The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia: Resistance and Resilience

9.The Political Seeds of Revolution

193 The Political Seeds of Revolution 09This chapter sets out the background development for state and church encounter during the period of the Ethiopian Revolution (1974–1990). In doing so, it seeks to present a brief account of the general political conditions that precipitated the fall of Haile Sellassie’s government and the ascendance of the Marxist military rulers. By exploring the root causes of the 1974 revolution, the chapter provides insights into the intellectual political culture of the rising intelligentsia that spearheaded it. An attempt is made to briefly record the history of the rise of Marxism in a largely religious society and explain the sociopsychological contexts for its embrace by a wide section of the Ethiopian elite, including the ranks of the military. The chapter also highlights crucial political developments in the early phase of the Marxist rule. Background In 1974 the new military rulers seized power after deposing Haile Sellassie, the last imperial monarch from the Solomonic Dynasty. What partly made it possible for the military rulers to rise to power was the initial popular backing they received from peasants in the rural areas and the working class, mainly concentrated in the urban centers. They also received guarded support from the enlightened sectors of society whose languages and slogans they so rapidly appropriated. The country also had unresolved historical and structural problems related to issues such as ethnicity, land, justice, and the monarchical rule that had not 194 The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia been responsive to the incessant pleas for reforms from many Ethiopians, particularly the intelligentsia. The emperor made gestures toward reform in the 1940s and 1950s, receiving considerable applause from many scholars. As a result, many in the international community dubbed him “progressive.” More than any ruler in Ethiopian history, he introduced modern administrative institutions, expanded educational services, and opened his country to the modern world. His zeal for change, however, waned in the 1960s and early 1970s, the crucial decades before his final denouement. In fact, his overcentralization of power alienated him from the provincial nobility, the army, and the national Church. The military made the first unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Emperor Haile Sellassie in 1960. The brainchild of the abortive coup was a radical with a Marxist leaning, Germame Neway. The coup was a failure but terribly shook the monarch’s image of apparent invincibility and opened the way for a litany of social and political protests in the ensuing years. Threatening as it was, the emperor hardened his position in spite of the wake-up call. As Harold Marcus put it, “He asserted with uncharacteristic feistiness that there will be no change in the system of government or in [the] government’s program.”1 Haile Sellassie missed the loud signal of the coup for expedient actions. Even trusted men who held distinguished positions in his administration repeatedly alerted him to the grave consequences of his inaction and his procrastination. Berhanou Dinke, ambassador to the United States from 1961 to 1965, resigned his post when the emperor ignored his ceaseless plea for change by challenging him to relinquish his outmoded conception of divine right.2 Advisers told the emperor that unless he rapidly introduced much-needed reforms, the embers of discontent would burst into flame and destroy the foundation of his rule. Blinded by age and his insulted position, he did not seem to have the wisdom to appreciate the full weight of the serious warning. The abortive coup of 1960 had more far-reaching consequences than Emperor Haile Sellassie had realized. The emerging elite saw the leaders of the coup as martyrs. The emperor did not pay attention to the agitated spirit of the intelligentsia, university students in particular. In the absence of open spaces elsewhere in the society, where expressions of discontent were channeled and new ideas were debated and tested in an organized fashion, centers of higher education, particularly the university, became the locus of political activities. In this setting the students viewed them- The Political Seeds of Revolution 195 selves as the conscience of the nation and began to press for reforms under their rallying slogan, “Land to the Tiller.”3 The voices of the students became louder, sharper, and more incessant as time passed. Haile Sellassie mistakenly dismissed the rising clamor of discontented voices and the alarmist views of his advisors. He considered them the outlandish murmurings of restless, impatient, and inexperienced people. Haile Sellassie’s...