Date: Wed, 13 Aug 1997 20:50:36 -0500
From: Yoshie Furuhashi <Furuhashi.1-AT-osu.edu>
Subject: Re: M-TH: Immigration


Chris wrote:
>I was recently struck by a commentator remarking that migration this
>century is on a massive scale globally and is unprecedented in the history
>of our species.

In terms of absolute numbers, the above comment is probably true. But in
the case of the U.S., the proportion of the foreign-born out of the total
population  was higher in the early part of this century than now.

>This would seem to be a product of the intensification of capitalism.
>Logically it will increase.
>
>I enjoy living in an international city with many visitors but this
>phenomenon seems to me to be deeply contradictory and a socialist policy I
>would have thought would give people more opportunities for the sale of
>their labour power in their own area.

Emigration has worked as a sort of safety valve for poor countries. And I
think socialists should struggle to make sure that those who do not want to
leave home do not have to. But who is to say that everybody likes to stay
home? Don't workers--not just intellectuals--want to experience the kind of
international atmosphere that comes with living in a metropolis? The
revolutionaries whom we all admire benefited from the kind of intellectual
contacts that they made during their years of exile and travel.

So I would think that the correct socialist position on immigration
includes the defense of workers' rights regardless of their citizenship
status.

Yoshie





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