THE VICTORY OF SOCIALISM IS INEVITABLE! proclaims the arch that leads to Revolution Square in the capital, Addis Ababa. That slogan expresses the aspirations of those who lead one of the poorest nations on earth. Torn by famine and civil war, Ethiopia (pop. 40 million) has been stumbling from crisis to crisis for more than a decade. Now under Lieut. Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, who seized power in 1977 after the military ousted Emperor Haile Selassie three years earlier, the ancient African nation is using a complex blend of doctrinaire Marxist-Leninism and old-fashioned nationalism to address its most intractable problems.
Signs...