Veteran Communist Revolutionary leader Com. K. Ramachandran passed away in Mumbai on August 31, 2008. CPI(ML)-New Democracy pays homage to the revolutionary memory of this veteran communist revolutionary leader, remembers his contributions to the communist revolutionary movement and vows to carry forward the struggle for New Democratic Revolution for which he had worked through all his active life. We are here reproducing the statement issued by Com. Pravin Nadkar on behalf of the Maharashtra State Committee of CPI(ML)-New Democracy.

Maharashtra State committee of CPI (M-L)-New Democracy, honours the memory of veteran revolutionary communist leader Com. K. Ramachandran. He died of lung cancer in Mumbai on 31st August 2008. He was active as all India party secretary of CPI (M-L) Janashakti. The passing away of Com. Ramchandran has been a great loss to the revolutionary communist movement in India.

Comrade has been a product of a militant left trade union movement in Mumbai. He has played a significant role in organizing the workers in the textile and engineering industrial belt in Saki Naka, Andheri. He was actively involved in the historic railway strike in the year 1974. The Hotel Labour Union ( Red Fag) in Mumbai was formed under his leadership and it scored many victories for the unorganized  restaurant and canteen workers. The work in the Airport area in Mumbai has been his most outstanding contribution to the trade union struggle under the banner of IFTU in Maharashtra. The main feature of the work in the region was that it has been a united movement of the workers from organized and unorganized sections. Thousands of contract workers could win their right to permanency as a result of this united struggle in the area. Comrade took initiative in organizing CPWD workers in Mumbai and remained a Zonal President of the Employees Union for many years. He has been the most experienced working class leader in the trade union movement associated with the ML movement in the State.

The Naxalbari struggle inspired Com. Ramchandran to break away from the movements associated with the established left in the state. He was among those very few individuals from the communist ranks who chose to demarcate from the revisionism in the communist movement in Maharashtra and came out in open support of the revolutionary character of the Naxalbari movement in India. He did not join the CPI(ML) under the leadership of  Com. Charu Muzumdar immediately after parting ways from the revisionist organnizations. He was at that time influenced more by the stand taken by com. T .N. Reddy  of  Andhra Pradesh state committee which had not merged with the newly floated outfit of the communist revolutionary organization under the banner of CPI(M-L). Later on, as the AP state committee under the leadership of Com. C.P. Reddy merged with the CC, CPI (M-L) led by Com. S.N. Singh, he joined this united organization during the period of emergency in the country.

Com. Ramchandran had refused to get bogged down by any family responsibilities. He set a good example to the party cadres by adopting a working class lifestyle of a revolutionary communist. He was leader of CPI(ML) Resistance and became General Secretary of CPI(M-L)-Janashakti after several CR groups merged to form that organization.

He was seriously ill for the last few years of his life but never shunned his responsibilities in the movement. He will continue to inspire the revolutionary ranks in the country to make greater sacrifices for the cause of revolutionary trade union movement and New Democracy in India.