For the Dead-Our Dead-We Swear to Win
Comrade Zipho here ♦ Messages from Comrades Around the World here ♦ To the Parents of our Beloved Comrade here ♦
Port Elizabeth, South Africa, November 23—Comrade Zipho worked in an auto factory. Before that, he worked in cold-storage facilities where he had to work in freezing temperatures handling meat and vegetables. This is when he got to know ICWP. Instantly he was attracted to communism. He would, for hours, describe how he hated the bosses. Communism gave him the vision to change the system.
Capitalist violence took Comrade Zipho’s life when he was only 25 years old. He left behind hundreds of friends and family members. The outpouring of social-media messages testifies that thousands of well-wishers fondly remember the comrade who will always remain with us. He was a communist. He remained a determined communist to the end.
Hundreds attended comrade Zipho’s memorial in George Botha Hall. We remembered him as a free-spirited smiling guy and as a Communist who dedicated his life towards the emancipation of our working-class family all over the world.
We were able to carry out the memorial service with great help from international comrades. Red flags flew in the hall. Those who came clapped enthusiastically after we read a short poem and tributes and greetings from around the world.
It was the same hall where ICWP held a May Day event a few years back. Comrade Zipho was well-known for being late to meetings. That May Day was no different. But once he joined the meetings, his smile, enthusiasm and encouraging voice naturally drew people’s attention. Nobody could stop him from distributing the last copies of the Red Flag.
As a young man in high school, he had met a mentor who introduced him to militant Black Nationalism. He was part of a nucleus of friends who talked about changing the system. A few years later, one of the close friends from this nucleus joined ICWP. Comrade Zipho joined as well. The two comrades recruited the entire group, and many of them are leaders of the party now.
The party introduced comrade Zipho to communist philosophy, dialectical materialism. He grasped it because, as he would later explain, it’s the only philosophy to change the world. Comrade Zipho wanted to change the world.
After years of working in the auto factory, comrade Zipho wanted to work in Marikana, near Rustenburg, in the mining industry. He visited Rustenburg with a group of ICWP members. His native language was Xhosa but he had learned some Sotho and Zulu. Comrades distributed hundreds of Red Flags, and comrade Zipho always wanted to try his new language skills with enthusiasm. Friends in Rustenburg sent heartfelt messages of support and solidarity for his memorial services.
Comrade Zipho met with other comrades of ICWP from the US, Mexico, El Salvador, and Spain in Port Elizabeth a few years ago. He greeted them warmly. After they left, he would remember each one of them and ask how they were doing.
Our young lion has fallen, his life cut short by brutal capitalism. His untimely death leaves us with deep sadness and anguish. He gave us a vision of communism, a society without money and exploitation. His vast network of friends will rise to fulfil this vision. Forward! Long live communism!
Messages From Comrades Around The World
These are but a few of the many messages of condolence and solidarity from friends and comrades around the world
From Pakistan: This is a great loss for the international working class …Comrades from Pakistan share their solidarity. Comrades from every part of the world are in pain because of the murder of our comrade.
From Spain: Comrade Zipho: Presente!
From Mexico: This is devastating.
From El Salvador: This news hurts us deeply. Solidarity to the comrades and family members…Those who die for life cannot be called dead. Comrade Zipho! Ever onward to victory! Hasta La Victoria Siempre!
From Canada: To paraphrase Joe Hill: “From Rustenburg up to Seattle, in every mine and mill, where workers fight and organize that’s where you’ll find comrade Zipho.”
From a comrade from Ethiopia in the US: We will march to victory with the torch of our fallen comrade.
From a comrade from Mexico in the US: Bella Ciao, comrade. “I’m a comrade for life and I will die a communist.”
From a comrade in the US: . Let us dedicate ourselves to a whole life of communist struggle. Long live communism! Power to the communist working masses.
To the Parents of Our Beloved Comrade Zipho
On behalf of Zipho’s comrades in the International Communist Workers’ Party around the world, we express our deepest condolences to you, his parents, and to all his family.
Words cannot express the grief of parents who have lost such a fine son in the prime of his youth.
Your sorrow is our sorrow.
Your loss is our loss.
And your pride is our pride.
Zipho was our comrade. He dedicated his life to the struggle for a world without exploitation, racism and xenophobia.
He, like us, fought for a world without money, where the crime of exploitation and all forms of theft will be but a painful and distant memory.
He, with us, spent his days working to build a world where we do not prey on each other, but join together as one human family to produce what we need and to share what we have.
Zipho will always be with us.
He lives on in our hearts and in our memories, and in our renewed commitment to a lifetime of struggle.
For him, and for all the fallen comrades, we rededicate ourselves more firmly to the fight for a communist world. To him, and to every fallen comrade, we swear to win!
A luta continua!