Farewell, Bassem Chit … farewell, comrade

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

It is with hearts full of pain and sorrow that we mourn our Lebanese Revolutionary Socialist comrade, Bassem Chit, who has died from a sudden heart attack in his 35th year.

The revolutionary socialist current, and the revolutionary Left as a whole, has lost a tough fighter and a true leader.

It is no exaggeration to say that Bassem Chit gave his life the cause of revolution and solidarity with the victims of oppression. He gave his life to the struggle against sectarianism in Lebanon and the Arab world, and to solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for liberation, to the cause of the Syrian people and their revolution, and to expose the plight of refugees in Lebanon. He was a genuine internationalist fighter, who saw socialism as an achievable dream and a real hope, not only in Lebanon but the whole world: for humanity free from sectarianism, racism and false divisions.

Bassem was a towering figure on the Arab revolutionary Left. He had the unique ability to co-ordinate the issuing of a statement on behalf of revolutionary organisations in different countries and complete all the necessary discussions and corrections in half a day.

He was responsible for the Permanent Revolution journal, a theoretical publication which deepened the understanding of revolutionary Marxism and the understanding of a complex and changing reality. We must ensure that this successful project continues.

We have lost a tremendous fighting spirit. We have lost a keen revolutionary intelligence.
We have lost the theoretical and political contributions we were expecting from him in the long term.
We have lost a comrade who was gentle and accommodating, but stood firm for the truth and for revolution.
We have lost a comrade and a friend, and a wonderful human being.

Yet we will preserve his memory and hold true to the cause: we will keep to the revolutionary road.

The Revolutionary Socialists