From Proletarian Initiative
March 8, 2026
On Thursday, March 5, shortly before his 31st birthday and after first fighting with dignity and courage against death, our friend and comrade Orpheus Protopsaltis, a member of the Class Counterattack (a group of anarchists and communists) and the Association of Postgraduate and Doctoral Students of History and Archaeology of the National University of Athens, passed away.
The news of his death filled us with sadness and pain. Sadness and pain that we share not only with his close circle, but as is also reflected in the texts and announcements that have been released in his memory, with a wide range of people who had the good fortune to know him, to study and be educated, to co-shape and struggle alongside Orpheus.
It could not have happened otherwise, since during his short but full life, Orpheus was indeed a special man and fighter. One of those who truly “left his footprints in the snow so that he would not get lost, so that the rest could find him”…
Rethymno, Exarchia…
Born on March 21, 1995. Son of the anarchist publisher Michalis Protopsaltis, he will actively enlist from his student years in the anti-fascist struggle, the anarchist - anti-authoritarian space and the broader competitive - subversive movement, and then he will become passionate about the study of History, which he considered a necessary field, within the uninterrupted path of the Resistance and the Struggle for social - class liberation. In this direction, Orpheus, among other things, after the death of his father, actively contributed to the continuation of the Bibliopelagos publications, contributing (also) from this medium to the struggle and circulation of ideas.
We still keep our acquaintance eight years ago in Rethymno alive in our memory. At that time, Orfeas, being a student at the Department of History & Archaeology of the University of Crete, was politically and cinematically active through Laboratorio Influenza. Then, when he moved to Athens and joined the T.A., we were lucky enough to get to know him better, to participate with him in numerous marches and rallies, assemblies and events, but also to share beautiful moments, with black music and metropunk, frothy beers and “passionate coffeehouse discussions about what to do and what not to do about the “earthquakes that are to come”…
We already miss his kindness and humor, his sweet smile and passion for knowledge, historical study and political analysis, his erudition and sharp wit, his organizational and militant spirit, but also his unwavering faith in the collective power of grassroots organization and unity in action, in the necessity of a frontal policy and the Right of our common Cause.
Farewell, friend and comrade Orpheus.
“Someday we will meet on the hills of the sun. Don't forget. Walk.”
Our deepest condolences and a warm hug to his mother Maria Petroulaki, his relatives and comrades of the Class Counterattack.
[*] Orpheus' funeral will take place on Monday, March 9 at 1:15 p.m. in Ritsona. Pre-meeting at 10:00 a.m. at the offices of the Public Transport Authority (49 Kallidromiou Street, Exarchia) for a collective departure by cars and motorbikes.
Violetta's Movement (VoL)
Athens, March 8, 2026
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