Message to the Jan. 20, 2018, memorial meeting in Moscow.
Dear comrades,
The members of Workers World Party of the United States extend our sincere condolences and solidarity to the family and friends, members of the Labor Russia movement, and all revolutionary communists of Russia, on the passing of Comrade Viktor Ivanovich Anpilov.
Our Party had the honor of meeting and working with Viktor Ivanovich during the heady days of the 1990s, when he was at the forefront of the struggle in the streets against capitalist counter-revolution in the Soviet Union. He inspired us, and communists worldwide, with his fierce determination to raise the red flag high at a time of great setbacks for the working class. We campaigned for his release from prison after the events of bloody October 1993 and joined his crusade to break the imperialist media censorship of the massacre perpetrated by the Yeltsin regime and its collaborators-masters in the United States.
Viktor’s early life reflected the great opportunities that existed for children of the working class under Soviet socialism, as he rose from humble roots in the countryside after the Great Victory over fascism, to become a respected revolutionary journalist. A profound internationalist, he was greatly influenced by his exposure to socialist Cuba and the revolutionary movements of Latin America, and brought these lessons home in his fight to preserve and restore Soviet power.
His later years reflected the difficulties of being a revolutionary who lives though a great defeat. But he never surrendered his vision of humanity’s communist future, nor his determination to fight oppression and injustice at every opportunity.
Today, on the cusp of new challenges and opportunities for communists in Russia and around the world, we reflect on Viktor Ivanovich’s courage, his selfless sacrifices, and most of all, his role as a tribune of the people – a leader who came from the masses, who always listened to them and learned from them, while also teaching a Marxist-Leninist understanding of the class struggle.
Comrade Viktor Anpilov’s work, unfinished, remains to us. The seeds he planted will grow and flower in new revolutionary generations that lift up the red banner, as he did, and carry it forward to new victories.
His name and example will live forever.
Вместе – победим! Together we will win!
¡Viktor Anpilov, presente!
International Department
Workers World Party / партии «Рабочие мир» (США)
January 18, 2018
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