Revolutionary democracy Revolutionary democracy replaced
Marxism–Leninism as the EPRDF's official ideology in the early 1990s, not because the front had lost their belief in
Marxism, but rather because of the international situation (the
Soviet Union was
dissolved in 1991). The main message of Revolutionary Democracy, similar to that found in Marxist–Leninist thought, is that a
vanguard party should rule because it represents the people and has "supposedly superior knowledge of the nature of social development conferred on them by the EPRDF ideology." Similar to Marxism–Leninism, the EPRDF prefers to categorize society into classes such as the
peasantry, the
bourgeoisie, the
proletariat and the
comprador bourgeoisie and considers its main adversary to be
imperialism The peasantry are considered the main class in Ethiopia, since they form a majority of the population, and they are considered the pillar of Revolutionary Democracy. Upon seizing power, the front was suspicious of the
petite bourgeoisie, believing it to be inclined to oppose the front's policies. Despite this, the front believed it could win over the petite bourgeoisie through economic incentives and successful policy. Importantly, if members of the petite bourgeoisie oppose the EPRDF, the front will "empty their 'belly and pocket'". The
urban proletariat are in contrast naturally inclined towards the EPRDF, and the EPRDF seeks to recruit members of these class so as to strengthen the front's organizational links with the
trade unions. The EPRDF asserts that the "local investor", that is, the capitalist, will naturally be hostile towards the front and its policies, and the front should therefore try to persuade this class to become neutral. Religious organizations are deemed
reactionary by the EPRDF. Some people state that the EPRDF has not espoused a well-defined unified ideology or political philosophy. Its members held a variety of positions that could be broadly defined as being to the left of the opposition parties. Other priorities in the early 1990s included the promotion of a more active and positive role for Ethiopia following the
collapse of the
People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the
internationalization of Ethiopia's economy by the
liberalization and promotion of domestic demand (expected to lead to the
industrialization) and the promotion of
education. Despite this, Revolutionary Democracy can be considered a mixture of communist and liberal thought. The front views liberal democracy and free market capitalism as decadent, and has a "romantic attachment" to the beliefs of
Vladimir Lenin, who condemned liberal democracy as the
dictatorship of the bourgeoisie (literally the dictatorship of the upper class) while supporting Lenin's assertion of the need for a vanguard party which practices
democratic centralism. It considers liberal democracy to be "ill-fit and unsustainable", but ironically much of the front's economic policies are based on the tacit acknowledgement of the need of some liberalism in the economic field.
Relation to communism With the majority of EPRDF's top leaders being former members of the
Marxist–Leninist League of Tigray, a
Hoxhaist organization led by among others
Meles Zenawi,
Marxist ideology still plays a prominent role in party discourse, with some even claiming that the front is hiding their ideology. Theodore M. Vestal claims that the front based its ideology on Marxist–Leninist
revisionism, believing it explains the regime's authoritarian nature. Of the communists traits in Revolutionary Democracy, most of them have been borrowed from
Mao Zedong Thought, an ideology conceived by Chinese leader
Mao Zedong. == Election results ==