Labor Party of Ethiopia

The Labor Party of Ethiopia ( Amharic የኢትዮጵያ ሠራተኞች ፓርቲ , transcribed Ye Ityopia Serategnoch Parti ; English Worker's Party of Ethiopia ; abbreviation WPE ) was the Marxist-Leninist unity party in the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia , which was the government from 1984 to 1991. Since 1990 the party was called the "Democratic Unity Party of Ethiopia" (EDUP).

Symbols and official flag of the Ethiopian Labor Party

The party's headquarters were in Addis Ababa , the party's newspaper was called Addis Zemen .

development

In 1974 a revolution occurred in Ethiopia that brought down the feudal regime of Emperor Haile Selassie . The army sat at the head of the revolutionary movement. A council of military personnel (PMVR / Dergue ) took power and abolished the empire in Ethiopia. After a bloody purge within the Dergue, the pro-Soviet-procuban group around the Marxist-Leninist Major Mengistu Haile Mariam , who strove for the transition to socialism, prevailed.

In 1979 the Dergue founded the “Commission for the Organization of the Party of Working People of Ethiopia” (COPWE) in order to better control Ethiopian society and to better legitimize it. The COPWE acted as a party and published the newspaper Serto Ader ("The Worker").

In September 1984 the founding congress of the WPE was finally held. Mengistu Haile Mariam made a report there and was elected general secretary of the party. "While hundreds of Ethiopians starved to death, the founding celebrations in 1984 devoured 250 million DM."

“With the establishment of the… WPE… in 1984, the Mengistu clique tried to create a mass base… among the working people….” But the WPE was more of an army than a labor party: “75 percent of this party are soldiers and civil bureaucrats. There are 24 generals and 46 colonels on the Central Committee. "

In 1987 a new Ethiopian constitution came into force, the constitution of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia . In it the leadership position of the WPE in the political system of the country was established.

In March 1990 the WPE was renamed the “Democratic Unity Party of Ethiopia” (EDUP). Earlier, Mengistu Haile Mariam had declared the transition to socialism to have failed in a four-hour speech before the WPE Central Committee. The party should now "open to all social forces." Until May 1991, the EDUP was the only legal party.

Relations with the SED

"Comrade Honecker noted ... that the support ... of Ethiopia was the line of the SED." Relations between the Ethiopian party and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) , but also the personal relationships between General Secretaries Erich Honecker and Mengistu Haile Mariam were friendly. Mengistu Haile Mariam visited the GDR in May 1989.

Delegation to party conferences

Since 1981 the Ethiopian party has sent delegations to SED party conferences. Previously, the Dergue 1976 had a delegation to the IX. SED party congress sent. The details of the composition of the delegations are taken from the minutes of the party congress.

COPWE delegation at the 10th SED party congress (1981)

Berhanu Bayeh (member of the Executive Committee)
Berhanu Jembere (Ambassador of Socialist Ethiopia in the GDR)
Tefera Scháwl (Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the party organ "Serto Ader")
Tafessework Wondimu (Sector Head of the International Relations Department of the Central Committee)
Assefa Habtu (Central Committee member)

Mengistu Haile Mariam (left) at an FDJ manifestation of the SED

WPE delegation at the XI. SED Party Congress (1986)

Mengistu Haile Mariam
Addis Tedla (Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee and Deputy Chairman of the National Committee for Central Planning)
Dr. Ashagre Yigletu (Secretary of the Central Committee and Head of the International Relations Department of the Central Committee)
Mengistu Gemetchu (Member of the Central Committee and Head of the Office of the Secretary General)
Girma Beshah (Central Committee candidate and deputy head of the International Relations Department of the Central Committee)
Berhanu Jembere (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Socialist Ethiopia in the GDR)

Party documents

In the minutes of the X. and XI. SED congresses contain greetings from the Ethiopian party to these congresses.

In 1986 Dietz Verlag Berlin also published the brochure Founding Congress of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia, September 6-10, 1984. Main report, presented by Mengistu Haile Mariam, Chairman of the PMVR and COPWE, Supreme Commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces .

Web links

The Labor Party of Ethiopia

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↑ ^a ^b accused. 30 years of betrayal of socialism. Verlag Neuer Weg, Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-88021-148-5 , p. 58.
↑ Revolutionary way. Volume XXV. Neocolonialism and the changes in the national liberation struggle. Verlag Neuer Weg, Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88021-233-3 , p. 208.
↑ Ethiopia is fighting for survival. In: Der Spiegel. 16/1990, p. 206.
^ Daniel Küchenmeister (Ed.): Honecker − Gorbatschow. One-to-one conversations. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-320-01804-3 , p. 110.
↑ ETHIOPIA: Last cartridge. In: Der Spiegel. 21/1989, p. 166.

[Angeklagt-1] accused. 30 years of betrayal of socialism. Verlag Neuer Weg, Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-88021-148-5 , p. 58.

[2] Revolutionary way. Volume XXV. Neocolonialism and the changes in the national liberation struggle. Verlag Neuer Weg, Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88021-233-3 , p. 208.

[3] Ethiopia is fighting for survival. In: Der Spiegel. 16/1990, p. 206.

[4] Daniel Küchenmeister (Ed.): Honecker − Gorbatschow. One-to-one conversations. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-320-01804-3 , p. 110.

[5] ETHIOPIA: Last cartridge. In: Der Spiegel. 21/1989, p. 166.