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Message from Socialist Worker May 21, 2004 | Page 6 YOU ARE reading the 500th issue of Socialist Worker. That's an important milestone for us. SW first appeared in April 1977 as the newspaper of the newly formed International Socialist Organization. We've come out regularly ever since--first as a monthly, then as a biweekly beginning in November 1994, and as a weekly paper since October 2001. It's taken the hard work and dedication of a lot of people to get to this point--writers and editors, correspondents around the country sending in reports, our production staff, and all the ISO members who devote time to selling Socialist Worker and spreading its ideas. In the process, we've been privileged to be a part of all kinds of struggles for a better world--in the U.S. and around the globe, big struggles and small ones. Socialist Worker celebrated the fight to end apartheid in South Africa, the Solidarnosc revolt of 10 million workers against Poland's dictatorship, the worldwide movement against both U.S.-led Gulf Wars on Iraq. But SW has also stood up in solidarity with countless other struggles that aren't as well remembered--strikes for justice and respect in the workplace, demonstrations against police brutality and racism, pickets to defend a woman's right to choose abortion. In the coming weeks, we'll publish a number of features to mark our 500th issue--beginning with this week's interview with Howard Zinn on the socialist press in the U.S., and culminating with a special supplement to appear in early June with excerpts from some of the most memorable articles from our 500-issue past. One of our biggest hopes for this celebration is to reflect these struggles that SW is proud to have been a part of. We hope our readers will contact us in the coming weeks--with good-luck wishes, messages of solidarity and their thoughts about the importance of publications like SW, which we will collect and publish in the supplement. We're also asking for donations to a special Socialist Worker fund drive. Money has been a constant concern throughout our first 500 issues, and we'd like to take this opportunity to put our newspaper on a firmer footing heading into the next 500. You can write to us at: Socialist Worker, P.O. Box 16085, Chicago, IL 60616. Or e-mail us at [email protected]. Send donations by check or money order to our P.O. box--or donate on our Web site at www.socialistworker.org/Donate.shtml. We hope you enjoy this celebration of our 500-issue-long past--and we look forward to your continued support as we get started on the next 500.
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