- It has been 38 years since the Pasaia massacre, when police forces shot four members of the Autonomous Anti-Capitalist Commandos. "It is an ethical and political duty of the Communists to remember the revolutionary militants who gave their lives in the struggle to end class oppression," said the Socialist Councils of Oarsoaldea, Urola Erdia and Iruñerria.
Four members of the Autonomous Anti-Capitalist Commandos, Dionisio Aizpuru Kurro, Pedro Mari Isart Pelitxo, José Mari Izura Pelu and Rafael Dalas Txapas, were killed in 1984 by the Spanish police in the ambush of Pasaia (Gipuzkoa). Police forces had prepared an ambush in Pasaia Bay, killing the two azpeitiarras and the two irundarras with 113 bullets.
On the occasion of the 38th anniversary of the massacre, the Socialist Councils of Oarsoaldea, Urola Erdia and Iruñerria have issued a joint declaration under the title In the Memory of the Workers’ Movement. Political events have also been organised in Azpeitia (Gipuzkoa) and Pamplona/Iruña (Navarra). On 19 March last Azpeitia took place in the Esclavas Socialist Centre, while in Pamplona the four militants killed in the Chantrea district were recalled yesterday.
In 1984, Rosa Jimeno, a member of the Autonomous Anti-Capitalist Commandos, was kidnapped and tortured by the National Police before the ambush, and Joseba Merino, a member of Kurro, Pelu, Pelitxo and Txapas, is the only survivor of the ambush. Jimeno and Merino attended the event organized by the Socialist Council of Urola Erdia in Azpeitia and planted a tree before the Esklabak Socialist Centre in memory of the four deaths.
In the memory of the labor movement
"The Pasaia massacre is the paradigmatic case of the brutality used by the capitalist state against revolutionary political militancy," said the Socialist Councils of Oarsoaldea, Urola Erdia and Iruñerria. They have recalled "all the revolutionaries who gave life in the struggle," and "in particular, their militant commitment and the legitimacy of the struggle."
"The teachings of the past and memory are essential for building the future, including the contribution of the Autonomous Movement to the revolutionary process. In order to achieve the emancipation of the proletariat, they stressed the need for political independence and put it into practice, that is, the self-organization of the working class," the three Socialist Councils have proclaimed.
On the other hand, they have stressed that "it is a political and ethical duty of the Communists to remember the revolutionary militants who fought to end class oppression, to keep alive their names and struggles in the collective memory of the working class". "Only revolution will do them real justice," they added.
