The Marxist concept of national question and the analysis of Ethiopian reality during the Derg regime (1974 to 1991)

Abstract

This article examines the Marxist concept of the national question and the analysis of Ethiopian reality during the Derg government (1974–1991). As the title indicates, this study explained the interplay between the Marxist concepts of national questions in general and analyzed how the nationalities questions in Ethiopia were treated under the Derg government (1974–1991) specifically. Since very recently, several studies have been done on nationalities questions particularly focusing on post-1991 ethnic-based federalism in Ethiopia. However, no attention is given to nationality issues in Ethiopia under the Marxist regime(Derg). To fill this gap, the researchers collected both primary and secondary sources. The collected data were then arranged, presented, and thoroughly examined. Ultimately, a qualitative research approach and a descriptive research design were used to interpret the data. Finally, the finding of this study concludes that the Derg regime failed to answer the nationalities question in Ethiopia based on Marxist-Leninist views. Therefore, although the Derg initially promised to answer the nationality question in Ethiopia, its promises did not go beyond words.

Keywords:

• Marxist-Leninist Theory
• the national question
• Ethiopian condition
• Derg regime
• Haile Fida

Reviewing Editor:

• Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology College of Arts and Social Science, Kumasi, Ghana

Subjects:

• Political Theory
• History
• Cultural Studies

1. Background of the study

Though there is no clear-cut evidence that tells us the exact date when nationalism first emerged, many scholars argue that nationalism first emerged in Europe with the outbreak of the French Revolution. Though the French Revolution did not begin as a struggle against a foreign power, it initiated a movement toward the modern nation-state and also played a significant role in the birth of nationalism across Europe. Followed by the French Revolution, the Russian (Bolshevik) Revolution of 1917–1921 also presented the idea that different nationalities all over the world have the right to decide their future. Furthermore, World War I and II paved the way for the spread of nationalism beyond Europe, Asia, and Africa (Bickford, 2014).

In the Ethiopian context, the national question first emerged in Ethiopia in the late 1960s by Ethiopian students abroad. Compared to issues such as ‘land to the tiller’(the question of ownership of land to cultivators), discussions on the national question were slower to arise on students’ agendas because at that time the Ethiopian government deliberately avoided addressing questions related to ethnicity, language, and religion. For this reason, it was considered taboo to raise issues concerning democracy, justice, and equality of nationalities (Markakis, 1987).

Gradually, however, the issue of nationality questions became an issue for all students. All Ethiopian students who had the opportunity to study both at home and abroad began to make the issue of nationality questions a topic of discussion. The first public discussion of the national question in Ethiopia was started by students of Addis Ababa University in 1966. After that, the national question became the central agenda to be raised at different congresses and meetings of the students. In this regard, it was most probably Ibsa Gutama’s poem which says, who is an Ethiopian? Which galvanized the issue of the national question into the hearts of many students. Ibsa Gutama was an Oromo student who read his poem at the 6th Congress of the National Union of Ethiopian University Students (NUEUS) in 1967 and won a poetry prize (Shehim, 1985).

Ibsa did not specify whether his poem supported or opposed the issue of nationality. However, he broke the societal taboo by openly discussing the topic of nationalities and conveying his message to Walelign Mekonnen. Walelign Mekonnen was an influential figure in the Ethiopian student movement. He wrote an article titled ‘On the Question of Nationalities in Ethiopia’ which became a significant reference point for the nationalities issue in Ethiopia. In his article, Wallelign challenged the longstanding belief that Ethiopia should be seen as a single nation with one language and one religion (Mekonnen, 1969).

Regarding the national question, Marxist-Leninist ideology greatly influenced the political dynamics of Ethiopia in the second half of the twentieth century (Keller, 2014). Since the second half of the twentieth century, the influence of Marxist-Leninist ideology dominated the political discourse of Ethiopia and paved the way for the proliferation of nationalist movements. The quest for modernization and reforms among intellectuals and political elites leads to the formulation of the national question the vernacular language of Marxist ideology (Gudina, 2001).

Marxism and nationalism have been the centers of attention for many scholars, mainly since the second half of the twentieth century. But here, it is difficult to review all materials written on Marxism and nationalism. However, this does not mean that this paper was made without establishing a clear gap in the literature. A review of the most relevant and prominent materials for this paper has been made to show how this paper is different from others.

For instance, Andreas and Fantaye (2017) attempt to investigate how the Derg government inherited the socialist economy from the Soviet Union and practiced it in Ethiopia. However, their analysis focused on the socialist economy, not the national question. Gebrehiwot (2020) also discussed nationalism and self-determination in contemporary Ethiopia and the role of Marxist-Leninist ideology in the political circumstances of the time. Though the Marxist-Leninist ideology was raised in this work as a passing reference, the main body of the work focused on nationalism in Ethiopia after 1991. Gudina (2001) stated that Marxist-Leninist doctrine was an ideological structure and a bedrock for the leftist groups in Ethiopia in the 1970s. However, his work did not explain whether Marxist-Leninist ideology was easily implemented in Ethiopia during the Derg regime. Donald’s (1990) book also investigated the relationship between production and labor among the Maale people of Ethiopia through a Marxist-Leninist lens. Clapham (2007) also discussed the fact that the central government adopted a Marxist-Leninist doctrine for social, economic, and political change in Ethiopia. However, he did not tell us whether the doctrine was fully implemented or not. Moreover, Tibebu (2008), and Clapham (1988) contributed in one way or another to Marxist development in Ethiopia. All the above-mentioned scholars discussed nationalism and Marxism from different perspectives. But none of them address the title that this paper addresses. Therefore, this paper analyzed the Marxist views on the questions of nationality and the reality in Ethiopia during the Derg regime (1974–1991).

2. Materials and methods

This article underscores the Marxist concept of the national question and the analysis of Ethiopian reality during the Derg regime. After critically analyzing and interpreting relevant data related to Marxism and nationalism, the study reached on viable conclusion regarding the nationality question in Ethiopia during the Derg regime. For the completion of this, necessary data was first collected from relevant sources through document analysis. Accordingly, sources regarding Marxism, nationalism, and Ethiopian history were collected from books, articles, conference papers, institutional reports, historical records, different media, and reports made by different organizations. Then, the collected data were first categorized depending on the thematic areas it represented. Then, under each theme, the collected data was presented, organized, and critically analyzed based on historical methods of data analysis. Finally, the analyzed data was narrated using a qualitative research approach and descriptive research design.

3. Theoretical background

3.1. Marxist concept of national question

In order to understand the Marxist concept of the national question, it is significant to start the classical Marxist perspective on nationalism. Classical Marxism is a body of economic, philosophical, and sociological theories developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in their works. The core concepts of classical Marxism include alienation of people from aspects of their human nature, exploitation of class society by another as a means of production, and modes of production (Marren, 2015). In the works of classical Marxism, the national question does not assume a central role. For this reason, Marx and Engels were often criticized by their opponents. However, after 1848, Marx and Engels attempted to give attention to nationalism in their Marxist theories. Particularly, their attention given to Poland and Ireland was a building block for the next generation of Marxists, having special relevance to the concept of nationalism of the oppressed and oppressor (Smith, 1999).

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Marxist perspectives on national questions changed dramatically. Particularly after the World War I, national questions became the vernacular language of Marxists. Moreover, different studies were done on the national question by Rosa Luxemburg, Lenin, and Stalin and played a significant role in the struggle for national liberation and self-determination of many countries. Principally, Lenin took up the national question as a means of arming the revolutionary social democracy in Russia and uniting the oppressed nationalities under the banner of the working class. Furthermore, in the 1960s, Marxist perspectives on national questions increased with the rise of intellectual Marxists such as Dov Ber Borochov. Dov Ber Borochov was a Russian-Jewish intellectual who was a leading ideologue of Marxist-Zionism. In his work entitled The National Question and Class Struggle, Borochov demanded territorial autonomy for the Jews. From the 1950s to the 1970s, his writings were quite popular among student activists and the Marxist left in Europe, America, and Africa (Borochov, 1983, Lenin, 1967, Luxemberg, 1909, Stalin, 2012).

In Africa, Marxist-Leninist ideology dominated every intellectual debate and occupied the minds of those who sought independence since the 1960s. It was assumed by many anti-colonial leaders that poverty and underdevelopment would only be reversed by the application of socialism, or more specifically the Soviet model of economic development. As one part of African countries, Ethiopian students who went abroad for scholarships to study in various European countries at that time were also influenced by Marxism. Gradually, they adopted the ideology and started to fight for rights, democracy, and equality in their country. Haile Fida was one of those who had the opportunity to study abroad and adopted Marxist-Leninist ideology. Haile Fida’s exposure in Marxist-Leninist ideology helped him to be the secretary of the French Communist Party in France. After the 1974 Ethiopia revolution, he returned home and made great efforts to shape the questions of nationalities in Ethiopia during the Derg regime (Rene Lafort, 1983; Gilkes et al., 1994).

4. Emergence and development of Marxist-Leninist ideology in Ethiopia

The period of the 1950s and 1960s was the heyday of Marxist and anti-colonial leftist ideologies in the former colonial countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Influenced by such global and continental dynamics, a small group of Ethiopian students dedicated to Marxist ideology emerged in Europe and North America in the late 1950s. Ethiopian intellectuals who were influenced by such ideologies gradually started to import Marxist concepts to Ethiopia in the 1960s. Moreover, the radical nationalist ideas of African scholarship students who joined Haile Selassie I University had a strong influence on Ethiopian students and activists. Ethiopian students of the time not only learned about foreign ideologies but were also acquainted with some radical Marxist thinkers, such as Kwame Nkrumah (Gebrekidan, 2012).

Eventually, considering Marxism as a logical response to human solidarity and equality, student associations started to emerge in Ethiopia. As the period coincided with the era of decolonization and the emergence of Marxism as an inspirational revolutionary ideology of student movements, questions of class and national oppression emerged in student movements. Student activists who viewed Marxist-Leninist as an undisputable truth took up courage and reconstructed their experience of alienation, exploitation, and oppression as internal colonies, formulating an ideology as a weapon against the feudal capitalist system. This led to a series of uprisings that resulted in the downfall of the imperial regime in 1974 and the coming to power of the Derg regime (Jalata, 1996; Kelecha, 2023).

As he came to power after the 1974 revolution, the Derg regime declared Marxism-Leninism as an official state ideology. Side by side, Derg promised to solve the centralist character of the old political order by implementing political, economic, and religious reforms. For the realization of these, Derg called upon Ethiopian intellectuals abroad to return home and guide him along Marxist-Leninist thought. Responding to the call of the Derg, Haile Fida along with many Ethiopian elites returned home with Marxist-Leninist ideologies. Haile Fida was an Oromo Marxist who played a significant role as a student activist in Europe in the late 1960s and was the founder and leader of the All-Ethiopian Socialist Movement (MEISON)1, after its Amharic acronym (Gudina, 2007). After he returned home, Haile Fida decided to work with the Derg to solve the questions of nationality in Ethiopia based on Marxist-Leninist thought. Due to the training he received in China and Cuba, many MEISON members, including Haile Fida, had Marxist-Leninist exposure. For this reason, some of them became theoretical advisors to the ruling regime from 1975 to 1980. A case in point was Haile Fida, who couched the Derg along Marxist-Leninist lines, aiming to answer the age-old national questions in Ethiopia (Tegbaru, 2010).

5. The nationalities question in Ethiopia under the Derg government (1974–1991)

During the imperial regime, the question of nationality was ignored or considered taboo, and the quest for self-determination was completely ignored. It was for this reason that different actors, including farmers, taxi drivers, the military, and students, rose against the imperial regime and brought about the downfall of Haile Selassie regime in 1974 (Henze, 1985). After the downfall of the imperial regime, a military regime known as the Derg came to power. Unlike his predecessor, Derg embraced socialism as its state ideology. Again, to solve the nationality question that dominated the political discourse of Ethiopia since the 1960s, Derg adopted the Marxist- Leninist theory of self-determination in Ethiopian reality. For the realization of this, Derg set up the Institute for the Study of Ethiopian Nationalities (ISEN) to make an inventory of the Ethiopian nationalities and their territories. Moreover, Maps and ethnographic profiles were duly produced. Also, literacy campaigns were started in several indigenous languages next to Amharic (Holcomb & Ibssa, 1990; Abbink, 2012).

Furthermore, to address the long-standing national questions in Ethiopia, Derg launched a policy of the National Democratic Revolutionary Programme (NDRP) in 1976. This program was first drafted by an Oromo-Marxist intellectual named Haile Fida. Recognizing the importance of the NDRP to the Ethiopian revolution, Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam (chairman of the Derg) appeared on television and publicly announced the document as an important guideline in transforming Ethiopia from feudalism to socialism. Though the document was comprehensive in its very nature, including various issues such as democracy, politics, economics, and the culture of the country, the national question was the core point of the document (Donham, 1999; NDRP, 1977).

It was based on this document that Derg made a promise to recognize the rights of every nationality in the country in line with Marxist-Leninist thought. In practice, however, Derg’s attempts to answer the national question based on Marxist-Leninist thought were unsuccessful. The Eritrean issue was a great indicator of the failure of the Derg’s promise. Although the issue of Eritrean nationality dates back to the reign of the Haile Selassie regime, it was thought to be answered during the Derg regime. However, it turned out to be the opposite. Instead of addressing the Eritrean national question based on the principles of the NDRP, Derg labeled the Eritrean nationalist movement as the enemy of the Ethiopian revolution. Consequently, the regime resorted to forcefully suppressing Eritrean issues. But Haile Fida who drafted NDRP aimed to solve the Eritrean question peacefully. To solve the Eritrean national question, Haile Fida played unforgettable roles. In the first case, Haile played a key role in facilitating negotiations between Colonel Mengistu and Eritrean nationalist factions, proposing Sudanese representatives, certain Middle Eastern governments, and Eritrean elders (MEISON Report, 1979 and 1980). Secondly, Haile Fida prepared a nine-point policy determination approved by Colonel Mengistu. After preparing the nine-point policy determination, Haile Fida was chosen as a member of the Eritrean Peace Commission, which was led by Major Sisay Habte (one of the top leaders in the Derg) at that time (Habta, 2015; Lata, 1999)2.

In his nine-point policy determination, Haile proposed three important points. Firstly, he suggested that a ceasefire be established and agreements be reached through the mediation of President Nimeri of Sudan. Secondly, he emphasized the need for comprehensive discussions and the establishment of long-lasting peace for a period of three to four years. During this time, Ethiopia and the Eritrean people should engage in extensive discussions regarding Eritrean national questions. Thirdly, he advocated for the empowerment of the Eritrean population to determine their issues. In terms of negotiations, Haile Fida also advised Colonel Mengistu to ensure that equal calls for peace should be made to all parties involved and that all fronts come together with a shared objective for the negotiation process. It was based on the nine-point policy determination drafted by Haile Fida that Colonel Mengistu and Eritrean nationalist leaders met at Beirut and discussed face to-face for the first time that they were ready to negotiate without any preconditions. They were also ready to settle the problem peacefully in the interest of justice and revolutionary struggles in the region (Zerai, 2003; Tegbaru, 2010).

However, Colonel Mengistu secretly organized the ‘Peasant March’ as a solution to the Eritrean problem, which was the Derg’s version of the final solution. The ‘Peasant March’ took place in March 1976 by the name called ‘Raza Project.’ Many argued that this project involved Mengistu’s genocidal invasion of the Eritrean masses. Based on this plan, Colonel Mengistu recruited around 50,000 peasants from Wollo, Gojjam, and Gondar either willingly or forcibly without any training. Those peasants were sent to Eritrea using the demagogic slogan of fighting Arab imperialism. However, the true intention was to suppress the Eritrean nationalist movement (Zerai, 2003; Erlic, 1983)³.

As soon as Haile Fida heard about such underground preparations, he opposed the planned project publically through MEISON and its organ called ‘Yesefiw Hezeb Demets’ (the Voice of the Masses). Haile also advised Colonel Mengistu to stop the project immediately and continue the negotiations that had already started. Similarly, different revolutionary forces opposed the Raza project and the Project was left unsuccessful (Tegbaru, 2010).

Thus, the initial promise of the Derg to respond positively to the national question based on Marxist-Leninist ideology remained unrealized. As a result, the relationship between Haile Fida and the Derg leader Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam deteriorated. Although Haile Fida initially worked with the Derg for more than a year to shape the nationality problems in Ethiopia and contributed much to the betterment of Ethiopia in almost all areas, politically, socially, and economically, many issues were left unanswered on the side of the Derg. Of these, the issue of the national questions was the major one that broke the relationship between Haile Fida and Derg (Clapham, 1988).

6. Conclusion

In Ethiopia, the question of nationalities first emerged in the late 1960s. Although many actors participated in this demand, it can be understood from various historical sources that the students were the main strugglers of national questions in Ethiopia. The struggle of Ethiopian students both at home and abroad has been active in finding a lasting solution to this issue. Particularly, Ethiopian students who went abroad for educational opportunities gradually adopted Marxist-Leninist ideology as a better solution to their country’s social, economic, and political problems. It was under this pretext that the Ethiopian student movement both at home and abroad stirred up the revolution against the imperial regime and eventually overthrew Haile Selassie’s government in 1974. The Derg regime, who came to power after the fall of Haile Selassie, promised to build a new Ethiopia in which the language, culture, and religion of the country’s ethnic groups would be respected equally. Not only promises but also attempts have been made to adopt Marxism-Leninism ideology from the Soviet Union and implement it in practice in Ethiopian reality. Haile Fida, one of the pioneers of the Ethiopian student movement and one of the most mature in Marxist-Leninist ideology, worked with the Derg to shape the issue of nationality questions in Ethiopia based on Marxist-Leninist lines.

However, despite some radical measures and revolutions, the changes do not meet the basic demands of the majority such as self-determination, democracy, freedom, justice, and equality in Ethiopia. From the analysis of different literature regarding national questions during the Derg, it could be generalized that the Derg regime was totally against the reality of bringing equality, justice, and democracy to solve national questions in Ethiopia. The findings indicate that the efforts to answer the national question in Ethiopia based on Marxist-Leninist thoughts failed in several ways. In the first case, the abolition of the imperial system in 1974 did not completely abandon the imperial doctrine of homogenization, as the new military regime continued to follow the same policy to some extent. More importantly, the centralist character of the old political order remained or even strengthened under the military regime penetrating further into the peripheral regions through the organization of Peasant Associations, which allowed tighter control over people and resources. Second, the uncritical imitation of foreign ideas, models, and theories to the Ethiopian reality was another problem. Like its predecessors, the Derg regime quickly adopted foreign forms of Marxism and socialism as a solution to the country’s problems. The Derg regime imported Marxist-Leninist ideology not after examining its compatibility with the realities of Ethiopia but only to show its turning to socialism which is the opposite of capitalism. The Derg regime borrowed socialism mainly to please the Soviet Union and its satellite by saying that it had abandoned its capitalist ideological stand. Thirdly, the student movement, which advocated Ethiopia’s national identity on ideas of equality, solidarity, and freedom and tried to answer the national question based on the Marxism-Leninism ideology gradually turned from the issue they were fighting for and formed their political parties such as Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP) and All-Ethiopian Socialist Movement (MEISON). Instead of working together on common issues, these parties have turned to confrontation and defamation against one another. As a result, their initial efforts to answer the national question in Ethiopia failed. To conclude, though a rhetoric of respect and equality of all ethnic and national groups had been the emblematic motto of the Derg regime during the initial period of the 1974 Ethiopian revolution, in practice it was the Derg and the party’s machinery that took control over the masses from center to peripheral areas of the country.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Jimma University,College of Social science and Humanities

Notes on contributors

Gebeyehu Temesgen Duressa

Gebeyehu Temesgen Duressa is a doctoral fellow at Jimma University, Ethiopia. He got his MA degree in History and Heritage Management. He has published three articles on reputable journals on topics such as political history, socio-economic history, and Indigenous Knowledge.

Tesema Ta’a

Tesema Ta’a is a professor of History at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He is a scholar in Oromo and Ethiopian studies. He has published many articles, book chapters, and books on topics such as democracy, Culture, indigenous knowledge, and political Economy. He currently serving at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

Deressa Debu

Deressa Debu is a PhD at Jimma University, Ethiopia. He has published articles and books on topics such as socio economic, ethnic, and environmental history. He currently serving Jimma University, Ethiopia.

Notes

1 The All-Ethiopian Socialist Movement (MEISON) after its Amharic acronym was a Marxist-Leninist organization that played an active role in Ethiopian politics during the 1970s. It was founded in 1968 by some of the most senior of the exiled radical Ethiopian students. Haile Fida was among the prominent founders and leaders. After the 1974 revolution, MEISON became the dominant Marxist party and their leadership across Europe, North America, and Middle East quickly returned home to take part in the revolution.

2 Like MEISON, Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Party (EPRP) was the off-spring of the Ethiopian student movement of the 1960s and a Marxist-Leninist organization. EPRP was first founded as a party by student activist abroad in 1972. Berhane Meskel Reda was among prominent founders. Though the two Marxist-Leninist organization were the bi-product of Ethiopian Student movement,ideological differences between the two leads them to violence and destruction during 1976 and 1977 and diverted their attention from what they struggled since 1960s i.e democracy, equality and justice.

3 Raza project-was Derg’s secret plan to smush Eritrean national question forcefully under the demagogic plan of fighting Arab imperialism.But the reality behind the project was to suppress Eritrean question of self-determination.No doubt, it was here that Derg missed his initial plan of recognizing nationality question in Ethiopia.