At our last tabling, we formed teams and went around two parks, asking people “what do you think of the world today?”. This was such a broad question that it managed to get a reaction in just about everyone we spoke to, and both teams quickly sold out of papers.
We met high schoolers travelling from the States eager to get involved with our U.S. section. We met a Cambodian man, orphaned by the genocide, who was initially bothered by our hammer and sickle but, after hearing what we had to say about worker’s democracy and how we have nothing in common with Pol Pot, enthusiastically bought a paper and wished us luck. One Haitian meat-packing worker spent 15 minutes talking to us about Western intervention in Haiti and our analysis of Bwa Kale, before donating $50! One Senegalese worker, who only spoke French but bought our last remaining (English) paper, said he’d be going to the library to ask for help translating it.
My personal favourite story was of a pensioner sitting on a bench who initially seemed disinterested—we left him alone and talked to a person on another bench. He overheard our conversation and actually moved benches to be closer to us to hear more! He bought a paper shortly after.
It really showed me how open more and more people are becoming to communist ideas—most of these people were not idealistic youngsters, but older workers fed up with the system. It was amazing to practice connecting with workers on all sorts of issues that were important to them, and set their sights higher by showing how capitalism underlies it. My branch just ordered three times our regular newspaper order, and, if all goes well, maybe we’ll sell out in one tabling again!
