Trade unions and ‘responsible participation’: Dahomey, 1958–1975

Abstract

The trade union movement in sub-Saharan Africa during the struggle against colonial rule in the 1950s has long commanded the attention of historians. Numerous books and articles have detailed the growing strength and critical role of trade unions in France's vast West African colonial federation, l'Afrique occidentale française (AOF). Far less is known about the fate of these trade unions in the nine newly independent countries that emerged from the demise of AOF. In the 15 years following independence, most autonomous trade unions in French-speaking West Africa were either marginalised or integrated into the political structures of ruling parties. With the exception of Burkina Faso, single national trade union federations controlled by ruling political parties existed everywhere in francophone West Africa by 1975. Whether capitalist, military or socialist, all political elites sought to create a trade unionism that would serve as a transmission belt for party control over the workforce, a type of unionism that was referred to as ‘participation responsable’. This article details the experience of Dahomey (now Benin), where independent trade unions struggled against responsible participation and continued to play a pivotal political role until 1975, when the state socialist regime of Mathieu Kérékou finally succeeded in imposing state-controlled trade unionism.

Keywords::

• trade unions
• West Africa
• Dahomey (Benin)
• coup d'état
• colonialism
• poverty
• general strike

Notes

^1. While the literature on trade unionism in the late colonial period is extensive, very little has been written on state–labour relations in francophone West Africa during the first years of independence. George Martens has written a few suggestive pieces: see , “L'Afrique a-t-elle besoin des syndicats?”; “Industrial Relations”; and “French-speaking Africa.” See also Kabeya Muase, Syndicalisme et démocratie; Fonteneau, Histoire du syndicalisme.

^2. On ‘responsible participation,’ see Lo, Syndicalisme et participation responsible.

^3. For a useful discussion of this concept, see Hodgkin, “A Note on the Language,” 235–52. See also Zolberg, Creating Political Order.

^4.Touré, Expérience Guinéenne et Unité Africaine, 32–3.

^5. Ibid., 37.

^6.Berins Collier, Regimes in Tropical Africa, 155.

^7. Ibid.

^8. Madeira Keita, “Le Parti Unique en Afrique,” Présence Africaine 30, February–March 1960, 19.

^9. On the origins of Dahomey's three-way politics in the 1940s and 1950s, see , “The Three-Party System in Dahomey: I”; “The Three-Party System in Dahomey: II.”

^10. The motivations behind and immediate consequences of “balkanisation” are detailed in de Benoist, La Balkanisation de l'Afrique.

^11. On Dahomey's continued financial dependence on France in the first decade after independence, see d'Almeida-Topor, “Les relations franco-dahoméennes.”

^12. Quoted in Thompson, “Dahomey,” 228.

^13. For useful overviews of Dahomey immediately prior to independence and during the first decade of nationhood, see Oké, “Des comités électoraux aux partis politiques dahoméens”; Glélé, Naissance d'un État Noir; Cornevin, La République populaire du Benin; Ronen, Dahomey: Between Tradition; Allen, Benin; Thompson, “Dahomey”; and Decalo, “The Politics of Instability.”

^14.Decalo, “Full Circle in Dahomey,” 445–6.

^15.Amin, L'Afrique de l'Ouest Bloquée, 106.

^16. Ibid., 109.

^17.Thompson, “Dahomey,” 188.

^18. Dahomeans living and working elsewhere in francophone West Africa were often vulnerable to economic slumps and waves of xenophobia. In late 1958, for instance, several thousand Dahomeans were expelled from Côte d'Ivoire during anti-immigrant riots. See Morgenthau, Political Parties, 217.

^19. UGTAN (Union générale des travailleurs d'Afrique Noire) was a pan-African trade union movement that had sought to organise all workers in the AOF in the 1950s. Led at its peak by future Guinean president Sékou Touré, UGTAN was a highly successful movement that was undercut after 1956, when the French decentralised administrative authority to the territorial units that comprised the AOF. See Cooper, “UGTAN.”

^20. CATC (Confédération africaine des travailleurs croyants) was another AOF-wide trade union movement that had some success in the 1950s. Led by David Soumah, CATC was Christian in orientation and opposed the Communist overtones of UGTAN.

^21. Fagbamigbé had served as president during the founding convention of UGTAN at Cotonou in January 1957 and thereby increased his prestige among Dahomean workers.

^22. The quote is from Cooper, Decolonization, 421.

^23.Glélé, Naissance d'un État Noir, 143–9.

^24.Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 782, November 5, 1960, 2407; Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 783, November 12, 1960, 2457; and Heilbrunn, “Authority, Property, and Politics,” 607.

^25.Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 822, August 12, 1961, 2052.

^26.Thompson, “Dahomey,” 231–4.

^27.Allen, Benin, 26.

^28. Ronen, Dahomey: Between Tradition, 129; Heilbrunn, “Authority, Property, and Politics,” 609.

^29.Davies, African Trade Unions, 106.

^30.Glélé, Naissance d'un État Noir, 281–8; Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 938, November 2, 1963, 2052.

^31.Decalo, “Regionalism”; Decalo, “The Army in a Praetorian State.”

^32.Glélé, Naissance d'un État Noir, 289–93.

^33.Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 974, July 11, 1964, 1725; West Africa, July 24, 1964.

^34.Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 992, November 14, 1964, 3328; Afrique Nouvelle, October 15, 1964.

^35.Glélé, Naissance d'un État Noir, 293–5; Ronen, Dahomey: Between Tradition, 197–201.

^36.Decalo, “Regionalism,” 453–7; Allen, Benin, 27–8; and Lemarchand, “Dahomey.”

^37.Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 1125, June 3, 1967, 1553; Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 1141, September 23, 1967, 2506; and Heilbrunn, “Authority, Property, and Politics,” 612–3.

^38.Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 1154, December 23, 1967, 3273; Afrique Nouvelle, December 21, 1967.

^39.West Africa, December 23 and 30, 1967; Lemarchand, “Dahomey.”

^40.Decalo, “Full Circle in Dahomey,” 447–8.

^41.Afrique Nouvelle, July 4, 1968.

^42.Amin, L'Afrique de l'Ouest Bloquée, 116.

^43. Ibid., 206, 218.

^44.Rouchy and Paquier, Les Conditions d'Installation, 7–11; Allen, Benin, 75.

^45.Amin, L'Afrique de l'Ouest Bloquée, 110.

^46. Ibid., 116.

^47.Decalo, “Full Circle in Dahomey,” 446.

^48.Afrique Nouvelle, November 14, 1968.

^49.Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 1210, January 25, 1969, 43; Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 1225, May 10, 1969, 1489.

^50.Afrique Nouvelle, May 22, 1969.

^51.Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 1225, May 10, 1969, 1489.

^52.Afrique Nouvelle, December 11, 1969; West Africa, December 16, 1969.

^53.Decalo, “Full Circle in Dahomey,” 453.

^54.Afrique Nouvelle, April 16 and June 11, 1970; Afrique Contemporaine, May–June 1970, 7.

^55.Africa Contemporary Record, vol. 3, 1970–1971, B333–4.

^56.Afrique Contemporaine, September–October 1970, 4.

^57.Afrique Nouvelle, November 11, 1971; Afrique Contemporaine, November–December 1971, 5.

^58.Decalo, “Ideological Rhetoric,” 232–4.

^59.Africa Contemporary Record, vol. 3, 1972–1973, B580.

^60.Godin, Benin 1972–1982, 170–5.

^61.Allen, Benin, 68.

^62.Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 1424, February 23, 1973, 603.

^63.Africa Contemporary Record, vol. 3, 1974–1975, B254; Allen, Benin, 69.

^64.Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 1548, July 11, 1975), 2059; Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens 1549, July 18, 1975, 2115.

^65.Godin, Benin 1972–1982, 168–70.

^66. Ibid., 170–5; Allen, “Goodbye to All That,” 63–81.

^67. On the role of trade unions in the push for democracy across francophone West Africa in the early 1990s and its impact on trade union fortunes in the region, see Phelan, “Trade Unions.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Craig Phelan

Craig Phelan is Professor of Modern History at Kingston University London and editor of Labor History.