Epifanio Camacho, A Life of Communist Struggle here ♦ Gustavo Bracho, A Communist Fighter here ♦
Epifanio Camacho, A Life of Communist Struggle
Working class hero Epifanio Camacho died on July 4, 2022, at the age of 98 years old. He lived a long life of struggle:
*Against oppressive bosses that sometimes neglected to pay California (USA) farmworkers what was owed to them.
*Against racist cops in McFarland, California who would kill immigrant farmworkers and get no consequence for it.
*Against pesticide-poisoned water in McFarland that caused a cancer cluster in the 1980s
Comrade Camacho read and contributed to Red Flag, the newspaper of the International Communist Workers’ Party, as he struggled until the very end to win people to end capitalism and create a communist world.
*A world where people will no longer work for money or exchange but for their love and commitment to contribute to something greater.
*A world where abundance is created, as is created today, but rather than allowing a few to hoard it or have it go to waste, we share it all so no one goes without.
*A world where working-class children are no longer sent to fight in imperialist wars but rather we will live in peace and unity, eliminating borders and all that divides us.
I met Camacho in McFarland, California, where he helped my parents find affordable housing. This is where I grew up. Camacho also lived in McFarland. I remember playing in a treehouse he had built for his kids as my parents attended meetings at his house. As I grew older, I stopped playing during meetings and started listening in.
Camacho knew how to talk about communist ideas in a way that all could understand. If something wasn’t clear he had a personal story to serve as an example.
The US ruling class and sold-out union organizers have selectively brushed Camacho out of history. But he will never be forgotten by those he served. The US ruling class selects “heroes” for us to idealize and re-writes history to fit their agenda.
Camacho proudly did not make their list as he was a working-class hero, not a ruling-class puppet, until the very end.
—Comrade in California (USA)
Comrade Gustavo Bracho, A Communist Fighter
Gustavo Bracho was one of 100 workers and students of various ethnicities who spent two months in the summer of 1975 building a communist fight against racism in Boston (USA). He passed away in June 2022 and is remembered with sadness and gratitude.
Our mission was to oppose the racist movement spearheaded by the head of the Boston City Council. Louise Day Hicks had organized several hundred fascist Bostonians to throw stones at African American students who had been forced out of their schools to attend the all- “white” Boston High, one of the worst schools in Boston.
We had a petition calling for Hicks to be indicted for racism and demanding improvements in all Boston public schools. We divided into groups of about six, each assigned to an area to work in.
That summer we distributed many of our newspapers and leaflets and collected 10,000 signatures on our petitions.
I was on the Cambridge Committee, so I didn’t see the day-to-day action in South Boston and Hyde Park. However, the various committees met together from to time, and that’s how we all found out about the daily physical attacks on our members in Hyde Park and South Boston.
The attackers used baseball bats and other weapons. Our comrades defended themselves. There were many fights. Our members won most because they believed so strongly about the need to fight racism.
Gustavo Bracho was one of the leaders in these fights. Every day, the people on these committees bravely went out to reach the residents of Hyde Park and South Boston. Gustavo inspired all of us with his courage and dedication.
After returning to Los Angeles, he spent the rest of his life organizing workers to dedicate themselves to the cause of destroying capitalism and replacing it with true communism. Gustavo’s wife and comrade Martha Bracho (1957-2019) was beloved by all who knew her. She was a dynamic communist organizer in the garment industry. Both Brachos were important members of the ICWP music group. They spiritedly led us in song at every party event for decades.
Their lives will continue to inspire everyone who knew them. Their contributions to the communist movement will never be forgotten.
—A grateful comrade