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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Railroad Workers and the Ethiopian State: The Politics of Workers' Organization on the Franco-Ethiopian Railroad, 1919-1959
Author:Killion, Tom C.ISNI
Year:1992
Periodical:International Journal of African Historical Studies
Volume:25
Issue:3
Pages:583-605
Language:English
Geographic term:Ethiopia
Subjects:railway workers
trade unions
rail transport
Labor and Employment
History and Exploration
Politics and Government
international relations
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/219026
Abstract:Like other African railroads, the Chemin de fer franco-éthiopien (CFE) was a monopolistic company that was financed and controlled by European State-guaranteed capital. Unlike other African railroads, however, seven-eighths of the CFE ran through the territory of an independent African State: Ethiopia. Consequently the French-controlled CFE company found itself in the precarious position of attempting to enforce a colonial monopoly without the benefit of direct political control, including juridical and coercive power, over most of the territory through which the railroad passed. The author argues that the contradictions inherent in this situation had a profound effect on the relations between workers and capital on the CFE during the years 1919-1959. He examines CFE labour recruitment, early CFE workers' organization (1919-1926), the political and economic realignments of the years 1935-1945, workers' organization and Ethiopian nationalism (1946-1950), and the decline of the Syndicat des cheminots (1950-1959). In particular, he illuminates the actions of CFE workers in pursuit of their own economic and social interests, showing that their strategies were successful where their interests converged with those of the Ethiopian State, but unsuccessful where their interests diverged from those of the Ethiopian ruling class. Notes, ref.
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