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Wage Labor and Mobility in Colonial Eritrea, 1880s to 1920s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2014

Stefano Bellucci  and
Massimo Zaccaria
Stefano Bellucci
Affiliation:
International Institute of Social History and Leiden University, The Netherlands
Massimo Zaccaria
Affiliation:
University of Pavia, Italy
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Abstract

Mobility and wage labor are two key variables that help to explain some of the complexities of the labor history of colonial Eritrea. Focusing on the initial period of Italian colonization, between the 1880s and 1920s, this article analyzes the relationship between the two above-mentioned variables. Based on previously unexplored archival sources and documents, the authors conclude that wage labor did contribute to the mobility of workers throughout the region (and not vice versa). In the period under consideration, Eritrea did not become a settler colony, despite Italy's initial efforts to import a national labor force. Instead, through a mix of capital investments in construction and transport, and increasing military recruitment, the Italian regime contributed significantly to an increase in free wage labor in the region. Within a year of Italy's 1911 invasion of Libya, it needed to reinforce its colonial army. From 1912 onward, in return for wages, tens of thousands of Eritreans entered the Italian colonial army to fight on the Libyan front. This military employment left voids in the local labor market, which were filled by people from neighboring countries, particularly Ethiopians and Yemenis. A relationship thus developed and continued between mobility and wage labor.

Type
African Labor Histories
Information
International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 86 , Fall 2014 , pp. 89 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 2014 

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References

NOTES

1. For a taxonomy of labor relations from 1500 to 2000, see the project coordinated by Karin Hofmeester at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. It can be found online at http://socialhistory.org/en/projects/history-labour-relations-1500-2000.

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3. Ministero degli Interni to Prefetti, Sotto Prefetti e Sindaci del Regno, March 5, 1890, 16/1, folder 1, Archivio Storico Ministero Affari Esteri, Archivio Storico del Ministero Africa Italiana (hereafter cited as ASMAE, ASMAI).

4. Giacomo Malvano to Vittorio Trombi, October 26, 1899, box 333, folder 38, Archivio Storico Ministero Affari Esteri, Archivio Eritrea (hereafter cited as ASMAE, AE).

5. Italian consul at Suez to Italian consul at Port Said, undated (July–August 1889), box 16/1, folder 1, ASMAE, ASMAI.

6. Government of Eritrea, circular letter on colonization, April 25, 1895, box 31/2, folder 35, ASMAE, ASMAI.

7. A. Legrenzi to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 12, 1895, box 31/2, folder 34, ASMAE, ASMAI.

8. In 1907, a group of around 150 Amalfitan fishermen who had not found gainful employment in Algeria, where they had gone for the annual sardine take, requested permission to settle in Eritrea as fishermen. See Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Giuseppe Salvago Raggi, June 25, 1907, box 51, folder 3, ASMAE AE.

9. Consulate General of Zanzibar to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, June 20, 1894, box 16/1, folder 3, ASMAE, ASMAI.

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11. Some of these requests can be found in box 333, folder 37, ASMAE, AE.

12. Ferdinando Martini, circular letter of February 22, 1898 and of November 1, 1898, box 16/1, folder 7, ASMAE, ASMAI; see also, Zaccaria, Massimo, “‘I dseva donc c'ui era sol de sabiô!’ Il ruolo della Romagna nella colonizzazione dell'Eritrea, 1890–1905,” I Quaderni del Cardello 18 (2009): 257–300 Google Scholar.

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14. Pietro Zanardi to Governo della Colonia, April 1, 1900, box 333, folder 38, ASMAE, AE.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Order of the Colonial Office, no. 19, November 1, 1898, and no. 24, December 1, 1898.

18. Pietro Zanardi to the Asmara Administration, October 21, 1898, box 320, ASMAE, AE.

19. This situation changed dramatically after the Ethiopian War and the creation of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana) by the Fascist regime between 1935 and 1941, which led to a substantial increase in the number of Italian emigrants settling in Eritrea. Bellucci, Stefano, “Italian Transnational Fluxes of Labour and the Changing of Labour Relations in the Horn of Africa, 1935–1939,” Workers of the World: International Journal on Strikes and Social Conflicts 1 (2013): 158–74Google Scholar.

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33. Ciampi, “La popolazione dell'Eritrea,” 1995.

34. Corpo di occupazione della Colonna Camelli [sic], Ruolino dei conducenti cammellieri partenti il 22 luglio per Massaua, box 618, ASMAE, AE.

35. Giuseppe Salvago Raggi to Ferdinando Martini, 1915, box 34/3, folder 69, Report No. 23512, ASMAE, ASMAI.

36. See Bellucci, Stefano and Zaccaria, Massimo, “Engine of Change: A Social History of the Car-Mechanics Sector in the Horn of Africa,” in Transforming Innovations in Africa, eds. Gewald, Jan-Bart, Leliveld, André, and Pesa, Iva (Leiden, NL, 2012), 237–56Google Scholar.

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40. Gen. Del Mastro, Report n. 435, March 20, 1914, box 115/2, folder 7, ASMAE, ASMAI.

41. Some indications on the involvement of local authorities in the recruitment of soldiers are present in Governo della Tripolitania, Stato Maggiore to Ministero delle Colonie, Ufficio Libia, March 15, 1915, box 115/2, folder 7, ASMAE, ASMAI.

42. Having fully considered the complex underlying issues, when the authors use the term Yemeni, they intend it to include the Hadrami and the Yemeni Jews.

43. Ivi, note 41.

44. On the relationship between the Senussiya and Yemen, see Bang, Anne K., The Idrisi State in ‘Asir 1906–1934. Politics, Religion and Personal Prestige as State-building Factors in Early Twentieth-Century Arabia (Bergen, NO, 1996)Google Scholar.

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48. Comando RCTC della Somalia, Relazioni Annuali per gli anni 1922, 1923, 1924 in AUSSME D/3/22/1. The authors want to thank Gabriele Zorzetto for this important information.

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50. Governo dell'Eritrea to Commissari Regionale and Agenti Commerciali, March 28, 1917, box 816, ASMAE, AE.

51. G. Cavalli, Bando nr. 8 “Alle popolazioni indigene di Asmara!” March 16, 1917, box 816, ASMAE, AE.

52. The office was established in a private house owned by Blata Barachi Bachit. It was located near the market area, not far from the Coptic Church of Asmara. The service was run by the carabinieri of Asmara. This suggests that the labor question was considered by the authorities to be a security issue; cfr. Compagnia Carabinieri Reali to Segretariato Generale Governo, March 28, 1917, box 816, ASMAE, AE.

53. Camillo De Camillis to G. Cavalli, March 28, 1917, box 816, ASMAE, AE.

54. Giuseppe Colli di Fellizano to Governo Asmara, s.d., box 115/2, folder 7, ASMAE, ASMAI.

55. Domenico Brielli to Governo dell'Eritrea, June 16, 1917, box 816, ASMAE, AE.

56. Ibid.

57. Commissario Regionale Seraè to Direzione Affari Civili, July 17, 1920, box 839, ASMAE, AE.

58. Compagnia Carabinieri Reali to Segretariato Generale Governo, March 28, 1917, box 816, ASMAE, AE.

59. See Bellucci and Zaccaria, “Engine of Change,” 237–56.

60. Volterra, Sudditi coloniali, 44.

61. Governo dell'Eritrea, Corpo di Polizia a Direzione Affari Civili, August 12, 1920, box 839, ASMAE, AE.

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64. Miran, “Red Sea,” 136.

65. Interview with Michele H. Asmara, August 14, 2013.

66. Even as late as the 1960s, Massimo Adolfo Vitale (a former high-ranking colonial official commissioned by the Italian government in the 1950s to write a volume on the history of the Italian army in Africa) described the Yemenis as follows: “Very different physically from the other Northern Arab races, generally below average in height, they had the decided advantage over Eastern Africans in particular thanks to their muscular chests and build. Standing sturdily on strong legs, generally slightly bow-legged, they were better equipped at facing heavy loads.” Vitale, L'opera dell'esercito (1885–1943). Ordinamento e reclutamento, 82.

67. The two terms “mano” and “tocca” are still used in Massawa's port.

68. During the years of the Ethiopian war (1935–1936), the Yemeni dockworkers became essential for the smooth operation of the Italian logistical machine, their wages reaching the sum of ten lira daily—a substantial amount that reflects the lack of alternatives to Yemeni manpower. An attempt to rely on Genovese dockworkers (camalli) turned out to be a big failure due to the harsh climate conditions in Massawa.

69. Interview with Dr. Luciano Dalmasso, Asmara, September 1, 2013.

70. Pini, Giuseppe, L'autocamionabile Assab-Addis Ababa (Roma, 1939)Google Scholar; Gigli, Giuseppe Cobolli, “La strada Dancala nella rete delle comunicazioni dell'Impero,” Rivista della Colonie (1939)Google Scholar; Klorman, Bat-Zion Eraqi, “Yemen, Aden and Ethiopia: Jewish Emigration and Italian Colonialism,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland 19 (2009): 419–20Google Scholar.

71. Interview with Abdalla Muhammad Bājiba, Asmara, August 13, 2013.

72. Dirar, Uoldelul Chelati, “Trespassing Boundaries. The Challenges for Eritrean Histroriography,” in Themes in Modern African History and Culture, ed. Taddia, Irma and Berge, Lars (Padova, Italy, 2013), 255Google Scholar.