Workers World on the WWW
Revolutionary Web site attracts 100,000 readers a
month
By Leslie Feinberg
Gary Wilson may not hand you a print edition of this
newspaper at a weekly plant-gate distribution. He may not have
left the copy you are holding at a drop-off spot on your campus
or nearby coffee shop.
But Wilson is instrumental in getting issues of Workers
World out to tens of thousands of readers each week in
"roadside" distributions on the information highway. Gary
Wilson is our Web weaver for www.workers.org.
Everyone on the staff of this newspaper is justifiably proud
of our Web site. Workers World newspaper is regularly read
online by about 100,000 people a month. And thousands more get
articles sent to them every week via email.
The number of online readers from the United States and
around the globe soars, Wilson explains, "during times of
political crisis. That's when we get the most visitors to the
site.
"In the month right after Sept. 11, when Workers World was
almost the only source for a strong and consistent
anti-imperialist viewpoint, we got a million hits.
"Part of the reason for the worldwide popularity is the
strength of our international coverage, as well as our
unwavering support for the struggles of oppressed
nationalities, women, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
people."
Workers.org has blazed new trails in cyberspace.
Wilson recalls, "Workers World newspaper has been available
on the Internet, as far as I know, longer than any other
Marxist publication in the world. It's been available on the
Internet and through email since the 1980s. And since the
advent of the World Wide Web in roughly 1993, it has been
available there, too."
The Internet allowed an exchange of single files, like
articles, but no graphics. But the birth of the World Wide Web,
mid-wifed by Internet browsers, added photos and other forms of
graphic art into the mix.
Log onto workers.org. Today the site is vivid and colorful.
The content is powerful and effortless to access, thanks to
many, many hours of work bent over a keyboard in the glow of a
monitor.
"The site is quite searchable," Wilson emphasizes, "which
not all sites are. Workers.org is highly ranked by both Google
and Yahoo. It is a popular site for left-wing news and
views."
And the search engine for articles from back issues of
Workers World is so easy to use, simply by typing in the word
or phrase or name you're looking for more information about,
that for many activists it has become the "communist
Google."
"The archives of WW back issues on the Web site go back to
1996," Wilson notes, "but it's a complete record of all
articles since 1998."
And those seeking writings by Workers World founder Sam
Marcy will find most of his books and all of his articles dated
from 1996-on at this cyber-site.
Print your own issue at home!
Workers World newspaper scored another first recently,
Wilson points out. "Our newspaper was the first publication on
the left that I know of to make the entire edition available on
the Internet in a PDF format." That means you can access and
download the entire issue of the newspaper that looks just like
the edition from the printer's presses: articles, photos,
captions, ads for upcoming protests and new struggle
publications.
"And that is currently the most popular feature on our Web
site," Wilson continues. "People from all over the
world--anywhere in the world--can get this week's issue of the
newspaper that way. Prior to this, the only way to see the full
printed edition with all the pictures and everything was to get
it mailed."
He notes that WW is "very popular in Turkey, Pakistan, South
Africa, China, Mexico, Spain and Japan. In those and other
countries, it would take an extremely long time--weeks,
sometimes months, for the print edition to get there. Not only
was the news outdated then, but you wouldn't get every issue
because some would get blocked or mysteriously
disappeared."
Today, "The PDF version is the way Workers World is read by
many around the world and printed out and distributed. For
example, there's a Marxist study group in South Africa that
prints out PDF copies of WW every week for discussion."
Some other unique aspects of this Web site include another
newly added feature: "We can accept subscription requests for
the printed edition and donations by credit card."
Now you can drop in and, with a click or two of your mouse,
buy a subscription as a gift for a friend or co-worker. You can
give a prisoner a gift subscription that will probably be read
by many; Workers World newspaper is passed from hand to hand on
cell tiers until it's tattered.
Most importantly, you can strike a blow for liberation by
donating your labor, in the form of donations, via this secure
Web site.
It's easy to help build cyber-circulation, too. Create an
automatic "signature line" on your email: "Read Workers World
newspaper! Visit www.workers.org."
That way you can join Wilson, and other members and
supporters of WW newspaper, as organizers who are taking the
anti-capitalist movement to cyberspace.
Reprinted from the Aug. 22, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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