◼︎WORKING-CLASS POLITICS
An exciting new resource for working people is now available with the launch this week of a new website for Pathfinder Press.
The title to this post is a quote from Cuban Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and is Pathfinder’s motto. The publishing house distributes over 800 titles covering the history and lessons of working-class and revolutionary movements. Pathfinder is unique from other publishers in its emphasis on printing the writings and speeches of working-class leaders and participants in their own words.
[Books] for workers searching for an alternative to capitalism.
Mary-Alice Waters, President of Pathfinder Press
Pathfinder’s catalog is impressive not only in its depth and scope, but its accessibility to workers worldwide. Titles are published in 11 languages — English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Greek, Indonesian, Swedish, Icelandic and Russian — with new translations added every year. Pathfinder reaches out internationally at panel discussions, book fairs, academic conferences and special events in places like Canada, Venezuela, Panama, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Africa, Ecuador, Russia, Egypt, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Namibia, Equatorial Guinea, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Iran, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Haiti and Cuba.
In addition to selling on its website, Pathfinder titles are in brick & mortar bookstores and libraries around the world. Volunteers also sell Pathfinder at literature tables at conferences, marches and demonstrations. Pathfinder makes this outreach because these books contain the history and vital lessons of the working class, its defeats and its victories.
As explained by Mary-Alice Waters, President of Pathfinder, “[These books] are part of the weaponry we need to arm ourselves for the class battles ahead. Those battles will not be of our choosing or, to begin with, of our making. They will be imposed on us by the capitalist rulers who are driven by the lawful workings of their own system with its inevitable breakdowns… We will be obliged to face them with honesty, speaking the difficult truth to the toilers and drawing the necessary lessons for ourselves and others…”
“The truth must not only be the truth, it must also be told.” Truth matters, perhaps more now than ever.
I encourage you to visit and explore the new Pathfinder Press website. I think everyone will find something of interest.
The Pathfinder Mural
Some readers here may recall Pathfinder from back in the 1980s when an historic mural was painted on the side of Pathfinder’s building by the Hudson in New York City. It was a collective work of artists from around the world and, as you might image, drew considerable attention including coverage in the New York Times. Conservative Commentator Pat Buchanan was none too pleased!
The mural depicted revolutionary working-class leaders including Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Sojourner Truth, Stephen Biko, Harriet Tubman, Mother Jones, Eugene V. Debs and countless others. It was eventually destroyed when the wall it was painted on needed major repair.
Articles and photographs about the mural include:
- The Pathfinder Mural: Public Political Art in the Far West Village
- Robert Coane: The Pathfinder Mural
- ‘Pathfinder Mural Stood As A Beacon of Hope’
- Cliff Joseph, fighter for Black artists and champion of Pathfinder Mural
This 40-minute video tells the story of mural.
You can buy a beautiful 16″ by 20″ poster of the mural from Pathfinder, suitable for framing. I have a copy hanging right here in my office.
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