Exploited Immigrant

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The role played by immigrant labour in the expansion of ast war capitalism is well known. The rapid rate of capital ring the war sucked into the European labour market insands of workers from Asia, the Carribean, the Near East And it is here that both workers see another group less veal their weaknesses. The privileged than they are who differ discussion of the debate over estion that has to be from them. A Marxist would strategy between the various black s racism; of the employers immediately point out that their militant groups. As if talking of id the underdeveloped parts of Generally, immigrants were ought into the lowest paid, most rakly trade unionised 'dirty jobs' Ich as refuse collection, portering, Mering etc., releasing native orkers for the expanding manusturing industries.

However, technical advance has cant the simplification of the bour process even in the advanced ¡tors of the economy enabling amigrants to be brought in here 10. Thus in West Germany immiints are 30 per cent of assembly se workers in the motor industry. • Besides solving capitalism's toblem of labour supply, immisant workers have other advantages • the ruling class initial oragce of trade union rights ad organising methods; and greater allingness to work long hours and Exible shifts (to pay back loans ad return home as quickly as pssible).

These factors are especially Iportant in the current depression i sectors like the textile and light gineering and the catering indus-y where many firms but for the iploitation of the high intensity I labour obtainable from immitants would collapse.

BENEFITS

Finally, the capitalist class in * receiving country benefits from i having to pay the education Child-rearing costs of its emigrants and furthermore where, I in Europe, migrants can be sent pme if no work exists, unemploy-ent benefit payments rise at a dower rate than the rate of employment as migrant workers ie sent back.

All these facts are noted by the thors. Berger and Mohr using combination of text and photo Faph, describe graphically the subactive side of this process as the grant leaves his village and follows road to the industrial metro tolis and the dehumanising xperiences that await him there.

However, the task is not simply understand but to change the borld and it is here that both books reveal their weaknesses. The ist question that has to be ackled is racism; of the employers Europe itself. but more crucially of the leadership of the workers' movement itself.

Moore, when tracing the change in Labour Party policy from the oppoșition to the racist 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act through Labour's own Acts of 1965 and 1968 to the disgusting failure to repeal the Tory 1971 Immigration Act, offers only facile explanations.

He suggests that the presence of black and therefore visible immigrants showed up problems that had already existed and for which migrants themselves were not to blame, or "the racist position on race has received respectability in about ten years ... because it has found spokesmen within the existing political parties ... these politicians have brought racist policies in from the fringe to the centre of politics... the fringe has been able to feed its policies to politicians eager for new vote winning ideas." (p. 29)

This idealist method of argument completely begs the question of the historical origin of racialist conceptions first of all in the labour aristocracy in the nineteenth century. 'The privileged position of certain groups of workers was financed by the brutal exploitation of the colonies by British imperialism. This created the illusion that British workers had a common interest with the capitalists in main taining such relations.

From this environment came the bureaucratic leaders of the workers movement, cultivated by the employers as a buffer between the working class and capitalism. Any tendencies to racialism amongst workers is attributable largely to the treachery and nationalism of such leaders. Only on this basis could racist policies be 'vote winning.

ABSTRACT

Berger and Mohr are, however, content to let this matter rest at the level of fairly abstract psychological generalities: "the indigenous workers see another group less privileged than they are who differ from them. A Marxist would immediately point out that their differences are secondary and that they share the same class interest... But ... the indigenous worker sees in migrant an 'inferior position and what he sees and hears emphasises how the migrant is different. Different to the point of being unknowable. Imperceptibly ... the migrant comes to be seen as being beneath understanding as being intrinsically unpredictable, disorganised, feckless, devious .. • such a view, widespread in the indigenous working class, can in certain circumstances lead to overt and violent racism." (pp. 139-40)

We have quoted Berger at length here because he puts succinctly what is probably the most widespread view especially among middle class liberals as to the causes of racism in the working class.

BASIS Racism is seen as all a gigantic "misunderstanding" based on lack of contact, rather than having a material basis in the development of capitalist production and in the methods of reformist trade unionisn which is its political expression.

But further, this view as to the nature of racism gives no clue as to how it is to be fought. If racism among white workers is based on the fact that immigrants are "different' then of course the only thing is to remove the 'difference'.

Thus, subtly, the responsibility for fighting racism is placed on the immigrants themselves and we arrive at the view, again popular among middle class radicals that Black Militant organisations are the answer and that indéed militant immigrants, 'uncontaminated' by long traditions of reformist trade unionism can become the revolutionary vanguard of the working class.

Moore tends to this position His final chapter "Fighting Back' deals exclusively with the struggles of immigrant workers over the last few years especially in the East Midlands such as the well known strike at Mansfield Hosiery in which Asian workers fought against the collusion of racist management with local area union officials and racist white workers.

Moore ends his book with a Moore ends his discussion of the strategy between the militant groups. As thing different. He says: thing ditferent. He says:

"In the entire article purporting "In the entire article purporting to deal with redundancy !!, there to deal with redundancy [!], there is not a single mention of the trade union leadership. Nor is there a mention of the Labour Government which is deliberately creating Robert Moore - Racism and Black Resistance (Pluto Press, 1975, 75p) and Jean Mohr - A Seventh Man (Penguin, 1975, £1.)

a separate world and a different class struggle altogether from that confronted by all workers, black and white, he concludes: "whites can be drawn into this if they are willing to listen and argue their point of view with sympathy and commitment".

Any sustained discussion as to the development of a programme that will in struggle break down racist ideas among white workers is missing. All whites are told is that immigrants are interesting; "We have something to learn from trying to understand the responses of black people."

It is quite true that immigrant workers have fought hard to defend wages and jobs often against formidable combinations of racist management, working with area union officials in manipulating whitf workers, together with harrassment from police and facist thugs. All revolutionaries must support these struggles.

Furthermore, as Berger says "A migrant's experience of capitalism, because he is exploited in every field, becomes, if he is politically aware of it at all, a very unified experience" • But on the other hand as Berger continues: «Their position is highly vulnerable because they can always be deported within twenty four hours"

Apart from this the lack of a long tradition of trade unionism and sustained struggle which is the other side of the coin of the absence of a long tradition of reformism, weakens many immigrant workers as a preformed revolutionary vanguard.

UNIONISATION

Furthermore, the ruling class intend as far as possible to maintain this weakness and counter any developments in the direction of developed trade unionism among immigrants. The attempted use of section 42 of the 1971 Immigration Act against the young Italian trade unioncorganiser Franco Caprino has to be seen in this context.

There are therelore no short cuts to the building of a revolutionary leadership in the working class as a whole based on its strongest sections, and uniting these strong sections in a struggle with their weaker brothers. This question neither of the authors have anything toisay about.

European workers are not innately racist, nor is the racism that does exist based simply on the 'difference' of immigrant workers. It is the political method of reformism based on the appearance of capitalism as a 'bargain' between capitalist offering jobs and workers seeking them, that gives rise to such sentiments.

Obviously, in times of increasing unemployment the reformist sees the presence of 'immigrants' from outside his own 'nation state' -which in two world wars the reformist leaderships have defended as sacred - as weakening the bargaining position of labour in the face of a declining supply of jobs. Rather than challenge capitalism and its right to impose unemployment the reformists allow racist concepts to weaken and divide the working class. This is in line with increasing reformist talk of "import controls" and • other nationalist concepts.

Therefore to fight racism, reformism has to be fought.

CAPITALISM

Revolutionaries have to fight for the view that the working class -all workers - are a productive resource and that the real question is why capitalism cannot now allow such resources to be used.

This perspective can only be for a programme against unemployment, including work sharing on full pay, nationalisation of threa tened industry, and a programme of useful public works to elimmate unemployment. These demands in the present epoch pose the abolition of the capitalist system itself.

Such a programme besides countering the proposition that 'immigrants' are responsible for unemploy. ment, enables revolutionaries to make clear the point that all workers whatever their origins have the right and the capacity to add to the productive forces.

The demand for a programme of public works to bring this about now comes directly up against capitalism's need to cut public expenditure and throw thousands on the dole queue in a desperate attempt to salvage an historically outmoded social system.

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fought for, not simply as propa- ganda, but as part of the struggle