promising. Two letters from Vancouver indicate it: “The bundle you sent was sold in a couple of hours. And those lucky enough to get a copy have nothing but praise to offer, not only for the tidy appearance, but for the brilliant material. The least one can say is The New International is truly a magazine of revolutionary Marxism.” Another: “Only yesterday I saw a copy of The New International for the first time. Congratulations to you and Max! It’s excellent, both in material and make-up. I was talking to some old-time Wobblies yesterday and they thought it was the best Marxian magazine they had ever seen.”
From Toronto, Jack MacDonald writes: “Congratulations on your very creditable work – The New International. It certainly is a first class job and should make its way deep into the heart of communist circles and find a first place in communist literature.” Montreal and Winnipeg utter similar sentiments.
Glasgow, Scotland, which originally ordered 25 copies, writes: “The New International was sold out in two days and I wish 10 additional copies of No. 1 and 50 of No. 2. The make-up is really splendid and as long as there is a good number of international articles in each issue it should do good work among the English-speaking workers. I managed to raise enough cash to send $10.00.”
Remote South Africa is now receiving, without counting subscribers, bundles amounting to 46 copies. Australia is disposing of 65. In London we have started off with 55 copies. A bundle of 5 copies is now being sent even to little Panama. And from Czechoslovakian Prague we are told: “We have received The New International and we thank you for it. I believe that it is now the best theoretical organ of the International Communists.”
Other comments include the editorial observation in the New York Nation of August 1: “Among the theoretical revolutionary magazines, The New International, published by the Trotskyists, is an impressive newcomer. When a small Left group can get out a fifteen-cent monthly magazine containing in its first issue some 70,000 words of rather well-thought-out and well-written prose, then the dollar value of such enterprises as the opulent and glistening Fortune becomes somewhat questionable.”
It is certain, however, that we cannot even hope to vie with Fortune when it is a question of financial resources and support. That must come from our friends, who are, alas! not so opulent, however their enthusiasm may glisten. We want to put our review on a sound foundation. And none is sounder than a substantial subscription list. We have winked at more than one imperious point in putting the price per copy at 15 cents. We can keep it at that price if our circulation is raised and kept rising. One dollar fifty per year (12 numbers) is a modest sum for the magazine you are getting; or perhaps the price of one dollar for seven months may be more convenient for you.
Quick action in subscribing for yourself, or for a friend, will be appreciated by us. Or will you take a bundle to sell?
THE MANAGER
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Last updated on 25 February 2016