Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T07:58:56.445Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Immigration and the Working Class: The Remigration Factor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

Dirk Hoerder
Dirk Hoerder
Affiliation:
Universität Bremen
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Essays
Information
International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 21 , Spring 1982 , pp. 28 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

NOTES

1. I have dealt more extensively with these categories in “Factors Retarding Working-Class Radicalism in the United States: Some Comparative Hypotheses,” paper delivered at the Biennial conference of the European Association for American Studies, Amsterdam, April 1980.

2. Historical Statistics of the United States. Colonial Times to 1970, 2 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1975), series C 296–301, “passenger arrivals and departures 1908 to 1970.”

3. Thernstrom, Stephan and Orlov, Ann, eds., Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (Cambridge, Mass., and London 1980), 476, 1036–1037.Google Scholar See also Axelrod, Bernard, “Historical Studies of Emigration from the United States,” International Migration Review, 6 (1972), 32–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4. Thomas, Brinley, Migration and Economic Growth. A Study of Great Britain and the Atlantic Economy (Cambridge, 1954)Google Scholar; Thistlethwaite, Frank, “Migration from Europe Overseas in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Cneturies,” in: XIe Congrès International de Sciences Historiques, Rapports V: Histoire Contemporaine (Stockholm, 1960), 32–60Google Scholar; Åkerman, Sune, “From Stockholm to San Francisco. The Development of the Historical Study of External Migrations,” Annales Academiae Regiae Scientiarum Upsaliensis, 19 (1975), 5–46.Google Scholar

After completion of the review essay I received a study by Virtainen, Keijo, Finnish Emigrants (1860–1930) in the International Overseas Return Migration Movement (Turku, 1970)Google Scholar, and also was informed that Adam Walaszek of the Polonia Research Institute in Cracow, Poland, is working on return migration to Poland after the reestablishment of the Polish state and during the Great Depression. National feeling and economic considerations induced American and Canadian Poles to return after 1918, and during the Great Depression the return movement was encouraged by Polish governmental agencies. Numbers of returnees remained small, however, and their impact limited because of hostility of villagers to new methods and “foreign” capital and of the clergy to new ideas. See the essays in Przeglad Polonijny 4, no. 4 (1978), 37–50; 5, no. 3 (1979), 21–39; 6, no. 1 (1980), 5–17; Studio Historyzne 23, no. 3 (1980), 471–479.

5. Shepperson, Wilbur S., Emigration and Disenchantment. Portraits of Englishmen Repatriated from the United States (Norman, Okla., 1965)Google Scholar; Vagts, Alfred, Deutsch-Amerikanische Rückwanderung. Probleme—Phänomene—Statistik—Politik—Soziologie—Biographie. (Heidelberg, 1960).Google ScholarShepperson's, Wilbur S.Six Who Returned (Reno, Nev., 1961)Google Scholar has not been available to the reviewer.

6. Shepperson's “social groups” make use of the book difficult. In chapters 2–5 he groups together farmers and country gentry; artisans and businessmen; actors, a variety of others and aristocrats; and finally professionals.

7. Shepperson, 18–26, 62–85. Thomas, B. pointed out that unskilled workers and domestics made up a considerably larger percentage of the total emigration than artisans (1876–1900), 61, 65.Google Scholar

8. Unfortunately this aspect of the migration process is glossed over in the respective article of the Harvard Encyclopedia. It is the subject of a large study by Hartmut Keil and John Jentz at the University of Munich. See their outline in ILWCH 16 (Fall 1979), 44–45. Walker, Mack, Germany and the Emigration (Cambridge, Mass., 1964)Google Scholar provides no information on remigration.

9. Erikson, Charlotte, American Industry and the European Immigrant (Cambridge, 1957), 49, 56Google Scholar passim, and Invisible Immigrants. The Adaptation of English and Scottish Immigrants in Nineteenth-Century America (Coral Gables, Fla., 1972), 61–62, 214, 235–237, 252, 276, 294, 337, 345, 370, 380, 400, 403; Berthoff, Rowland Tappan, British Immigrants in Industrial America, 1790–1950 (Cambridge, Mass. 1953, repr. New York 1968), 9–10Google Scholar, 52, 80–84.

10. Berthoff, 82.

11. Ibid., 10; see also Simon, Roger, “The Birds of Passage in America, 1865–1914,” (M.A. thesis, Univ. of Wisconsin, 1966).Google Scholar

12. Berthoff, 42, 67, 73, 76, 80–84.

13. Erickson, Invisible Immigrants, 276, 337, 403.

14. Berthoff, 20.

15. Schrier, Arnold, Ireland and the American Emigration 1850–1900 (Minneapolis, 1958, repr. New York 1970), 129–143.Google Scholar

17. Harvard Encyclopedia, 1036–1037.

18. Semmingsen, Ingrid, Veien mot Vest, Utvandringen fra Norge til Amerika, 1825–1915 [The Way West. Emigration from Norway to America, 1825–1915], 2 vols. (Oslo, 1941, 1950), 2:Google Scholar 460ff, as reported by L.-G. Tedebrand, see note 20. See also her “Emigration and the Image of America in Europe,” in: Commager, H.S., ed., Immigration and American History (Minneapolis, 1962), 26–55.Google Scholar

19. Kostiainen, Auvo, The Forging of Finnish-American Communisn, 1917–1924. A Study in Ethnic Radicalism (Turku, 1978).Google Scholar Note in this context that during the period of decline of coal mining in the West German Ruhrgebiet (1950s and 1960s) many thousands of miners moved to the German Democratic Republic where miners were still needed.

20. Tedebrand, Lars-Göran, “Remigration from America to Sweden,” in Runblom, Harald and Norman, Hans, eds., From Sweden to America. A History of the Migration, (Minneapolis and Uppsala, 1976), 201–227.Google Scholar

21. Saloutos, Theodore, They Remember America (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1956).Google Scholar His Expatriates and Repatriates. A Neglected Chapter in United States History (Rock Island, Ill., 1972) has not been available to the reviewer.

22. Gilkey, George R., “The United States and Italy: Migration and Repatriation,” Journal of Developing Areas, 2 (1967), 23–35Google Scholar; Cerase, Francesco P., L'emigrazione di ritorno: innovazione o reazione? (Roma, 1971)Google Scholar, based on the author's Ph.D. dissertation, “From Italy to the United States and Back: Returned Migrants, Conservative or Innovative?” (Columbia University, 1971).Google Scholar See also Cerase, , “A Study of Italian Migrants Returning from the U.S.A.,” Int. Migration Rev., 1 (1967), 67–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and “Expectations and Reality: A Case Study of Return Migration from the United States to Southern Italy,” ibid., 8 (1974), 245–262; Caroli, Betty Boyd, Italian Repatriation from the United States, 1900–1914 (New York, 1973).Google Scholar

23. Caroli, 43. Caroli states that remigrants to Northern Italy sometimes teamed up to open small shops—again the move from worker to small, frequently marginal, proprietor (61).

24. This may be as important as the increase in return migration after the beginning of a recession. Caroli also notes another cost factor for the “donating” society: remigrants continuously included a higher percentage of persons sick or mentally ill than departing persons (67).

25. Kraljic, Frances, Croatian Migration to and from the United States, 1900–1914 (Palo Alto, Cal., 1978).Google Scholar

26. Form, W.H. and Rivera, J., “The Place of Returning Migrants in a Stratification System,” Rural Sociology, 23 (1958), 286–297.Google Scholar Note that emigration took place in areas where labor was needed. Perhaps one third of Croatian emigrants were replaced by immigrating Hungarians and Germans (Kraljic, 56).

27. Julianna Puskas from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences is now beginning a study of return migrants to Hungary. Her preliminary findings suggest repetition of the pattern: industrial labor in the U.S., investment of savings in land upon return. I am grateful to Dr. Puskas for sharing this information with me.

28. Hoffman, Abraham, “Stimulus to Repatriation: The 1931 Federal Deportation Drive and the Los Angeles Mexican Community,” Pacific Historical Review, 42 (1973), 205–219CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Garcia, Juan Ramon, Operation Wetback: The Mass Deportation of Mexican Undocumented Workers in 1945 (Westport, Ct., 1980).Google Scholar

29. Feindt, W. and Browning, H.L., “Return Migration: Its Significance in an Industrial and in an Agrarian Town in Mexico,” International Migration Review, 6 (1972), 158–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

30. Hernandez-Alvarez, José, Return Migration to Puerto Rico (Berkeley, Cal., 1967).Google Scholar But see Knowles, W.H., “Puerto Rico: Problems of Returning Migrants,” in OECD, Emigrant Workers Returning to their Home Country, Supplement (Paris, 1967), 87–123Google Scholar; Myers, George C. and Masnick, George, ‘The Emigration Experience of New York Puerto Ricans. A Perspective on Return,” Int. Migration Rev., 2 (1968), 80–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sandis, Eva E., “Characteristics of Puerto Rican Migrants to and from the U.S.,” International Migration Review 4 (1970), 22–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

31. The standard work remains Wilcox, W.F. and Ferenczi, I., eds. International Migration, (2 vols., New York, 1929, 1931; reprinted 1962).Google Scholar For internal French migration see Chatelain, Abel, Les migrants temporaires en France de 1800 à 1914: Histoire économique et sociale …, (2 vols., Lille, 1977).Google Scholar There are numerous works on Algerian workers in France. For internal migration in Russia see Johnson, Robert E., Peasant and Proletarian: The Working Class of Moscow in the Late Nineteenth Century (New Brunswick, N.J., 1979).Google Scholar For Polish workers in Germany see Bade, Klaus J., “Politik und Ökonomie der Ausländerbeschäftigung im preußischen Osten 1885–1914,” in Puhle, H.J. und Wehler, H.U. eds., Preuβen im Rückblick (Göttingen, 1980)Google Scholar and his “Massenwanderung und Arbeitsmarkt im deutschen Nordosten von 1880 bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg. Überseeische Auswanderung, interne Abwanderung und kontinentale Zuwanderung” [Mass migration and labor market in the German Northeast, 1880–1914: Overseas emigration, internal out-migration and continental in-migration], in Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, 20 (1980), 265–323; Kleßmann, Christoph, Polnische Bergarbeiter im Ruhrgebiet 1870–1945. Soziale Integration und nationale Subkultur einer Minderheit im der deutschen Industriegesellschaft [Polish miners in the Ruhr district, 1870–1945. Social intergration and national subculture of a minority in German industiral society], (Göttingen, 1978)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Murzynowska, Krystyna, Die polnischen Erwerbsauswanderer im Ruhrgebiet während der Jahre 1880–1914 [The Polish workers in the Ruhr district] (Dortmund, 1979).Google Scholar The Polish-language original, published Wroclaw, 1972, has not been available to the reviewer. For Czechs in Austria see Glettler, Monika, Die Wiener Tschechen urn 1800. Strukturanalyse einer nationalen Minderheit in einer Grosβstadt (München, 1972).Google Scholar For Italian migration see Rosoli, Gianfausto, ed., Un secolo di emigrazione Italiana, 1876–1976 (Rome, 1979)Google Scholar and the numerous studies of Italians in specific European countires, particularly Germany and Switzerland since the 1880s. On imperialism and wars in relation to immigrant workers (“alien workers,” “guest workers”) see Elsner, L., ed., Fremdarbeiterpolitik im Imperialisms [Alien workers policy during imperialism], (5 vols., Rostock, 1975–1979)Google Scholar and Zunkel, F., “Die auslándischen Arbeiter in der deustschen Kriegswirtshaftspolitik des 1. Weltkriegs” [Foreign workers in German war economic policies during World War One], in Ritter, G.A., ed., Entstehung und Wandel der modernen Gesellschaft. Festschrift für Hans Rosenberg (Berlin, 1970), 280–311.Google Scholar

32. Freeman, Gary P., Immigrant Labor and Racial Conflict in Industrial Societies. The French and British Experience, 1945–1975 (Princeton, 1978)Google Scholar; Jones, Catherine, Immigration and Social Policy in Britain (London, 1977)Google Scholar; Rex, John and Tomlinson, Sally, Colonial Immigrants in a British City: A Class Analysis (Boston, 1979)Google Scholar; Harbach, Heinz, Internationale Schichtung und Arbeitsmigration [Immigration stratification and labor migration] (Reinbeck b. Hamburg, 1976)Google Scholar: Pinot, Françoise, Travailleurs immigrés dans la lutte de classes [immigrant workers in the class struggle] (Paris, 1973)Google Scholar; Granotier, Bernard, Les travailleurs immigrés en France [Immigrant workers in France] (Paris, 1979)Google Scholar; Kudat, Ayse and Özkan, Yilmaz, eds., Internationale Konferenz über Gastarbeiler, (Engl. edition: International Conference on Migrant Workers, mimeographed, [West] Berlin, 1975)Google Scholar; Castles, Stephan and Kosack, Godula, Immigrant Workers and Class Structure in Western Europe (London, 1973)Google Scholar; Cianni, P., Emigration und Imperialisms. Zur Problematik der Arbeitsemigranten [Emigration and imperialism. On the problem of working-class emigration] (München, 1969).Google Scholar

33. Ministro degli Affari Esteri, Direzione Generate dell'emigrazione e delgi affari sociali, Problemi del lavoro italianio all' esteto Relazione per il 1968 (Roma, 1969); Ullmann, Christoph, ed., Italiensche Fremdarbeiter. Protokolle (Stuttgart, 1974)Google Scholar; Hyams, C.Barry and Peter, Helge-Ulrike, eds., Emigrantenbriefe (Marburg, 1974).Google Scholar

34. The following summary is based on his The Effects of Emigration from Yugoslavia and the Problems of Returning Emigrant Workers (The Hague, 1972). See also his “Internationale Migration—ein Negativfaktor bei der wirtschaftlichen Integration” [International migration as a negative factor concerning economic integration], Europäische Rundschau, 3 (1975), 105–112, and several studies in Croatian.

35. Evers, Hans-Dieter, Unger, Klaus, Unger, Liana, Remigration und Sozialstruktur. Arbeitskräfterückwanderung in urbanen Räumen Griechenlands [Remigration and social structure—laborer return migration in urban regions of Greece], project outline (Bielefeld, 1978)Google Scholar, interim report, Jan. 1981. But see Lienau, C., Rückwanderung griechischer Gastarbeiter und Regionalstriktur ländlicher Räume in Griechenland [Return migration of Greek guest workers and regional structure of agricultural areas in Greece] project (Münster, 1970s).Google Scholar B. Kayser, “The Situation of the Returning Migrant on the Labour Larket in Greece: Results of a Survey,” in: OECD, Emigrant Workers, 169–176. Abadan, N., “Le non-retour à l'industrie, trait dominant de la chaine migratoire turque,” Sociologie du Travail, 14 (1972), 278–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

36. Dietzel, Klaus-Peter, “Die Rolle der rückkehrenden Arbeiter in des Entwicklungsstrategie des westdeutschen Imperialismus” [The role of returning workers in the strategy of West German imperialism], Das Argument, 68 (1971), 764–781Google Scholar, issue “Ausländerbeschäftigung und Imperialismus” [Employment of foreign workers and imperialism].

37. A survey of the literature on return migration is Bovenkerk's, FrankThe Sociology of Return Migration: A Bibliographic Essay (The Hague, 1974).CrossRefGoogle Scholar Bovenkerk includes all return migration: intellectuals and technical cadres, white administrators and “nabobs” of former colonies to the “mother” country, and workers from the (former) colonies. This makes the book difficult to use for labor historians, but it is the best survey available. His most unexpected finding is that “the retumess of [intended] permanent emigration were seldom failures, the returnees of temporary migrations were seldom successful” (23). This is contradicted by the findings for Italy by Caroli. It does have considerable bearing for working class migration, since it may explain the conservative character of historical return migration and the lack of impact in present-day migration. Useful collections of essays are Churches Committee on Migrant Workers in Western Europe, Enquiry Related to the Return of Migrant Workers (Geneva, 1966)Google Scholar and OECD, Emigrant Workers Returning to Their Home Country. Final Report and Supplement (2 vols., Paris, 1967).Google Scholar

38. Dietzel cites a study of the supra-national Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that concludes “None [of the researchers] was able to quote any really conclusive instance in which the returning labour was used in a manner at all conducive to development. In no way do the returning emigrants help to further their country's economic growth, whether by the use of the savings they have accumulated abroad or the experience they have acquired.” OECD-Observer, 47 (1970), 11.

39. Cf. the works on immigrant workers in the class struggle cited in note 32 and the numerous West German studies on the participation of foreign workers in union activities and in spontaneous strikes.