In memory of comrade Renato Rabelo

We received with deep sorrow the news of the passing of Comrade Renato Rabelo: he was not only a historic president of the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), but also a political and ideological reference point for us, since the line that the PCdoB was able to put forward served as a source of inspiration for comrades in other countries as well, such is the international prestige of PCdoB.

Comrade Renato Rabelo lived a consistent life from the time he served as vice president of the National Union of Students and confronted the military dictatorship. He was also the architect of the guidelines that enabled the participation of communists in coalition governments within a capitalist context: his dialectical approach made it possible to maintain Marxist-Leninist identity and class independence while concretely seeking to shift political balances within a defined national and institutional framework. Renato demonstrated that communists are a party that does not confine itself to propaganda, but can influence reality - including at the institutional level - according to the given balance of forces, and his work was appreciated in the governments of Lula and Dilma.

We fully understand the feeling of sorrow among the Brazilian communist rank and file in the face of this grave loss and express our most heartfelt condolences to his family and to his comrades in struggle. A struggle that Renato always carried forward by uniting the green and yellow flag of the homeland with the red flag of scientific socialism. The Swiss communists, deeply moved, lower their flags in mourning and remember his noble example of dedication to our common cause.