Dear Comrades,

The Political Committee of KOE, meeting today Sunday December 18, 2022, in order to prepare our 4th Congress, was informed about the sudden passing away of Comrade Jose Maria Sison, founding chairman of the CPP and internationally respected figure of the historical communist movement. These were heavy and sad news, which caused great emotion among us. Even more as many of us have had the chance to meet him several times from the early 1990s until relatively recently, always appreciating his penetrating thoughts and his deep convictions. That’s why we feel his passing away as a great loss not only for the peoples of the Philippines but for us all, for all the progressive and revolutionary forces worldwide.

Jose Maria Sison was not only one of the last living historical leaders of the mass movements of the decade of the unfinished revolutionary storms, from the mid 1960s to the 1970s, when he led the reconstruction of the communist and national-democratic movements in his country, and put himself at the forefront of the struggle against the US-led Marcos dictatorship. More than that, Jose Maria Sison was one of the few leaders who did not compromise in the very difficult decades that followed, the decades marked by the retreat or even the dissolution of revolutionary movements. This fact, together with the important works that he wrote from the time of his imprisonment in the Philippines until recently, are contributions at least equal to what he achieved during the decade of the unfinished storms. Equally important was his role in the attempts to rally and coordinate revolutionary and democratic forces from all continents. For these and other reasons, History will record José Maria Sison as a great and selfless revolutionary leader and theorist, who leaves behind a legacy precious for the peoples and communists of the world.

In the name of KOE, we extend our condolences and heartfelt, deepest sympathy to his dear comrade and companion Julie, to his closest and life-time comrades Luis, Coni and so many others, to the CPP, the NDF and the whole national-democratic movement of the Philippines, to the entire Filipino people. Soon the time will come that we shall honor the memory and the legacy of Ka Joma in Greece as well. Ka Joma Lives!

For the Political Committee
Rudi Rinaldi

For the International Relations
Errikos Finalis