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Ethiopia Urban Society
After World War II, towns, commerce, and bureaucracy
gradually became more significant in Ethiopia. Except for
Addis Ababa and some Red Sea ports, towns were small, and
urbanization had proceeded more slowly than in many other
African countries. City and town life had not been a feature
of Ethiopian society, and trade was not a full-time
occupation for Ethiopians except for itinerant Muslims and
Arabized peoples on the Red Sea coast. Manufacturing had
arrived only recently, and the role of Ethiopians, except as
unskilled laborers, was minimal. Ownership and management,
with relatively few exceptions, were in the hands of
foreigners.
Most Ethiopians who entered into occupations not associated
with the land or with traditional methods of administration
worked for the central government, which had expanded to
bring Ethiopia under the emperor's control, to provide
essential services, and to generate economic development.
During the 1940s, Ethiopia's few educated persons, who
usually came from families of the nobility and gentry,
joined the government.
Beginning in the 1950s, relatively younger Ethiopians with
higher education developed hopes and expectations for
democratic institutions. Still small in number, perhaps
7,000 to 8,000 by 1970, they were more ethnically varied in
origin than the older educated group, although Amhara and
Tigray were still represented disproportionately (as they
were even among secondary school graduates). These would-be
reformers were frequently frustrated by the older ways of
the senior officials, who were dependent on Haile Selassie
and beholden to him. Nevertheless, sustained opposition to
the regime did not occur, largely because even middle- and
lower-level government employees were better off than the
peasants, small traders, and some of the gentry.
Small traders and craftsmen, below educated government
workers in income and status, had little influence on the
government, which tended to encourage larger-scale capitalintensive ventures typically requiring foreign investment
and management. Although an increasing number of Christians
were involved in commercial activities, small traders
remained largely a Muslim group. Skilled craftsmen who were
not of the traditional pariah groups often belonged to small
ethnic groups, such as the weavers (often called Dorze) of
Gamo Gofa.
At the bottom of the urban social scale were workers of
varied ethnic origins, generally unskilled in a labor market
crowded with unskilled workers ready to replace them.
Neither government policy, the weak labor unions, nor the
condition of the labor market gave them social or political
leverage. By the late 1960s, inflation and a lack of jobs
for university and secondary school graduates intensified
disgruntlement. Urban-based agitation by students, labor,
and the military eventually toppled the imperial regime.
Those who had served in senior positions in the imperial
government and the military establishment were dismissed,
imprisoned, executed, or they fled the country. The
survivors of the old social structure were younger persons
in government service: bureaucrats, teachers, and
technicians. Some benefited from the nationalization of
private enterprises and expansion of the government
apparatus, filling posts held by senior officials or foreign
specialists before the revolution. But this group was
excluded from power, and some became militant opponents of
the new regime's radical policies.
The position of the middle class--traders and artisans--
varied. Generally, the status of Muslim traders rose after
the new regime disestablished the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
As economic conditions worsened and consumer goods became
scarce, however, traders became scapegoats and subject to
violent attacks.
Notwithstanding allusions to the proletariat's
revolutionary role, the urban working class--mainly in Addis
Ababa and its environs--gained neither status nor power. The
military government replaced the Confederation of Ethiopian
Labor Unions (CELU) with the All-Ethiopia Trade Union (AETU)
when the CELU leadership started opposing the direction of
the revolution. The AETU focused its activities on
supporting the government policy of emphasizing production
rather than on advancing worker rights. The AETU--unlike the
CELU--was a hierarchy rather than a confederation; unions at
the base accepted policy decisions made at higher levels. In
the next few years, the government had difficulty enforcing
this policy. Deteriorating economic conditions caused
strikes and demonstrations. In addition, violence often
broke out between workers and government officials (see
Labor Unions, ch. 3).
The urban equivalents of the peasant associations were the
kebeles (see
Kebeles, ch. 4). Initially, mid- and lowerlevel bureaucrats were elected to posts in these
associations, but the military government soon purged them
for opposing the revolutionary regime. New laws excluded
from elective office for one year those who had owned rental
property and members of their households. Thus, not only
were the wealthy excluded from participation, but also many
middle-class investors who had built and rented low-cost
housing and who were far from rich were excluded as well.
This exclusion also deprived many students and other young
people of a role in the kebeles. Those who worked full time
away from the neighborhood tended to be unwilling to take on
kebele positions. Partly by default and partly with the
PMAC's encouragement, elections in 1976 filled kebeles posts
with (in the words of John Markakis and Nega Ayele) "persons
of dubious character, indeterminate occupation, busybodies
and opportunists of all sorts . . . . Militia units
[attached to the urban associations] charged with local
security mustered the perennially unemployed, the shiftless
and hangers-on, young toughs and delinquents, who were
instantly transformed into revolutionary proletarian
fighters." These individuals perpetrated crimes against
people they disliked or disagreed with.
The kebeles engaged in some of the revolution's most brutal
bloodletting. Increasing criticism eventually forced the
regime to restrain them. After the populace recognized the
PMAC's permanence, more people participated in kebele
administration. By 1990 the kebeles were part of the grassroots WPE organization.
Data as of 1991
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