Author: Worku Gebeyehu Lakew

Empire and Revolution in Ethiopia, a new perspective: 2018 Addis Ababa 344 pages, Price 142 Birr

Forty-five years after its outbreak, the Ethiopian Revolution has continued to fascinate historians and writers to this day. A handful of writers have come up with works, reminiscing of this momentous event which some of them witnessed, or actually participated. One latest addition to this growing list of material is “Empire and Revolution in Ethiopia, a new perspective,” authored by the London-based Ethiopian Worku Gebeyehu Lakew.

A product of the country’s Post-World II educational system, Worku became a civil servant, first working as a statistician at the Central Statistics Office and later at the Ministry of Natural Resources in the early 70s and served the Imperial government which he found was unjust and exploitative of the mass. Since swept over by the maelstrom of revolutionary passion in his days at the General Wingate Secondary School and the Addis Ababa University, he eventually came to play a key role in the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP), a political group that operated in semi-legitimate fashion in the early stages the revolution.

“Empire and Revolution” offers a first-hand look at the seminal event in the history of the country and political and cultural upheavals in pre and post-revolutionary Ethiopia, as well as what went so tragically wrong. It delves into the author’s own experiences and memories to present a history that evokes some of the principal actors who have played a key role in shaping the revolutionary path, what they risked, the losses they suffered, and what they were able to achieve.

As the author rightly describes the book is “not a chronological history of the Ethiopian Revolution based on comprehensive research and documentation like other classics on the subject. Instead, it is a chronological witness statement and historical documentation of the Revolution through my own experience and moves in time and space with my own journey.”

The book’s detailed notes and table of contents make it easy to look up the author’s views on various subjects and events. The birth and development of the revolutionary student union of Addis Abeba University, the 1974 Revolution, the coming to power of the Derg, the ensuing quarrels between the civilian radicals and the military over the ownership of the revolution and the destiny of the country, the war of position and the contest of political space that was waged by the EPRP, the factions of Berhane Maskal and Getachew Maru, followed by the Red Terror, the revolutionary armed struggle of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Army (EPRA), and life in the liberated areas take a large part of the book.

As the author served as an intermediary between EPRP party leadership and the party cells inside the Derg working with key people such as Colonel Atnafu Abate, the first chair of the Derg before it seized power, he shares some anecdotes about the cause for the disagreement and clash between the EPRP and Mengistu Haile Mariam’s supporters.Worku stated that at the outset the party treated the Derg “just as one section of the army and the state apparatus and undertook party work of mobilising support, recruitment and democratisation activities within the Derg, just as it did in other parts of the state apparatus.”Derg members were recruited as individual members into the party structures or other mass organisations such as the movement of soldiers.

The narrative brings into focus the vast array of characters, such as Captain Moges Woldemichael, a member of the party cell within the Derg and warmly portrayed as one of the most insightful leaders and unsung heroes of the revolution. A Harar Military Academy trained officer, Moges served as an artillery officer in the Gofa military depot in Addis Ababa for a number of years before becoming an influential member of the revolution and the de-facto leader of the 17 man executive of the central committee of the Dergue. The author admired his unique leadership qualities, personal integrity, and unyielding dedication for the betterment of the country. He was instrumental in organising the start of discussions and study sessions between the EPRP and the deputy chair of the Derg, Atnafu Abate. However, he was swiftly eliminated along with the other 17 generals by Mengistu Hailemariam.

With a rapid sense of escalation, the EPRP came to be denounced as “subversive and anti-revolutionary” organisation and its members targeted for killing and torture. But the dispute was also among the EPRP’s party leadership over its form and strategy, even though its exact nature remains opaque. There had been deliberate muddying of the waters on both factions. Some senior members reportedly argued for the need for the party to defend itself from the repression and executions perpetrated on it by engaging in urban warfare, a position firmly opposed by erstwhile members, Berhanemeskel Reda and Getachew Maru. The author of this book was sympathetic to the position of the former, as it is abundantly manifested in many of the passages. He still feels no qualms in stating his position that immediate action should have been taken on Mengistu Hailemariam to neutralise him before he did the same to others. This regrettably was another evidence of how most political parties have been justifying and legitimising political violence as a raison d’être for successful revolutionary transformation to socialism.

To his credit, the author acknowledges the weakness and fatal mistakes of the EPRP leadership, particularly stating after the leading members were “sacrificed”, the capacity to replace “huge level of attrition of its top leadership was not paid enough attention.”However, less convincingly, he wrote that he had no idea who was leading the key committee that had a make-or-break role in the revolution. “But I am sure that people like Kiflu Tadesse will be able to enlighten us,” he goes on to say. But this seems to be wishful thinking. If Kiflu’s previous writings and selective narratives are anything to go by, this is unlikely to happen.  The author is not unaware of the accusation against Kiflu Tadesse by some who implicates him in orchestrating the elimination of some EPRF leaders. But he chose to come to his defense by saying that “Kiflu Tadesse, probably more than anyone one else contributed to the build-up of EPRP and to its phenomenal growth in its first seven years.  It is dirty tricks to suggest otherwise and to tarnish his image.”

In what is probably not unrelated to the first reason, the author goes in great length to attack Berhanemeskel and Getachew for their various personality and character failings. The vitriolic attack, especially against Getachew who himself fell prey to the EPRP’s killing machination, is disconcerting, to say the least. Worku did not say a word about the circumstances of Getachew’s death in EPRP’s incarceration except saying “he missed Ethiopia’s date with destiny and spent nine months of the February Revolution vegetating in jail due to the sloppy organisational work and poor disciplinary method……” This is where the book fails to rise beyond the level of partisan tract on one of the faction’s behalf. The book did not either address the assertion by Hiwot Tefera, Getachew’s girlfriend who wrote in Tower in the Sky that her boyfriend was beaten to death by the EPRP’s squad members, based on witness statements. Worku described Hiwot Teffera as “the ideal fighter that the revolution has produced,” in one passage but he said her outlook that the “Derg was not fascist and the pragmatic majority in the CC were a clique is sad but wrong.” Here again, anyone who has read Hiwot’s book would recall that this characterisation is not entirely accurate. The Derg’s brutal and fascist acts were front and centre in her book but voiced her frustration at the direction the EPRP’s faction was taking towards violent fighting that might have led the military towards a more vicious reaction. Many other observers agreed that even though much of the violence was wangled by the Derg, it was also a tangled process in which opposition forces had actively engaged in and contributed for.

Another senior EPRP man Zeru Kihshen’s courage, leadership qualities, and personal magnetism are duly praised, but also described as “one of the leaders that rallied the party in the decision to kill Mengistu.”

Worku Gebeyehu’s book has interesting bits of information and anecdotes on the genesis and distinctive features of the political violence in the country’s history. Unfortunately, it has failed in providing a balanced treatment of the main issues.

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