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From Labor Action, Vol. X No. 11, 18 March 1946, p. 1.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
We have got to have an EIGHT-PAGE LABOR ACTION! And we shall have it! We have, in fact, already set a date for the appearance of the first regular EIGHT-PAGE LABOR ACTION – June 17!
The Workers Party has inaugurated a drive for a $15,000 expansion fund. This fund will be used to finance new organizational activities and a vigorous publishing program. Part of this fund, by decision of the Workers Party, will be set aside to help us expand LABOR ACTION TO EIGHT PAGES.
Quotas for the fund drive have been allocated to all the branches of the Workers Party. (Turn to page 2 for a list of the quotas.) Workers Party branches will come through on their quotas. Of that we are sure. We ask, however, the help in this drive of every sympathizer, of every reader, of every friend.
Our readers know Labor Action as an uncompromising revolutionary socialist paper. Our readers know it as an indispensable weapon in educating and FIGHTING for socialism. Our readers know it, too, as a paper that does not content itself with abstract articles unrelated to the struggles and vital problems of the working class.
On the contrary, they know it as a paper that enters into every struggle, every picket line, as its own. They know it as a paper that probes to the heart of every political event and interprets it in the light of working policy and interest.
Through the war years we unremittingly challenged the war makers, as we challenge and expose them today. We fought the no-strike pledge, and championed a genuine program to raise the standard of living of the American working class. The dramatic slogan of the GM strikers, “Open the Books,” first appeared in Labor Action years ago. We have campaigned for an Independent Labor Party, for Workers Defense Guards against the menace of fascism, for a program of economic and political demands that mean REAL SECURITY for labor.
Socialism, for us, is a living, breathing necessity that has its reflection in every phase of our lives. That is why we must have the space to discuss in detail every event and issue of significance. We do not have the space now.
Problems that need comment are multiplying, yet we are compelled in each issue to omit much that is important. We are unable, in a four-page paper, to discuss the ramifications of international politics as they affect the working class. The developments in Spain today are of extreme interest, yet we have to delay publication of our analysis of these events because we do not have the space in a four-page paper. Nor have we, for example, had the space to present the facts on Stalinism and its international anti-working class policies and activities.
We are planning something different for the EIGHT PAGER. In addition to the regular four pages as we have them now, we will have a MAGAZINE SECTION. In the magazine section we will publish articles of a more analytical nature than we have found possible in the four pages. We will have special educational material and a variety of features.
On April 1 we are going to publish a sample copy of the EIGHT PAGER! Our readers will then see what we have in mind.
We are confident that the sample EIGHT PAGER will provoke a great response towards making it permanent. There is, however, no need to wait for the SAMPLE EIGHT PAGER. $15,000 will give us the permanent EIGHT PAGER, as well as give the Workers Party an operating fund with which to expand its work. Make your contribution today. Fill in the attached blank. GET BEHIND THE DRIVE FOR AN EIGHT-PAGE LABOR ACTION BY JUNE 17!
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Last updated on 11 August 2018