by the Editorial Board
“The love we have should extend out and be part of what fuels us to keep struggling in a revolutionary sense.” -Cola Boyy
Comrade Matthew Urango—better known as the musician Cola Boyy of Oxnard California—has passed away at the age of 34.
Comrade Urango was of the best sons of the international proletariat, a dedicated servant of the people, an active revolutionary, and a convicted and confessed Communist militant. He overcame major health conditions to physically and artistically challenge the system of oppression and exploitation.
While those in the music industry rightly love him and commemorate him for his talents, his remaining comrades locked in the fight for the new world and the masses he touched with his work and his words can testify to his great revolutionary example. This is due to the fact that his public life was based around his remarkable art, and that as a revolutionary, as a Communist, the artist known to the world as Cola Boyy was a modest and sincere comrade who never considered himself more than a common worker, a comrade who took his cultural work seriously.
Art and revolution are a unity in the legacy left behind by Cola Boyy. A true son of Oxnard, a poor and proletarian town in California made up of sprawling agricultural industry, factories, and hard working people. This town served as the basic motivator for his politics, art, and music. Cola Boyy loved Oxnard and Oxnard loved Cola Boyy. This love extends out, just like he insisted, to be part of what fuels us to keep struggling in a revolutionary sense. Coming from the deepest and most profound masses he understood them like few others do.
His music is well known—it provides a bass line to the revolution and will continue to provide it for generations of revolutionaries in the US. Less known is that Comrade Urango penned hundreds of revolutionary and proletarian news articles, drew hundred of illustrations for the struggle, trained countless young people in revolutionary theory and practice and lived a quite life of Communist militancy, never complaining or asking for special consideration. He showed understanding and compassion to everyone he met, with the exception of the class enemy. We uphold him as an honorable example.
Politically our dear comrade stood up for the masses, especially the most oppressed among us who must fight to conquer the world. He stood out not only for his modesty but his fight against postmodernism which plagues the left. He insisted on a class based revolutionary politic which unites and does not divide. A long time activist, he forged his ideas over decades of hard struggle. It is only fitting that one of his last concerts was a benefit for the children of Palestine because Cola Boyy never pandered to the rules of the ruling class and danced so energetically to the unique sounds and rhythms of his own convictions.
During the height of the Covid Pandemic, Comrade Urango insisted on continuing to organize among the people, and protested the concerns of those who asked him to play it safe; those who loved him and struggled beside him had a just desire to preserve our revolutionary comrade, and his desire, even more just, was only to be there serving the people wholeheartedly.
During the split which wrecked the Maoist movement in the US, Comrade Urango took up some incorrect positions, but none of this diminishes what is principal in remembering the comrade as a beloved servant of the people, dedicated to the socialist revolution and the struggle to reconstitute the Communist Party. Cola Boyy will forever be missed, and the love for the comrade will nourish us throughout our revolutionary struggle, which the revolutionaries will carry on to the finish honoring all our comrades who lived for the people.
“I hate to break it to you, but I’m not gonna live so long.” -Cola Boyy
Comrade Urango had a lower than average life expectancy due to his complicated health conditions; he was aware of this fact, but still lived a life of self-sacrifice and duty. More interested in the well being of others, his precious short time was never wasted. The red flag which he brandished with honor will one day fly over the entire world, and those who today have nothing, those who the comrade loved so much, will have everything. Comrade Urango not only knew this, but also embodied the spirit of it in his life, in his struggle, and in his songs.
Cola Boyy’s version of “To Be Rich Should Be a Crime”
HONOR AND GLORY TO COMRADE URANGO AKA COLA BOY!
photo: Comrade Urango with his album Boogie Nights, Cola Boyy Instagram
