Haile Fida
Encyclopedia
Haile Fida was an Ethiopian
politician and a leader of the All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement
(popularly known as "MEISON", after its Amharic abbreviation). His most significant accomplishment was drafting the Program for the National Democratic Revolution on behalf of the Derg
.
who had been studying in France since the early 1960s, and had acquired a Marxist ideology that was closer to the Soviet version than to the New Left
; Rene LaFort states that he was a fellow-traveller of the French Communist Party
. He returned to Ethiopia soon after the start of the Ethiopian Revolution, sometime in 1975, having answered the Derg's appeal for all educated Ethiopians to return home to help modernize the country. With Negede Gobeze, an Amhara
who had also been studying abroad in France, he opened the "Progressive Book Store" near the campus of Haile Selassie University (now Addis Ababa University
), which made the basic texts of Marxism-Leninism
available to Ethiopians. "The store", note the Ottaways, "a dilapidated old house, was swamped by students, and each new shipment of books was immediately sold out."
He soon came to the notice of not only the Derg, who were in need of both civilian supporters and advisers in Marxist-Leninist theory, as well as to the notice of its leading member, Mengistu Haile Mariam
. In December 1975, the Derg secretly created what became known as the Provisional Office for Mass Organizational Affairs (POMOA), and Haile Fida was made its chairman. The goal of POMOA was not only to build support amongst the general public, but to reach out to other leftist civilians. It was while chairman of POMOA that Haile Fida drafted the Program of National Democratic Revolution, a document which replaced the patriotic but vague motto Itiopiya Tikdem ("Ethiopia first") the Derg had used as their guiding principles with a Maoist vision for Ethiopia. Relying on the revolutionary alliance of the proletariat, the peasantry and the progressive petit-bourgeoisie, the trinity of feudalism, imperialism and bureaucratic capitalism would be destroyed and eventually a People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
established. Mengistu announced the adoption of the National Democratic Revolution at a mass demonstration 20 April 1976.
However, the POMOA failed to connect with the civilian opposition. Along with disaffected zamecha members who had abandoned their assigned tasks in the countryside and found their way back home, the opposition had come to support the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party
(EPRP), greatly increasing its numbers and influence. While MEISON supported the Derg, the EPRP attacked the Derg, accusing them of having crushed the popular movement which had been ruthlessly crushed by military intervention; the only correct socialist line was to continue the struggle for a true people's government against the repressive Derg.
Despite their bitter disagreement over what role the Derg should play in controlling the Ethiopia Revolution, both the MEISON and EPRP "published strikingly similar programs". According to the Ottaways, who were witnesses to this debate, "most Ethiopians, even educated ones" were left confused. They explain:
Meanwhile, Haile Fida strengthened his ties with the Derg. August 1975, he joined Sisay Hapte, chairman of the Derg's Political Affairs Committee, in negotiating with six Arab countries over the increasing problems with Eritrea
.
Unable to defeat each other with words, the opposing groups resorted to violence. The first victim was Theodore Bekele, MEISON member and leader of the All-Ethiopia Trade Union, who was killed 25 February 1977. This was the start of the Red Terror
, during which hundreds died and ended with the defeat of the EPRP; the few who survived fled Addis Ababa
for Mount Asimba.
Despite the departure of the EPRP, conditions did not improve for either Haile Fida or MEISON. On 10 July 1976, a coup to remove Mengistu failed, and Sisay Hapte, who had been the Derg's chief liaison with the civilian Left, was executed three days later along with over 17 accomplices. Then towards the end of 1976, a struggle broke out between Mengistu and MEISON, after which Mengistu began to systematically replace all of its members in the government.Tensions increased when 11 March 1977 in a ministerial reshuffle MEISON failed to acquire any positions. Then on 14 July management of POMOA was taken from the party. Haile Fida and the rest of MEISON knew that the next blow would be bloody, and acted first: on 19 August the leading figures of MEISON and some 500 cadres went underground. Mengistu denounced the party in a speech five days later, and on 26 August Haile Fida with several other leaders were captured outside of Addis Ababa, and detained in the Old Gebbi, where the Derg had made its headquarters; a number of the other MEISON leaders were killed either on the spot or in subsequent shoot-outs. Only Negede Gobeze managed to escape the Derg, and found sanctuary in Yemen.
Haile Fide languished in prison for some time, until at last he was executed; the circumstances of his death are unclear, but Andargachew Tiruneh states that he was killed two years after his arrest, in 1979.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
politician and a leader of the All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement
All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement
The All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement was a Marxist-Leninist organization that played an active role in Ethiopian politics during the 1970s. Both it and the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party were enthusiastic supporters of the revolution that toppled Emperor Haile Selassie I...
(popularly known as "MEISON", after its Amharic abbreviation). His most significant accomplishment was drafting the Program for the National Democratic Revolution on behalf of the Derg
Derg
The Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...
.
Life
Haile Fida was an OromoOromo people
The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...
who had been studying in France since the early 1960s, and had acquired a Marxist ideology that was closer to the Soviet version than to the New Left
New Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
; Rene LaFort states that he was a fellow-traveller of the French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
. He returned to Ethiopia soon after the start of the Ethiopian Revolution, sometime in 1975, having answered the Derg's appeal for all educated Ethiopians to return home to help modernize the country. With Negede Gobeze, an Amhara
Amhara people
Amhara are a highland people inhabiting the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census...
who had also been studying abroad in France, he opened the "Progressive Book Store" near the campus of Haile Selassie University (now Addis Ababa University
Addis Ababa University
Addis Ababa University is a university in Ethiopia. It was originally named "University College of Addis Ababa" at its founding, then renamed for the former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I in 1962, receiving its current name in 1975.Although the university has six of its seven campuses within...
), which made the basic texts of Marxism-Leninism
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
available to Ethiopians. "The store", note the Ottaways, "a dilapidated old house, was swamped by students, and each new shipment of books was immediately sold out."
He soon came to the notice of not only the Derg, who were in need of both civilian supporters and advisers in Marxist-Leninist theory, as well as to the notice of its leading member, Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam is a politician who was formerly the most prominent officer of the Derg, the Communist military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991...
. In December 1975, the Derg secretly created what became known as the Provisional Office for Mass Organizational Affairs (POMOA), and Haile Fida was made its chairman. The goal of POMOA was not only to build support amongst the general public, but to reach out to other leftist civilians. It was while chairman of POMOA that Haile Fida drafted the Program of National Democratic Revolution, a document which replaced the patriotic but vague motto Itiopiya Tikdem ("Ethiopia first") the Derg had used as their guiding principles with a Maoist vision for Ethiopia. Relying on the revolutionary alliance of the proletariat, the peasantry and the progressive petit-bourgeoisie, the trinity of feudalism, imperialism and bureaucratic capitalism would be destroyed and eventually a People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
The People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was the official name of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991, as established by the Communist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam and the Workers' Party of Ethiopia...
established. Mengistu announced the adoption of the National Democratic Revolution at a mass demonstration 20 April 1976.
However, the POMOA failed to connect with the civilian opposition. Along with disaffected zamecha members who had abandoned their assigned tasks in the countryside and found their way back home, the opposition had come to support the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party
Founded in April 1972, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party was a prominent Marxist-Leninist organization in Ethiopia during the 1970s. It is also known as "Ihapa" from the acronym in Amharic...
(EPRP), greatly increasing its numbers and influence. While MEISON supported the Derg, the EPRP attacked the Derg, accusing them of having crushed the popular movement which had been ruthlessly crushed by military intervention; the only correct socialist line was to continue the struggle for a true people's government against the repressive Derg.
Despite their bitter disagreement over what role the Derg should play in controlling the Ethiopia Revolution, both the MEISON and EPRP "published strikingly similar programs". According to the Ottaways, who were witnesses to this debate, "most Ethiopians, even educated ones" were left confused. They explain:
- The entire Ethiopia intelligentsia was forced to immerse itself in Marxism-Leninism, Whether individuals believed in it or not. The authors [i.e. the Ottaways] met Ethiopian university professors who were wholly confused by political arguments and had to ransack the classics in search of enlightenment. Third and fourth year university students would provide us with excellent literal translations of articles in Addis ZemenAddis ZemenAddis Zemen is a town in northern-central Ethiopia. Located in the Debub Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, on the road connecting Gondar and Bahir Dar, Addis Zemen has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 1975 meters above sea level...
and of underground pamphlets and then confess that they had little idea what the arguments were really about. Even those in charge of translations at the Ethiopian News AgencyEthiopian News AgencyThe Ethiopian News Agency is the official news agency of the Government of Ethiopia. It is the oldest news organization in Ethiopia...
admitted that they could not always grasp the meaning of the more theoretical government statements emanating from the Political Bureau.
Meanwhile, Haile Fida strengthened his ties with the Derg. August 1975, he joined Sisay Hapte, chairman of the Derg's Political Affairs Committee, in negotiating with six Arab countries over the increasing problems with Eritrea
Eritrean War of Independence
The Eritrean War of Independence was a conflict fought between the Ethiopian government and Eritrean separatists, both before and during the Ethiopian Civil War. The war started when Eritrea’s autonomy within Ethiopia, where troops were already stationed, was unilaterally revoked...
.
Unable to defeat each other with words, the opposing groups resorted to violence. The first victim was Theodore Bekele, MEISON member and leader of the All-Ethiopia Trade Union, who was killed 25 February 1977. This was the start of the Red Terror
Red Terror (Ethiopia)
The Ethiopian Red Terror, or Qey Shibir , was a violent political campaign in Ethiopia that most visibly took place once Communist Mengistu Haile Mariam achieved control of the Derg, the military junta, 3 February 1977...
, during which hundreds died and ended with the defeat of the EPRP; the few who survived fled Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
for Mount Asimba.
Despite the departure of the EPRP, conditions did not improve for either Haile Fida or MEISON. On 10 July 1976, a coup to remove Mengistu failed, and Sisay Hapte, who had been the Derg's chief liaison with the civilian Left, was executed three days later along with over 17 accomplices. Then towards the end of 1976, a struggle broke out between Mengistu and MEISON, after which Mengistu began to systematically replace all of its members in the government.Tensions increased when 11 March 1977 in a ministerial reshuffle MEISON failed to acquire any positions. Then on 14 July management of POMOA was taken from the party. Haile Fida and the rest of MEISON knew that the next blow would be bloody, and acted first: on 19 August the leading figures of MEISON and some 500 cadres went underground. Mengistu denounced the party in a speech five days later, and on 26 August Haile Fida with several other leaders were captured outside of Addis Ababa, and detained in the Old Gebbi, where the Derg had made its headquarters; a number of the other MEISON leaders were killed either on the spot or in subsequent shoot-outs. Only Negede Gobeze managed to escape the Derg, and found sanctuary in Yemen.
Haile Fide languished in prison for some time, until at last he was executed; the circumstances of his death are unclear, but Andargachew Tiruneh states that he was killed two years after his arrest, in 1979.