---
title: 'FBIS Daily Report: Addis Ababa Domestic Service on the founding congress of the Workers Party of Ethiopia and the decree dissolving COPWE'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/addis-ababa-radio-wpe-congress-fbis-1984/
description: 'Page R 3 of the U.S. FBIS Daily Report (Middle East & Africa, 11 September 1984): the close of the 10 September 1984 decree dissolving COPWE for the…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![FBIS Daily Report: Addis Ababa Domestic Service on the founding congress of the Workers Party of Ethiopia and the decree dissolving COPWE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/addis-ababa-radio-wpe-congress-fbis-1984.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/addis-ababa-radio-wpe-congress-fbis-1984.jpg)

# FBIS Daily Report: Addis Ababa Domestic Service on the founding congress of the Workers Party of Ethiopia and the decree dissolving COPWE

Page R 3 of the U.S. FBIS Daily Report (Middle East & Africa, 11 September 1984): the close of the 10 September 1984 decree dissolving COPWE for the Workers Party of Ethiopia ('The government and society will be led by the WPE'), then an English-service article, 'Party Congress, Concept and Practice', saying delegates are elected 'in a truly democratic way', citing Lenin, and calling the congress 'a forum which activates the collective will and collective wisdom of the party'.

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
V. 11 Sep 84 R 3 EAST AFRICA
(a) The decree establishing COPWE, No 174 of 1979 is nullified by this decree.
(b) The political school established under Decree No 120 of 1974 is now under the WPE.
(c) Wherever the Commission for Organizing the Party of Workers of Ethiopia, COPWE, is mentioned by name in any (?statute), it will be read as the Workers Party of Ethiopia, WPE.
3. On the leadership of the WPE: The government and society will be led by the WPE.
4. On handing over property, institutions and services: Property, institutions and services have been handed over to the WPE under this decree.
5. The time that the decree will become effective: This decree will be effective from today, 10 September 1984.
[signed] Addis Ababa, 10 September 1984, the PMAC.
WPE Congress Functions Reported
EA101335 Addis Ababa Domestic Service in English 0400 GMT 8 Sep 84
[Text] This is the English service of the Voice of Revolutionary Ethiopia broadcasting live from the congress hall. Members of the congress as well as invited guests have now taken their seats and they are all awaiting for the arrival of Comrade Chairman Mengistu Haile Mariam and members of the Presidium. In the meantime, we shall read an article under the title: "Party Congress, Concept and Practice."
The founding congress of the WPE [Workers Party of Ethiopia] is a major event in the life of the working people of the country and plays an important role in the [word indistinct] of its organizational [word indistinct] and policy, as well as in the development of the creative activities of the vanguard party. Since the founding congress of the WPE is the supreme organ, it is -- as Lenin once said -- the most responsible assembly of the party and the supreme party body which convenes for discussing important issues.
A Marxist-Leninist party is organized from grassroots to the highest level on the basis of democratic centralism. The highest bodies of the party are the congress, the central committee, and the politburo. Organized under these bodies are to be found the party's regional [word indistinct], provincial, and primary party bodies at all levels.
The aims of the congress are made known in advance not only to party members but also to all working people. The congress, being the party's highest body, determines the founding of the party and, if necessary, can change the (?name) of the party. A party congress can be called in accordance with the statute of the party in a limited period of time depending on the objective conditions of the country. The central committee calls the congress and decides the number of members to be represented by the congress. In this regard, delegates to the congress are elected at all levels in a truly democratic way. The number of delegates to be represented at the congress from the different party bodies is determined by the objective historical conditions prevailing in the country.
[Text continues on the page for five further paragraphs on the congress's agenda, statute and resolutions; not transcribed here.]
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
The page is itself an FBIS English translation/transcription: the decree was broadcast in Amharic (Addis Ababa Domestic Service, 1720 GMT 10 September 1984) and the article in the English service; no further translation is needed. The Amharic original is not on the page.
```

Read against the page image, with OCR as an aid. The page is printed in two columns; the text follows the left column, then the right. 'the Commission for Organizing the Party of Workers of Ethiopia' and 'since it is the a major historic event' are as printed. '(?statute)', '(?name)', '(?do these)' and '(?propagation)' are FBIS's own uncertainty marks. The top of the left column continues the decree begun on the previous page (items 1 and 2(a) are not on this page).

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