Misplaced Pages

#0

19-662: The Waz League claimed a working-class base and shared the populist tendencies of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party . The programme of the Waz League was published in April 1976. Regarding the national question, Waz argued in favour of a regional autonomy formula. Sennai Likkay served as vice chairman of the 15-member Central Committee of the Provisional Office for Mass Organizational Affairs (POMOA). The Waz League supported

38-478: A one-party state , party policy invariably becomes national policy. Each Party Congress elects a Central Committee which, in turn, elects the members of the politburo, secretariat, and a general secretary . This process is termed democratic centralism . In theory, the politburo is answerable to the Central Committee, however in practice all the authority lies with the politburo. In Trotskyist parties,

57-598: Is the first modern political party in Ethiopia . Established in April 1972, it aimed to turn Ethiopia into a democratic republic . Both the EPRP and another party, the All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement (MEISON) were enthusiastic supporters of the student-led 1974 Ethiopian Revolution that eventually led to the toppling of Emperor Haile Selassie and abolishing the monarchy the following year. However, following

76-604: The Russian politbyuro ( политбюро ), itself an abbreviation of politicheskoye byuro ( политическое бюро 'political bureau'). The Spanish term Politburó is directly loaned from Russian, as is the German Politbüro . Chinese uses a calque ( Chinese : 政治局 ; pinyin : Zhèngzhìjú ), from which the Vietnamese ( Bộ Chính trị 部政治 ), and Korean ( 정치국, 政治局 Jeongchiguk ) terms derive. The first politburo

95-534: The Derg and Mengistu, while the EPRP claimed that the Derg had betrayed the Revolution and stood in the way of a genuine "people's democracy". The political conflict ultimately escalated into violent conflict, with increasing fighting between the two groups. The violence reached its peak in 1976 when the EPRP began to launch attacks on public buildings and assassinate high-ranking Derg officials. In response, Mengistu condemned

114-653: The EPRP received some support from the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF). Although there were numerous meetings between the EPRP and other anti-government groups like the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), eventually the EPRP and the TPLF came to blows. EPRA units attacked TPLF units in two different locations in Agame on 23 February 1978, forcing them to evacuate the area. The TPLF brought two of its veteran companies from

133-562: The EPRP, claiming it had engaged in a campaign of "White Terror", and initiated a systematic and brutal campaign to exterminate supporters of the EPRP, initially with assistance from MEISON and officials of the local kebeles , known as the " Red Terror ", against the EPRP and other political opponents. Surviving members of the EPRP were forced to flee the cities by August 1977, many fleeing to the group's rural stronghold on Mount Asimba in, among other places, Agame , where two of its founders, Tesfay Debessay and Zeru Kehishen, had family ties. There

152-539: The Liberation of Palestine . At this first congress, a Central Committee was elected and included Desta Tadesse, Kiflu Teferra, Kiflu Tadesse, Tesfaye Debessay, Berhane Meskel Reda, Iyasu Alemayehu, and Zeru Kehishen, with the latter four elected to the EPLO Politburo and Berhane Meskel Reda elected the organization's Secretary General. For the first few years of its existence, the EPRP was of little importance until

171-458: The USSR , East Germany , Afghanistan , and Czechoslovakia . Today, there are five countries that have a politburo system: China , North Korea , Laos , Vietnam , and Cuba . In Marxist–Leninist states, the communist party claims to be the vanguard of the people , therefore the legitimate body to lead the state. The party selects officials to serve in its politburo, which decides party policy. As

190-414: The arrival of the Revolution, after which it played a larger role. Over the year following the deposition of Haile Selassie, political and ideological conflict began to emerge between the EPRP and its major Marxist rival, MEISON. Part of their rivalry was based on the fact that, originally, the Derg had no political ideology, beyond the vague patriotic slogan of Itiopiya Tikdem "Ethiopia First" and turned to

209-680: The end of the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991. Politburo A politburo ( / ˈ p ɒ l ɪ t b j ʊər oʊ / ) or political bureau is the highest political organ of the central committee in communist parties . The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in non-communist parties, such as the Political Bureau of Hamas . Politburos are part of the governing structure in most former and existing communist states . The term politburo in English comes from

SECTION 10

#1733085026000

228-512: The entry of the Seded (the new political organization formed by Derg officers) into POMOA, as means of weakening influence of the All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement (Meison). On February 26, 1977, the Waz League and four other organizations (Meison, Seded, Echat and Malerid ) founded the Union of Ethiopian Marxist-Leninist Organizations . Sennai Likkay was killed in a shoot-out in the same month (Teferi Banti

247-804: The infiltration plot. Several former members of the Waz League later became prominent Workers Party of Ethiopia leaders. Shimelis Mazengia, Mengistu's speech writer and credited with invention many Amharic versions of Marxist terminology, was a former Waz League activist. The Workers Party of Ethiopia politburo had three former Waz League members; Shimelis Mazengia, Shewandagne Belete (a former POMOA member) and Fasika Sidelil. Two other prominent ex-Waz League figures were Maj Girma Neway (a senior police officer) and Roberto Gigano. Ethiopian People%27s Revolutionary Party The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party ( EPRP ) ( Amharic : የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝባዊ አብዮታዊ ፓርቲ , romanized :  Ye-Ītyōṗṗyā Həzbāwī Abyotawi Party ), informally known as Ihapa ( Amharic : ኢሕአፓ ),

266-469: The inner circle of military leaders of Seded. Following the break between the Derg and the Waz League, the Waz League was purged. During the purge, the Waz League was denounced as 'Maoist' by the Derg. On July 10, 1978, Berhane Meskel (captured in Mehaberete) and other Waz League leaders were executed. However whilst some Waz League leaders were killed, others were promoted for supposedly having helped uncover

285-471: The leftist Student Movement, with its strong ideological grounding, for guidance; EPRP and MEISON were only two of a large number of groups which competed to be the Derg's political educators. Part of their rivalry was based on Marxist theory: for the Ethiopian Revolution to be an "authentic" one, there needed to be a vanguard party , and both groups wanted that role. Eventually, MEISON came to support

304-527: The rise of Mengistu Haile Mariam to power as leader of the ruling Derg , the military junta that had taken control of Ethiopia, ideological conflict developed between the various groups. The EPRP was founded under the name Ethiopian People's Liberation Organization ( EPLO ) in April 1972 in West Berlin , West Germany , by exiled Ethiopian students and with the assistance of the Democratic Front for

323-451: The west, and in a fierce counter-attack forced the EPRP fighters back to their bases at Mount Asimba. After a five-day battle, the TPLF captured their mountain stronghold, and the bulk of the defeated EPRP fled to sanctuary with the ELF. Eventually, many party members found their way to Gondar , continuing their struggle against both the Derg and the TPLF until Mengistu's government final defeat at

342-570: Was created in Russia by the Bolshevik Party in 1917 during the Russian Revolution that occurred during that year. The first Politburo had seven members: Vladimir Lenin , Grigory Zinoviev , Lev Kamenev , Leon Trotsky , Joseph Stalin , Grigori Sokolnikov , and Andrei Bubnov . During the 20th century, politburos were established in most Communist states. They included the politburos of

361-463: Was killed in the same incident). However, relations between the Derg and the Waz League went sour. Mengistu began to allege that individuals of the Waz League were working against the revolution. In the second half of 1978 suspicions were raised that the Waz League had infiltrated Seded and come to occupy leading posts in Seded. It was, however, unlikely that the Waz League would have been able to penetrate

#0