Se ee A

y Attended by v4

million people.

The NAIMSAL executive secretary
€mphasized that ‘‘the Ethiopian revolu-
tion is not something that came out of a
Small group of people in an army bar-
racks. It began in February 1974, witha
Protest by taxi drivers angered over a

» 8as price rise. And from then on, it

steadily gained momentum: teachers,
Students went on strike, then a general
peaks was declared, and this mass re-
llion against Emperor Haile Selas-
ri S regime was joined by the army. By
‘arch, it had become a generalized up-
Tising involving millions, including the
peasants.
__ ‘In this situation,” Monteiro said,
4 coordinating committee of the

_ armed forces was formed. It contained

Many progressive and radical ele-
Ments, but also others. In the March-
September 1974 period, this group

tecnn to act as a coordinating commit-

for the mass.movement as a whole.
A kind of ‘dual power’ situation arose,

Organized children participating In Mey Day

- Ethiopia,

with the emperor on one side and the
coordinating committee on the other.

“<The important thing to keep in —

mind,” Monteiro et, ‘tis ode

inating committee was not acting
peat it mae propelled from the base,
by the masses. The emperor was de-
posed on September 12 as the result of
the anger of the masses, who had finally.
learned the truth about the Wollo
famine. More than two million people
demonstrated in the streets to back up
the removal of the emperor. A few days
later, the Provisional Military Adminis-
trative Council (PMAC) or ‘“‘Derg”’ was
formed as the new government. But this
group of 120 middle-ranking officers
contained those who wanted to join with

the mass struggle, and those who -

wanted to retard it. The big question at
that time was land reform, the destruc-
tion of feudalism, land to the tillers.

“The land reform came, in March
1975, but not without a struggle within

the PMAC,” Monteiro said. ‘This has

been the most sweeping land reform in
history outside of Russia. It abolished
feudalism, the feudal ruling class,
overnight. It won to the side of the re-
volution the broad masses of Ethiopian
peasants, who are the bulk of the popu-
lation.

“Banks and most_industries were
nationalized in February 1975,’’ the
NAIMSAL executive secretary said.
“Urban land was nationalized in July
1975, with the provision that no one
could own more than one dwelling-
place, thus eliminating urban land-

lords. In April 1976, the Program of the:

National Democra(:c Revolution was
published, clearly defining the course of

the revolution. and. establishing

socialism as its ultimate goal. _
“But all of these responses at the
PMAC level were responses to the level
of intensifying class struggle in the
country as a whole,” Monteiro said. ‘‘In
there had been no inter-
mediary between the masses and the
emperor, no bourgeoisie capable of as-
suming power, no short-cuts. Things
that might otherwise have retarded the
revolution didn’t exist, one reason why
it took on such an immediate radical
character.”
Monteiro pointed out: ‘For exam-
ple, there was nothing between the

‘peasants and the landlords. If the land- |
* Jords were abolished, the only alterna-

| tive was to nationalize the land, and this

was done.” Because the Ethiopian re-
volution was so far reaching, the im-
perialist nations, especially the U.S.,

- viewed the revolution as a major threat

to the status quo in the horn of Africa. In
fact, Ethiopia was viewed as the Angola
of northern Africa. — ,

‘Still,’ Monteiro continued, “‘there
were people within the PMAC who were
not prepared to go so far or move so fast,
people subject to imperialist influence.
The final battle was fought out in the
PMAC in the early February 1977, bet-
ween these people and the genuine
Marxist-Leninist forces, and that is
when Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam
emerged as the representative of the
latter.

“In January 1977, a new revolutio-
nary All-Ethiopian Trade Union Con-
federation (AETU) had been formed,”’
Monteiro said. ‘‘Then in April, U.S. and
NATO bases were closed down.and U.S.
military missions booted out. It was at
this time that the people’s militia was
established, to defend revolutionary
gains, and it was also at this time that an
intense imperialist counter-attack was
directed at Ethiopia, using terrorist
counter-revolutionary groups like the
so-called ‘Ethiopian People’s Re-
volutionary Party’ (EPRP) to assassi-

“‘Because the
Ethiopian revolution
was so far reaching,
the imperialist
nations, especially
the U.S., viewed

the revolution

as a major threat to
the status quo

in the horn

of Africa.”’

Tony Monteiro (left) greete Lt. Col. Mengletu Halle Mariam.

“This has been
the most sweeping

land reform in

history outside
of Russia.”

nate over 300 trade union, peasant and
kebele (district) leaders.”

Monteiro said: “‘This was a ‘White
Terror,’ aimed at dismantling the re-
volutionary institutions of people’s
power in Ethiopia. It was joined by the
dispossessed landlords and by the Erit-
rean secessionists, and finally, in the

summer of 1977, by the Somali invaders.

The Somali invasion was a cold-blooded
attempt to destroy the Ethiopian re-
volution, backed by Saudi Arabia,

‘Egypt, the U.S. imperialists and NATO.

“The counter-revolutionary offen-
sive was defeated,’ Monteiro stressed,
“not by the old Ethiopian Army, but by
the new people’s militia, by the arming:
of the entire trade union movement of
300,000 men and women, by the arming

of 500,000 peasants from the new peas-
ant cooperatives, by the arming of the
urban people’s power bodies, the
kebeles. It was the armed workers and
peasants of Ethiopia that smashed this
assault.

“‘ As for Eritrea,’’ Monteiro said, ‘‘it
is a region, not a nation, and has always
been part of Ethiopia except when
under Italian and British colonial rule.
Since the middle of 1976, the PMAC has
offered regional autonomy to Eritrea,
an area in which eight different lan-
guages are spoken. The secessionists
have rejected the offer and have opted
for military confrontation. Today, the
influence.of Arab reactionary and U.S.
imperialist power is very strong on the
Eritrean leadership, and they are try-
ing to shield the Eritrean masses from
the influence of the Ethiopian reyolu-
tion, the land reform in particular. But
they will not succeed.”

PAGIFIC TRIBUNE—July 7, 1978—Page 5