WW salutes revolutionary youth Andrew Brazhevsky

Workers World joins with communist and anti-fascist fighters around the world in marking the August 30 Day of Remembrance for Andrew Brazhevsky.

Brazhevsky, a revolutionary youth and member of the Marxist organization Union Borotba (Struggle) in Ukraine, would have turned 27 on Aug. 30. But his life was cut short when he and 47 others were killed by neo-Nazi supporters of the Ukrainian coup regime at Odessa’s House of Trade Unions last May 2.

His comrades and friends remember him as a staunch and honorable activist. He worked as a computer programmer and studied Marxism diligently in his spare time. He participated in many anti-fascist and workers’ protests in Odessa, and often traveled to other cities as well.

Andrew was a founding member of Borotba in Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port on the Black Sea. Like many port cities, Odessa is diverse and multinational, including Russian, Kurdish, Turkish, Roma and many other peoples. At his funeral, Andrew’s mother recalled how much he loved this aspect of his hometown, and was devoted to defending it from the drive of the Ukrainian fascists and ultranationalists for racial “purity.”

Borotba states: “Andrew’s death was a confirmation of his ideology. He could not stay away, could not remain silent when the Nazis came to Odessa. He gave his life in the struggle for a new and more just society, where there will be an end to inequality, discrimination and human exploitation.”

Workers World salutes the memory of Comrade Brazhevsky and all those who have fallen in the anti-fascist struggle from Odessa to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. We express our solidarity and support for Borotba as it continues the fight against the Kiev junta and its U.S./EU imperialist backers.

Andrew Brazhevsky, presente!