The Underground Press

From the “Action Line” column, Detroit Free Press, Wednesday, November 23, 1966:

I saw a bumper sticker on a car that read: “Stamp Out Reality.” Any idea where I could get one?

—M.R., Ferndale.

Fifth Estate Book Store on Plum Street is sending you one. They’ve got the most off-beat selection, about 100 messages to choose from. Caution: Some folks might find a few of ‘em offensive. Proceeds go to a left-wing publication. Most popular stickers are anti-Johnson and anti-Vietnam: “God is Alive—He’s in the White House,” “Draft Beer, Not Students.” Other big sellers: “Support Your Local Batman,” “If You Drive, Don’t Drink (You Might Hit a Bump and Spill Some).” For the uncommitted, there’s one that says, “Bumper Sticker ”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The piece reprinted above from the Detroit Free Press is just one of many instances of publicity the FIFTH ESTATE and the Underground Press Syndicate have been receiving in recent weeks.

The same day the Action Line story appeared WXYZ-TV came out and did a piece on our bookstore for the 5:00 news and then did a little on the paper on their 11:00 p.m. segment.

Harvey Ovgbinsky, Editor of the FIFTH ESTATE, has been getting around too. He appeared on the David Suskind Show last week, in New York, as part of an interview with editors from UPS papers and Cavilier magazine for December has a story on UPS with about six paragraphs on the FIFTH ESTATE.

Our paper and the other member papers of UPS, to say nothing of the plethora of independent small papers springing up around the country, are part of a revolution in journalism. Their presence and popularity are a succinct statement that more and more people are rejecting the daily advertising media and the values that they represent. People will begin to turn more and more to the little presses to validate their beliefs and their sanity.

Listed below are the other members of UPS and information about each. More papers are joining each month. Look for a new literary anarchist revolutionary publication called GUERILLA to appear around the first of the year, edited in Detroit.

From UPS

THE UNDERGROUND PRESS SYNDICATE exists to facilitate the transmission of news, features and advertising between anti-Establishment, avant-garde, new-Left, youth oriented periodicals which share common aims and interests. Its members are free to pick up each other’s features without remuneration. (The UPS service can be subscribed to by outside organizations at fees commensurate with exposure and/or circulation.) Total circulation of UPS papers at present is 98,000, a figure reached by adding together the most recent issue sale for all the following papers (some of which appear monthly or fortnightly):

THE EAST VILLAGE OTHER, 147 Avenue A, New York 10009. Appears 1^st and 15^th of each month, 20,000 circulation; $3 annually.

THE LOS ANGELES FREE PRESS, 5903 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, Calif., 90038. Appears weekly, 20,000; $5 annually. INTERNATIONAL TIMES (IT), 102 Southampton Row, London W. C. 2. England. Fortnightly, 15,000; $4 annually.

THE BERKELEY BARB, 2421 Oregon Street, Berkeley, Calif., 94705. Weekly, 9,000; $5 annually.

THE FIFTH ESTATE, 923 Plum Street, Detroit, Mich. 48201. Fortnightly, 5,000; $2.50 annually.

THE PAPER, 130 Linden Street, East Lansing, Mich. 48823. Weekly, except summer; 3,000.

SANITY, 3837 St. Lawrence Blvd., Montreal 18, P. Q. Canada. Monthly, 5,000; $2.50 annually.

PEACE NEWS, 5 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, London N. 1. England. Weekly, 6,400; $6.50 annually.

THE ILLUSTRATED PAPER, Box 541, Mendocino, Calif. Monthly, 2,000; $3 annually.

SAN FRANCISCO ORACLE, 1535 Haight Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94117. Fortnightly, 2,000; $3 annually.

UNDERGROUND, 6100 N. 26^th St., Arlington, Va. 22207. Fortnightly, 2,000; $4.25 annually.