The 1949 Ethiopian railway strike: from one domination to another

In August 1949, a strike by Ethiopian workers on the Franco-Ethiopian railway from Djibouti to Addis Ababa was motivated by wage demands, but also by the denunciation of discrimination within the company inspired by colonial practices in a country that had remained independent. This social movement took place against a backdrop of declining semi-colonial domination, the assertion of national independence through control of the country’s foreign trade, and the labour and political demands of workers who had been exploited and discriminated against. The movement’s failure relegated the workers to their class status and gives us insight into the situation of workers in Ethiopia. It also gave the Ethiopian government the opportunity to assert its sovereignty, after a decade of foreign occupation, and marked a step towards the “Ethiopianisation” of the line.