Diaspora or International Proletariat?: Italian Labor, Labor Migration, and the Making of Multiethnic States, 1815-1939

Abstract

We offer a transnational and comparative analysis of the of foreign-born workers in western nation states of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.1 An analysis of this complex historical moment is an important foundation for assessing present-day fears of the imminent collapse of nation states. Canadians and Italians wrestling with demands for regional autonomy; German and French voters opting for a fortress Europe united against new waves of migrations; and Americans anticipating the disintegration ofthe United States into ethnic and religious fragments, often believe that today's nation states face unprecedented threats to their unity. In fact, nation states have long faced competition from regional loyalties (Weber) and from the cultural diversity produced by international migrations and the globalization ofcapital (Potts; Cohen, New Helots; Strikwerda). In the past, they also faced internationalist labor movements dedicated to ending capitalist oppression around the world in all its forms. To trace the nationalization of foreign-born workers in the past, we focus on 19 million migrants who left the geographical expression called Italy between 1815 and 1940.2 Italians dispersed more widely than other Europeans seeking work in these years.'1 Half or more of migrant men began work as temporary, unskilled laborers on railroad and street construction, and in the mines; Italian women tended initially to remain at home. By 1940, Italian migrants and their descendants lived in both North and South America, in several European countries, as well as in Australia, and in North Africa. By examining Italian workers' experiences worldwide, we point both to transformations shared by migrant workers of other backgrounds and to considerable variation in the character ofstates with many foreigners in their workforces. The dynamics of class in an internationalizing economy provide the starting place for understanding the nationalization of Italian workers. Social relations between educated and poorer Italians, and among workers of many nationalities, shaped every phase of the