In deepest pain we announce that our comrade Andreas Vogiatzoglou, General Secretary of the Central Committee of CPG(m-l) passed away today. Our comrade Andreas fought for a year and a half with cancer, which stroke him for the second time after the decade of 2000 and was beaten despite his brave struggle.
Born in 1955 in Alexandria, Egypt, he moved to Athens at the age of 8 and already very young he encountered and was inspired by the revolutionary communist ideas in a period of great and critical battles for the communist movement. With these ideas he participated in the uprising of November 1973 against the fascist dictatorship in Athens and one year later, when he started his studies in the Department of Chemical Engineering in Thessaloniki, he had already joined the Marxist-Leninist movement and undertook a leading position in PPSP, the students’ organization of OMLE, the predecessor of CPG(m-l). At the 1st Congress of PPSP, in 1977, he was elected in the Central Board and, in parallel, he joined CPG(m-l). During the first years after the fall of the dictatorship, with his stance and activity in the vanguard of the movement in all fronts and matters, he evolved as a top-level party leader in Thessaloniki. He participated in the 2nd Congress of CPG(m-l) in March 1981 and fought against the prevailing line of dissolution. After his military service, he immediately joined the cause of reconstruction of CPG(m-l) and in the 2nd Conference of the Party he was elected in the Central Committee.
In his entire course, from then until today, his offer as a leader has been decisive for the Party, for its decisions and analysis which marked their footprint and contributed to the legacy of the movement and of the peoples’ cause. From the position of General Secretary of the Central Committee, in which he was elected for the first time in the 7th Conference in 2010, he took the lead in the formation of the Party’s political directions and in the battles within the movement to reach the answers needed in the struggle and perspective of the working class and the peoples. His militancy and vanguard leading spirit persisted until a few months before his death, with his active participation int all Party procedures.
Our comrade Andreas has been untamed, militant, in the vanguard in his entire life. He never compromised with the limits in the development of the Party, of mass struggle, of the movement. He was always seeking the terms to displace these limits, to expand the militant and revolutionary potential of the masses. Honest and passionate, persistent and decisive, popular and tireless, enemy of routine and source of liveliness and strength, he was a force of boost, a source of inspiration and duties for all. For the members and leaders of our Party. For the members and leaders of the non-parliamentary Organizations and Parties of the left, against who he acted as a comrade but also demanded their cooperation to produce specific results for the movement and the struggle of the masses. This is how he earned appreciation and respect within militants. With his vivid participation in the struggles in his neighborhood and in broader Attica he earned the love and appreciation of the people. With the same energy and passion, he lead, cared for and supported our relations with the comrades of TKP/ML and with militant-revolutionary forces in the world, always keeping in the foreground of his thoughts internationalist solidarity, friendship and common struggles of the peoples.
Our comrade Andreas, his offer, his inexhaustible power and potential cannot fit into an announcement for his death. Although we were perfectly aware of the severe condition of his health in the last months, it is unbelievable for us that he is gone! In the conditions that all peoples of the world, including our own, are facing today, the loss of our comrade becomes even more painful, because the fight against these conditions demands people made of the material that Andreas Vogiatzoglou was made of, the material of persistent, tireless revolutionary communist of the vanguard!
We, therefore, have good reason to honor Andreas Vogiatzoglou and his offer in the peoples’ cause, in the cause of the struggle for the formation of the revolutionary communist movement that our times demand. We have good reason to continue our struggle even more decisively, inspired by his legacy.
To the companion of his life and our comrade Rena and his daughter Dimitra, who fought and stood by his side every single moment throughout the last difficult months, we extend our deepest condolences and express our warmest support.
Τhe date, time and place of the political funeral of our comrade Andreas Vogiatzoglou will soon be announced.
Athens 18/10/2022
The Central Committee of CPG(m-l)
