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SEPTEMBER 6TH WILL BE REMEMBERED IN ETHOIPIA IN THE YEARS TO COME AS PARTY DAY, SINCE IT MARKED THE OPENING DAY YEAR OF FOUNDING CONGRESS OF THE WORKERS' PARTY OF ETHIOPIA (WPE).IT WAS THE CULMINATION OF A LONG AND UNIQUE PROCESS OF PARTY-BUILDING IN ETHIOPIA. THE TASK BEGAN, PROPERLY SPEAKING, IN 1979 WITH THE CREATION OF COPWE (COMMISSION FOR ORGANISING THE PARTY OF THE WORKING PEOPLE OF ETHIOPIA) WHICH WAS CHARGED WITH THE RESPONSIBILITY OF MOBILISING, ORGANISING, PREPARING AND "CHARTING THE NECCESSARY STRATEGY FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PARTY". IN THIS SENSE, COPWE WAS NOT IN ITSELF A VANGUARD ORGANISATION, BUT A TRANSITIONAL POLITICAL ORGANSATION - A PROTOTYPE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY VANGUARD WHICH HAD STILL TO BE ESTABLISHED. NONETHELESS COPWE'S FOUNDATION RESTED CLEARLY ON MARXIST-LENINIST PRINCIPLES. IN THE YARS SINCE THEN COPWE UNDERTOOK MEASURES ACROSS A BROAD FRONT TO MEET THE ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE OF CREATING A REVOLUTIONARY VANGUARD PARTY. A CADRE POLICY HAD TO BE WORKED OUT AND IMPLEMENTED WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF TRAINING, ADMITTING AND PLACING "MILITANTS WHO HAVE MADE OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE REVOLUTION IN THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL FIELDS AND THROUGH THEIR PARTICIPATION IN THE ARMED STRUGGLE" IN LEADING POSITION AS THE ADVANCE GUARD OF THE FUTURE PARTY.

ALMOST SIXTEEN YEARS AFTER NIMEIRI CAME TO POWER ON THE BACK OF POPULAR UNREST THE SAVIOR-TURNED-DICTATOR OF THE SUDAN HAS BEEN DEPOSED BY ANOTHER ARMY COUP. ON THIS OCCASION TOO, THE ARMED FORCES INTERVENED DURING WIDESPREAD CIVIL UNREST WHICH TOOK THE FORM OF A GENERAL POLITICAL STRIKE BY WORKERS, STUDENTS AND THE PROFESSIONAL STRATA. THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF THE REVOLT WHICH SPILLED OUT INTO THE STREETS OF THE CAPITAL, KHARTOUM, WAS THE LIFTING OF SUBSIDIES ON BASIC NECESSITIES SUCH AS BREAD. THE DEMAND FOR BREAD WAS SOON TRANSFORMED INTO AN ORGANISED STRIKE AGAINST THE ENTIRE SYSTEM OF WANT, POVERTY, BLOODSHED AND NEO-COLONIAL DEPENDENCE WHICH HAS CHARACTERISED THE DICTATORIAL, PRO-IMPERIALIST REGIME. AT ITS HEIGHT, JUST BEFORE THE ARMY TAKEOVER, THE STRIKE MOVEMENT ENCOMPASSED THE WIDEST AND MOST DIVERSE SECTIONS OF THE SOCIAL AND CLASS FORCES IN THE CAPITAL. DOCTORS, LAWYERS, TEACHERS, ENGINEERS, ACADEMICS AND STUDENTS TOOK TO THE STREETS. THEIR RANKS WERE DECISIVELY SWOLLEN BY THE WORKERS AND THEIR TRADE UNIONS. IN THE END, LARGE SECTIONS OF CIVIL SERVICE, JUDGES, MAGISTRATES, JOURNALISTS AND THE STAFF OF THE DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS HAD JOINED THE STRIKE IN THE DEMAND FOR THE RESTORATION OF DEMOCRACY IN THE SUDAN.

AUGUST 15, 1963 IS AN HISTORIC DAY FOR THE CONGOLESE PEOPLE AND THEIR REVOLUTION. IT MARKED THE OVERTHROW OF FULBERT YOULOU AFTER PROLONGED POPULAR STRUGGLES CULMINATING IN THREE DAYS OF MASS DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTEST AND CIVIL UNREST BY THE WORKERS, THE UNEMPLOYED, YOUTH AND STUDENTS AND PROGRESSIVE FORCES LED BY THE TRADE UNIONS. THIS MARKED THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF CLASSICAL FRENCH NEO-COLONIAL RULE. IT USHERED IN A PHASE OF PROLONGED STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES AND THOSE STILL BENT ON FURTHERING THE INTERESTS OF FRENCH IMPERIALISM IN THAT PART OF THE WORLD FOR THEIR PERSONAL AND NARROW CLASS INTERESTS. THIS PERIOD ALSO WITNESSED AN ACUTE STRUGGLE BETWEEN ULTRA-LEFT ELEMENTS AND THE PROGRESSIVE FORCES WITHIN THE NATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT (MNR) FORMED IN THE WAKE OF THE 1963 UPRISING AS THE SOLE POLITICAL ORGANISATION WITH A DECLARED POLICY OF NON-CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT. ALMOST FIVE YEARS LATER, DURING AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, 1968, THE INCREASINGLY ANTIDEMOCRATIC AND UNPOPULAR ELEMENTS WITHIN THE GOVERNMENT WERE REMOVED FROM POWER BY A UNITED FRONT OF LEFT, PROGRESSIVE ELEMENTS WITHIN THE ARMED FORCES AND THE CIVILIAN POPULATION. MARIEN NGOUABI, THEN COMMANDER-INCHIEF OF THE ARMY, BECAME HEAD OF STATE, AND A NEW REVOLUTIONARY AUTHORITY, THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE REVOLUTION WAS CREATED TO EXERCISE POLITICAL POWER.