V. I.

Lenin

Capitalism and Workers’ Immigration

Capitalism has given rise to a special form of migration of
nations. The rapidly developing industrial countries, introducing machinery
on a large scale and ousting the backward countries from the world market,
raise wages at home above the average rate and thus attract workers from
the backward countries.

Hundreds of thousands of workers thus wander hundreds and thousands of
versts. Advanced capitalism drags them forcibly into its orbit, tears them
out of the backwoods in which they live, makes them participants in the
world-historical movement and brings them face to face with the powerful,
united, international class of factory owners.

There can be no doubt that dire poverty alone compels people to abandon
their native land, and that the capitalists exploit the immigrant workers
in the most shameless manner. But only reactionaries can shut their eyes to
the progressive significance of this modern migration of
nations. Emancipation from the yoke of capital is impossible without the
further development of capitalism, and without the class struggle that is
based on it. And it is into this struggle that capitalism is drawing the
masses of the working people of the whole world, breaking down the
musty, fusty habits of local life, breaking down national barriers and
prejudices, uniting workers from all countries in huge factories and mines
in America, Germany, and so forth.

America heads the list of countries which import workers. The following
are the immigration figures for America:

| Ten years 1821–30 . . . . . . . | 99,000 |
| --- | --- |
| ” ” 1831–40 . . . . . . . | 496,000 |
| ” ” 1841–50 . . . . . . . | 1,597,000 |
| ” ” 1851–60 . . . . . . . | 2,453,000 |
| ” ” 1861–70 . . . . . . . | 2,064,000 |
| ” ” 1871–80 . . . . . . . | 2,262,000 |
| ” ” 1881–90 . . . . . . . | 4,722,000 |
| ” ” 1891–1900 . . . . . . . | 3,703,000 |
| Nine ” 1901–09 . . . . . . . | 7,210,000 |

The growth of immigration is enormous and continues to increase. During
the five years 1905–09 the average number of immigrants entering America
(the United States alone is referred to) was over a million a
year.

It is interesting to note the change in the place of origin of those
emigrating to America, Up to 1880 the so-called old immigration
prevailed, that is, immigration from the old civilised countries, such as
Great Britain, Germany and partly from Sweden. Even up to 1890, Great
Britain and Germany provided more than half the total immigrants.

From 1880 onwards, there was an incredibly rapid in crease in what is
called the new immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe, from
Austria, Italy and Russia. The number of people emigrating from these three
countries to the United States was as follows:

| Ten years 1871–80 . . . . . . . | 201,000 |
| --- | --- |
| ” ” 1881–90 . . . . . . . | 927,000 |
| ” ” 1891–1900 . . . . . . . | 1,847,000 |
| Nine ” 1901–09 . . . . . . . | 5,127,000 |

Thus, the most backward countries in the old world, those that more
than any other retain survivals of feudalism in every branch of social
life, are, as it were, undergoing compulsory training in
civilisation. American capitalism is tearing millions of workers of
backward Eastern Europe (including Russia, which in 1891–1900 provided
594,000 immigrants and in 1900–09, 1,410,000) out of their semi-feudal
conditions and is putting them in the ranks of the advanced, international
army of the proletariat.

Hourwich, the author of an extremely illuminating book, Immigration and Labour , which appeared in English last year, makes some
interesting observations. The number of people emigrating to America grew particularly after the 4905 Revolution
(1905—1,000,000; 1906—1,200,000; 1907—1,400,000; 1908 and
1909—1,900,000 respectively). Workers who had participated in various
strikes in Russia introduced into America the bolder and more aggressive
spirit of the mass strike.

Russia is lagging farther and farther behind, losing some of her best
workers to foreign countries; America is advancing more and more rapidly,
taking the most vigorous and able-bodied sections of the working population
of the whole world. [1]

Germany, which is more or less keeping pace with the United States, is
changing from a country which released workers into one that attracts them
from foreign countries. The number of immigrants from Germany to America in
the ten years 1881–90 was 1,453,000; but in the nine years 1901–09 it
dropped to 310,000. The number of foreign workers in Germany, however, was
695,000 in 1910–11 and 729,000 in 1911–12. Dividing these immigrants
according to occupation and country of origin we get the following:

| | Foreign workers employed in Germany in 1911–12 (thousands) |
| --- | --- |
| Agriculture | Industry | Total |
| From Russia . . . . . . . . . . | 274 | 34 | 308 |
| ” Austria . . . . . . . . . . | 101 | 162 | 263 |
| ” other countries . . . . . . | 22 | 135 | 157 |
| Total . . . . . . . . . . . . | 397 | 331 | 728 |

The more backward the country the larger is the number of “unskilled”
agricultural labourers it supplies. The advanced nations seize, as it were,
the best paid occupations for themselves and leave the, semi-barbarian
countries the worst paid occupations. Europe in general (“other
countries”) provided Germany with 157,000 workers, of whom more than eight-tenths (135,000 out of 157,000) were industrial
workers. Backward Austria provided only six-tenths (162,000 out of 263,0O0) of the industrial workers. The most backward
country of all, Russia, provided only one-tenth of the industrial
workers (34,000 out of 308,000).

Thus, Russia is punished everywhere and in everything for her
backwardness. But compared with the rest of the population, it is the
workers of Russia who are more than any others bursting out of this state
of backwardness and barbarism, more than any others combating these
“delightful” features of their native land, and more closely than any
others uniting with the workers of all countries into a single
international force for emancipation.

The bourgeoisie incites the workers of one nation against those of
another in the endeavour to keep them disunited. Class-conscious workers,
realising that the break-down of all the national barriers by capitalism is
inevitable and progressive, are trying to help to enlighten and organise
their fellow-workers from the backward countries.

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Notes:
[1]
Other countries on the American Continent besides the United States are
also rapidly advancing. The number of immigrants entering the United States
last year was about 250,000, Brazil about 170,000 and Canada over 200,000;
total 620,000 for the year. — Lenin