Migration Beyond Capitalism

Harshly exploited migrant labour plays a fundamental role in the political economy of contemporary capitalism. The abstract and utopian theorising of many liberals and leftists on the migration question often ignores or downplays patterns of displacement and brutal class dynamics, which divide and weaken working people while empowering the ruling class.

In this important new book, Hannah Cross provides a sober analysis of the class antagonisms of migration in the context of the nation, social democracy, and the racialized ordering of the world. Bringing Marxist methodology and strategy to a careful analysis of existing emancipatory movements, she sets out the programmes and approaches that are needed to promote global worker solidarity and create a future in which cheap labour is no longer a mainstay of wealthy economies. This focus on the labouring classes allows her to identify some important new directions for migration in a world beyond capitalism, exploitation and injustice.

This book will be essential reading for students, scholars and general readers interested in the politics and political economy of migration in a world unhelpfully caught between racist authoritarian capitalism and the wishful-thinking of contemporary left-liberalism. Preface and Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

1 Introduction: Migration Politics and the Left

Migration in Capitalism

The Left and Migration Politics

Organization of the Book

2 Socialism, Marxism and Migration

The Irish Question, Imperialism and Class

The Great Mystifications

Colonialism, Class and National Questions

Social Democracy and Its Potential for Transformation

3 Imperialism and Migrant Labour in the Capitalist World Economy

Migration, Growth and Population Fanaticism

Imperialism and Displacement

Militarism

Global Capitalism Dominates Diverse Modes of Production around the World

Mexico–US Migration and Dependency

Migration, Remittances and Economic Development

4 Borders, Militarism and Inequality

Borders and Militarism

Immigration Control in the US

EU Borders: The ‘Long Summer of Migration’

The Making of the European Union: From the ‘Golden Age’ to Neoliberalism

Capitalism Does Not Live Up to Its Idealized Form

5 Wages, Organized Labour and Post-Work Utopianism

Migration, Labour Standards and Unions

Working Conditions in Global Production

Migration, Wages and Labour Markets in the Global North

It Is Easier to Imagine the End of Capitalism than Full Automation

6 The Production of Class Antagonisms in Capitalism

Anti-Irish Racism, Colonialism and Development

Racial Antagonisms in Britain in the Neoliberal Era

Class Antagonisms in the US Labour Movement

The State, Media and Class Antagonisms in the UK Lindsey Oil Refinery Strikes

Who Are the Imperialist Worker Elites?

7 Strikes, Internationalism and Solidarity

Emancipation from Exploitation

Renewal of the World Labour Movement

Migrant Cleaners and Worker-Led Alliances in and around the City of London

Emancipation from Racism and Class Division

Emancipation from Borders

8 A Socialist Approach to Migration

A Socialist Idea of Migration

How is Socialist Transformation Achieved?

The National Question and Universalist Demands

Towards Equality of Movement

References

Index

“Rooting her approach in the classical Marxist tradition, Hannah Cross provides an original critique of, and alternative to, much leftist and liberal thinking on the political economy of migration into core capitalist countries. Essential reading for all progressives.”
Ben Selwyn, University of Sussex

“A powerful and original analysis of migration's place in contemporary capitalism. Engaging with an impressive range of leftist debates and authors – both present and past – Cross pushes us to think in new ways about borders, internationalism and class. A much-needed contribution to both Marxism and the literature on migration, and essential reading for those seeking to build a better future.”
Adam Hanieh, SOAS, University of London

“While the post-materialist and nationalist views on migration are both symptomatic of a left that has resigned itself to the established order, Cross’s analysis points towards the possibility of an independent left position. This left is not content with letting others set the terms of the debate, but is actively building an alternative to the non-choices the ruling class throws at us. This makes Cross’s perspective invaluable for the struggles ahead.”
Counterfire

“Cross’ approach provides a much-needed reorientation on the discussion around migration. By doing so, Cross effectively demonstrates why an internationalist working-class response is the key to defeating neoliberal power and creating a new world.”
Review of African Political Economy

“Migration Beyond Capitalism rescues an undoubtedly critical question for the twentieth-first century: the consequences of neoliberal politics over the displacement of the working class throughout the world and, more specifically, the movement from the Global South towards the North.”
Marx & Philosophy Review of Books

Hannah Cross is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Westminster.