Iraê was able to live science, culture and politics, in their three dimensions, in a dialectical way. For there is no separation between these three; and without them, or in the absence of one, political life is reduced it its ability to influence the class struggle. 

We will of course all cease to exist in physical form one day, but we hope it will be at a biologically predictable time. No one expected Iraê to physically leave us now. We are truly shaken. We will miss him greatly in our personal, intellectual and political lives.

The following thought of J. Posadas says a lot: “Life without the struggle for socialism has no meaning”. Each one of us, Posadist militant, lives with this concept. It does not mean that all the Posadists behave the same in their daily lives, or in politics. The important is their conception of life in the way they think and act, in the human relations, in the contact with others, politicized or not, and above all, in respectful coexistence with the family, the children, the young people, the elderly, beyond the different conceptions in the struggle.

Like his comrades, Iraê grasped the importance of the Posadist Fourth International. It was one year after his arrival in Italy, with Helena his companion at the time, that J. Posadas died. They understood the importance of the historic works that were being left behind by this Marxist-Trotskyist and theoretical leader. With a team, they dedicated themselves to preserving his political-cultural heritage with a view to conserve archives which are now world heritage.

Iraê campaigned for socialism in Italy and in Brazil. Since the high school movement at the Elefante Branco school and at UNB (University) in ​​Brasilia – and Honestino Guimarães in the 1968s, he campaigned against the military dictatorship and for the democratisation of Brazil. He was an internationalist always. He benefited from a political amnesty (at the University) a-posteriori. Read the Correio Brasiliense article (2010): 

https://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/app/noticia/cidades/2010/06/25/interna_cidadesdf,199398/depois-de-ser-impedido-de-frequentar-aulas-na-unb-irae-conquistou-direito-a-uma-vaga.shtml

In Rome, Italy, he was a leader in the early years of the emergence of the Partido de “Rifondazione Comunista” (Communist Refoundation), after the fall of the USSR.  More recently, he served on the Editorial Board of the Portuguese-language website PosadistasHoje, putting his vast intellectual capacity to work on the articles and editorials published there. His contribution to the analyses of the main themes on geopolitics, or on Brazil, has contributed to our ability to see with greater objectivity the complex issues and themes of today’s world.

One of Iraê’s most recent life projects was to “retire” from his job as qualified translator to take on some tasks as translator-interpreter in conferences, as he had done in the past with President Lula. One of his current hopes was to continue, among other things, the classification of the archives of J. Posadas – an indispensable task to instil Marxist thought in the present and the future generations, for the construction of socialism.

He will be greatly missed by his family, his wife, his children, his grandchildren, and his friends, trade unionists, members of the PT (Worker Party headed by Lula), communists, nationalists, Trotskyists, Posadists.  One thing is certain: he will remain in our memory, like all the other comrades who fell in the fight in the class struggle, against the dictatorship, for the land, for the rights of the workers, for the ideas and socialism.

All our embrace, our affection, our gratitude for the struggle and the life that comrade Iraê led. “Life without the struggle for socialism has no meaning”.

With our eternal thanks. Iraê present!

PosadistasHoje Editorial Board – Brazil, 4.4.2024.

Feature picture: Irae Sassi with Lula, 2017.