The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) held its 4^th Congress in April 2006 and adopted the program contained herein. This program was amended in January 2008 following the separate emergence of EPRP[democratic]. The program reflects the main tenets of the EPRP[d].

The EPRP, formed in April 1972 to respond to the needs of people’s struggle for a political organization, has fought for more than three decades for the right of the Ethiopian people to be masters of their own destiny. The EPRP[d] is continuing with this lofty and historic struggle because, at present as in the past, the Ethiopian people are deprived of their basic and inalienable human and democratic rights.

The EPRP was formed at a time when an autocracy had exhausted its tenure in power by refusing to respond to the popular demand for change in the system. Land to the Tiller, Education for All , Equality of all Nationalities and other popular demands bearing on the sovereignty of the people and the country were ignored by the rulers. The 1974 popular revolution swept away the autocratic regime and paved the path towards a better and democratic future. It was indeed a revolution in which the majority of Ethiopians, irrespective of class or nationality, gender or religion, participated and paid the necessary sacrifice to achieve their objectives.

 During this period, the EPRP was as yet not strong enough to play a determinant role in such a way as to block or avert the impending danger of a coup d’etat and the usurpation of the revolution by the army. The army, led by officers and NCOs later to be called the Derg, assumed power and blocked the triumph of the revolution. Draconian and repressive laws and edicts were proclaimed to counter the people’s demand for power, for democracy, for meaningful change. The ancient regime was swept away and yet, in a way, reborn in the dictatorial Derg.

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