Abstract:
For long, the Ethiopian history was not inclusive. It is the political history /the history of the
ruling circle / which dominated the largest portion of its history. The country’s social,
economic and cultural history were left untouched or were given a very little credit. These
problems began to be solved since 1960 with the thematic extension of the writing of history
as a result of the establishment of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies in that year.
This thesis is, thus, intended to reconstruct “A Socio Economic Condition of Peasants of
Gonča Siso Enäsé warada from 1974-1991”. In doing so, a number of methods were
designed and made in to use. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources.
Checking one source with another was followed as an exclusive principle. Besides archival
sources, oral informants were utilized. The direction ‘one informant may lead to another
‘was considered. In undertaking oral informants; structured, unstructured and semi
structured interviews were conducted and data were mostly, but not exclusively, qualitatively
interpreted. A total of 36 informants /from which two are women/ were interviewed. They are
in ages between 48-88 years.
The study tries to investigate the land tenure system in the wäräda taking the last three
decades of the imperial regime and analyzes how it caused the 1968 Gojjam peasant
rebellion which could serve as a preliminary section to the outbreak of the 1974 revolution. It
first analyzes the introduction of the 1967 AIT, the peasant agitation following it and the role
of Gonča peasants as prime movers of that agitation, and the peasant concessions of the
rebellion. With the taking power of the Därg, the Gonča peasants, inspired by former
government officials, were serious opponents and due to the measures the government took
up on them, the peasants made sacrifices.
The thesis also tried to depict the situation in the wäräda after the Gonča peasant oppositions
were suppressed. The implementation of the radical land reform and related issues were
evaluated. It tested the ways how the PCs, and SCs were set and the peasant response to them
including the ups and downs in implementing the programs of Villagization and resettlement.
Finally, the thesis tried to convey what dysfunctions was the government witnessing which
brought its demise in 1991.