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Eastern Africa
The Quest for Socialist Utopia: The Ethiopian Student Movement, c. 1960-1974
A lively historical account of the rise of Ethiopia's student movement by one of those involved, its role in overthrowing the imperial regime, and its impact on the shaping of the country's future.
In the second half of the 1960s and the early 1970s, the Ethiopian student movement emerged from rather innocuous beginnings to become the major opposition force against the imperial regime in Ethiopia, contributing perhaps more than any other factor to the eruption of the 1974 revolution, a revolution that brought about not only the end of the long reign of Emperor Haile Sellassie, but also a dynasty of exceptional longevity. The student movement would beof fundamental importance in the shaping of the future Ethiopia, instrumental in both its political and social development.
Bahru Zewde, himself one of the students involved in the uprising, draws on interviews with former student leaders and activists, as well as documentary sources, to describe the steady radicalisation of the movement, characterised particularly after 1965 by annual demonstrations against the regime and culminating in the ascendancy of Marxism-Leninism by the early 1970s. Almost in tandem with the global student movement, the year 1969 marked the climax of student opposition to the imperial regime, both at home and abroad. It was also in that year that students broached what came to be famously known as the "national question", ultimately resulting in the adoption in 1971of the Leninist/Stalinist principle of self-determination up to and including secession. On the eve of the revolution, the student movement abroad split into two rival factions; a split that was ultimately to lead to the liquidation of both and the consolidation of military dictatorship as well as the emergence of the ethno-nationalist agenda as the only viable alternative to the military regime.
Bahru Zewde is Emeritus Professor of History at Addis Ababa University and Vice President of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences. He has authored many books and articles, notably A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855-1974 and Pioneers of Change in The Reformist Intellectuals of the Early Twentieth Century.
Finalist for the Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize to the author of the best book on East African Studies, 2015.
Addis Ababa University Press (paperback)
In the second half of the 1960s and the early 1970s, the Ethiopian student movement emerged from rather innocuous beginnings to become the major opposition force against the imperial regime in Ethiopia, contributing perhaps more than any other factor to the eruption of the 1974 revolution, a revolution that brought about not only the end of the long reign of Emperor Haile Sellassie, but also a dynasty of exceptional longevity. The student movement would beof fundamental importance in the shaping of the future Ethiopia, instrumental in both its political and social development.
Bahru Zewde, himself one of the students involved in the uprising, draws on interviews with former student leaders and activists, as well as documentary sources, to describe the steady radicalisation of the movement, characterised particularly after 1965 by annual demonstrations against the regime and culminating in the ascendancy of Marxism-Leninism by the early 1970s. Almost in tandem with the global student movement, the year 1969 marked the climax of student opposition to the imperial regime, both at home and abroad. It was also in that year that students broached what came to be famously known as the "national question", ultimately resulting in the adoption in 1971of the Leninist/Stalinist principle of self-determination up to and including secession. On the eve of the revolution, the student movement abroad split into two rival factions; a split that was ultimately to lead to the liquidation of both and the consolidation of military dictatorship as well as the emergence of the ethno-nationalist agenda as the only viable alternative to the military regime.
Bahru Zewde is Emeritus Professor of History at Addis Ababa University and Vice President of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences. He has authored many books and articles, notably A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855-1974 and Pioneers of Change in The Reformist Intellectuals of the Early Twentieth Century.
Finalist for the Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize to the author of the best book on East African Studies, 2015.
Addis Ababa University Press (paperback)
317 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
4 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
Bahru Zewde
22 books37 followersProfessor Bahru Zewde is a distinguished historian of Ethiopia and Africa. He received his B.A. with distinction from the Haile Selassie I University (1970) and his PhD from the University of London (1976). He has taught at the Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia), University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (USA), Hamburg University (Germany), and has served as director of the Institute of Ethiopia Studies at Addis Ababa University, editor of the Journal of Ethiopian Studies, the Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review, and Africa Review of Books and as member of the International Advisory Board of the Journal of African History, president of the Association of Ethiopian Historians, resident vice-president of the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA), and first vice-president of the Association of African Historians. Currently, he serves as the executive director of the Forum for Social Studies (Ethiopia) and a board member of Trust Africa.
He authored widely acclaimed books (including A History of Modern Ethiopia 1855-1991 (2001) and Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia: The Reforming Intellectuals of the Early Twentieth Century (2002), edited a book entitled Between the Jaws of Hyenas: A Diplomatic History of Ethiopia 1876-1896 (2002), co-edited a book (Ethiopia: The Challenge of Democracy from Below (2002), and compiled A Short History of Ethiopia and the Horn (1998). He is also the author of more than 30 articles and book chapters.
Professor Bahru has received numerous awards and fellowships including the British Council Scholarship, British Academy Fellowship, a French Government research grant, and Japan Foundation fellowship. He was USIA/NEH visiting scholar at Boston University and visiting fellow at St. Cross College and St. Anthony’s College, Oxford University. He is also the recipient of the Golden Jubilee Award for “diligence, exemplary conduct and outstanding contribution” from Addis Ababa University.
He authored widely acclaimed books (including A History of Modern Ethiopia 1855-1991 (2001) and Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia: The Reforming Intellectuals of the Early Twentieth Century (2002), edited a book entitled Between the Jaws of Hyenas: A Diplomatic History of Ethiopia 1876-1896 (2002), co-edited a book (Ethiopia: The Challenge of Democracy from Below (2002), and compiled A Short History of Ethiopia and the Horn (1998). He is also the author of more than 30 articles and book chapters.
Professor Bahru has received numerous awards and fellowships including the British Council Scholarship, British Academy Fellowship, a French Government research grant, and Japan Foundation fellowship. He was USIA/NEH visiting scholar at Boston University and visiting fellow at St. Cross College and St. Anthony’s College, Oxford University. He is also the recipient of the Golden Jubilee Award for “diligence, exemplary conduct and outstanding contribution” from Addis Ababa University.
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April 16, 2020This is surely a great book written by the famous scholar Bahiru Zewde about the socialist ideology and order in Ethiopia few decades ago.
September 29, 2023
To the Youth of Ethiopia who assumed a burden incommensurate with their intellectual resources and their country's political assets -- and paid dearly for it
June 2, 2025
Such an informative and interesting book. I really appreciate the format and can't wait to read more from Bahru Zewde.
November 4, 2015
A recommended book for every concerned Ethiopian, and African. The Professor is an excellent story teller. In this well-researched book, he recounts how a mere 15 years came to define the socio-political destiny of the country. Respect!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews