The 1974 Ethiopian Revolution and the Confederation of Ethiopian Labor Unions

Abstract

Workers were one of the most important actors during the 1974 Ethiopian revolution. The Confederation of Ethiopian Labor Unions (CELU), which represented the country’s organized workers, had already begun to resist state authorities before the revolution broke out. The revolution was used by the CELU as a welcome opportunity to petition the state and make its demands heard. This paper therefore, attempts to reconstruct the impact of the 1974 Ethiopian revolution on the labor relations in general and the CELU in particular. Since this is qualitative study, data was collected through document analysis and in-depth interviews. The collected data were analyzed thematically. The findings show that the military and the civilian left groups used CELU as a battle ground during the revolution. In addition, the military dissolved the CELU and reorganized it in line with the new socialist model.