Vast numbers of people around the world find life so unbearable in their countries that they leave everything behind to make a dangerous journey in search of work. Native workers see this inflow of immigrants as a threat and fear losing the thing most vital to them: work. For most of the people of the world, work is the their only source of income. But as much as they are dependent on work, it is not up to them whether they work or not – that’s as true for immigrants as for those who are native-born.
The argument that “ They steal our jobs!” signifies a staunch nationalist attitude, and has nothing to do with the truth: Jobs do not belong to those who talk this way. And illegal immigrants can’t take away anything they don’t possess. The decision on what jobs exist is made by a completely different authority: a business which must be willing to make money off those who offer their ability to work for sale. Whether a person has a job or not is the result of one condition: they must find a businessman or woman who lets them work for him or her – which they only do if their work increases the private wealth of the owners of that business. Only profitable work matters; it is not a matter of just doing the work that is needed to provide for oneself and one’s family, but working for the wealth of others. If immigrants did not get these jobs because they were sent back to where they came from, these jobs would either be eliminated or offered under the same conditions as they were before, at wages close to or under the minimum wage – because only then are they profitable. This principle applies equally to the xenophobic indigenous worker as much as the immigrants they are so hostile towards.
The reason is capitalism: People are dependent on earning money because everything they need is the private property of somebody else. And they are not only excluded from the means of consumption, but also from the means of producing them. The means of labour also belong to somebody else – the rich. Because wages are paid if and only if they contribute to the wealth of the owners of capital. Whether they are native or foreign nationality is irrelevant. That interest, making profit, is served only by paying low wages and having people work hard and long – that’s why the poor stay poor when they work for business. The criterion for profitable work which presupposes poverty and perpetuates poverty is the same worldwide.
The criterion of profitable labour – work is only done and workers only employed if it pays off for capitalist businessmen and women – leads to high rates of unemployment and emigration. This is also the criterion which rules the labor market. Local people also need to earn money, but aren’t allowed to do this work unless there is demand for them. The only reason business hires them is the economic interest in the costs of employment being justified by the additional money wealth they create by working long and hard with little pay. The simple truth is: in a capitalist society, people can only live if they live for capital. Especially in a crisis but even in normal business times, the unemployed are made responsible for their own plight – not the criterion under which their labour is worthless. “They didn’t try hard enough to find a job!” is what people usually say when complaining about high rates of unemployment and the tax money spent feeding the unemployed. The view that people without work in general – and illegal immigrants arriving in particular – are an unbearable burden is what ruling governments and their official oppositions have in common. They diverge only on the details and share the same functionalist logic: that immigrants are human resources, raw materials, and if proving to be a ‘hinderance’ – send them back!
International competition is tougher and the economic crisis is not over so the need for human material has shifted. Many nations have has become more choosy and selective. Immigrants with education and money are always welcome because a country wants investors, scientists and professionals to be competitive against other nations. If there is a demand for their labour, they should be here. If not their numbers must be controlled and restricted.
If immigration is a problem, people should ask: why and for whom? If work would simply be treated as the toil necessary for producing the goods that provide a good life for everyone, an additional labor force would make work and life much easier. Under the criterion of capitalist labor, however, more labor is not a source of wealth for those who work but for those who let other people work for them. To have a job then becomes a privilege because it is not granted that people who need to earn money will be hired, and if they are hired it is not assured that they will earn enough to live on, because that is not what they are paid for. They are paid to enrich other people.
All workers, native or immigrant, are subordinated to profit making. According to Peter Sutherland, the UN’s special representative for migration “Anti-immigrant sentiment stems largely from misinformation, not entrenched animus [animosity]”
A survey split respondents into two groups and asked them subtly different questions about the number of immigrants in their countries. In one, people were simply asked whether they thought there were “too many” immigrants; in the other, the question was the same but prefaced with the actual share of migrants in their country. Nearly 40% of Americans said that they thought there are too many immigrants, but this fell to 21% for those who were first given an estimate. It followed a similar pattern in Europe, with 32% saying there are too many, but also only 21% when respondents were told the actual figure first. The gaps were particularly pronounced in Greece, Italy, and the UK. In the United Kingdom, 54% of respondents said that there were too many immigrants; that number fell to 31% among those who were given the facts about foreigners. In Greece, 58% became 27%; Italy went from 44% to 22%; and so on. The average Briton believes that 34% of UK residents are foreigners; the true number is just 11%.
Adapted from an article by Geoffrey McDonald and also from here
The argument that “ They steal our jobs!” signifies a staunch nationalist attitude, and has nothing to do with the truth: Jobs do not belong to those who talk this way. And illegal immigrants can’t take away anything they don’t possess. The decision on what jobs exist is made by a completely different authority: a business which must be willing to make money off those who offer their ability to work for sale. Whether a person has a job or not is the result of one condition: they must find a businessman or woman who lets them work for him or her – which they only do if their work increases the private wealth of the owners of that business. Only profitable work matters; it is not a matter of just doing the work that is needed to provide for oneself and one’s family, but working for the wealth of others. If immigrants did not get these jobs because they were sent back to where they came from, these jobs would either be eliminated or offered under the same conditions as they were before, at wages close to or under the minimum wage – because only then are they profitable. This principle applies equally to the xenophobic indigenous worker as much as the immigrants they are so hostile towards.
The reason is capitalism: People are dependent on earning money because everything they need is the private property of somebody else. And they are not only excluded from the means of consumption, but also from the means of producing them. The means of labour also belong to somebody else – the rich. Because wages are paid if and only if they contribute to the wealth of the owners of capital. Whether they are native or foreign nationality is irrelevant. That interest, making profit, is served only by paying low wages and having people work hard and long – that’s why the poor stay poor when they work for business. The criterion for profitable work which presupposes poverty and perpetuates poverty is the same worldwide.
The criterion of profitable labour – work is only done and workers only employed if it pays off for capitalist businessmen and women – leads to high rates of unemployment and emigration. This is also the criterion which rules the labor market. Local people also need to earn money, but aren’t allowed to do this work unless there is demand for them. The only reason business hires them is the economic interest in the costs of employment being justified by the additional money wealth they create by working long and hard with little pay. The simple truth is: in a capitalist society, people can only live if they live for capital. Especially in a crisis but even in normal business times, the unemployed are made responsible for their own plight – not the criterion under which their labour is worthless. “They didn’t try hard enough to find a job!” is what people usually say when complaining about high rates of unemployment and the tax money spent feeding the unemployed. The view that people without work in general – and illegal immigrants arriving in particular – are an unbearable burden is what ruling governments and their official oppositions have in common. They diverge only on the details and share the same functionalist logic: that immigrants are human resources, raw materials, and if proving to be a ‘hinderance’ – send them back!
International competition is tougher and the economic crisis is not over so the need for human material has shifted. Many nations have has become more choosy and selective. Immigrants with education and money are always welcome because a country wants investors, scientists and professionals to be competitive against other nations. If there is a demand for their labour, they should be here. If not their numbers must be controlled and restricted.
If immigration is a problem, people should ask: why and for whom? If work would simply be treated as the toil necessary for producing the goods that provide a good life for everyone, an additional labor force would make work and life much easier. Under the criterion of capitalist labor, however, more labor is not a source of wealth for those who work but for those who let other people work for them. To have a job then becomes a privilege because it is not granted that people who need to earn money will be hired, and if they are hired it is not assured that they will earn enough to live on, because that is not what they are paid for. They are paid to enrich other people.
All workers, native or immigrant, are subordinated to profit making. According to Peter Sutherland, the UN’s special representative for migration “Anti-immigrant sentiment stems largely from misinformation, not entrenched animus [animosity]”
A survey split respondents into two groups and asked them subtly different questions about the number of immigrants in their countries. In one, people were simply asked whether they thought there were “too many” immigrants; in the other, the question was the same but prefaced with the actual share of migrants in their country. Nearly 40% of Americans said that they thought there are too many immigrants, but this fell to 21% for those who were first given an estimate. It followed a similar pattern in Europe, with 32% saying there are too many, but also only 21% when respondents were told the actual figure first. The gaps were particularly pronounced in Greece, Italy, and the UK. In the United Kingdom, 54% of respondents said that there were too many immigrants; that number fell to 31% among those who were given the facts about foreigners. In Greece, 58% became 27%; Italy went from 44% to 22%; and so on. The average Briton believes that 34% of UK residents are foreigners; the true number is just 11%.
Adapted from an article by Geoffrey McDonald and also from here
Labour power is a commodity. Flood the market with a commodity and that leads to no sale for the seller. Most workers understand this basic point about their ability to make a living under the rule of Capital. What they don't understand is how the wage system itself is not the end all and be all of social systems which are possible. TINA has been drilled thoroughly and completely into their minds via a public discourse dominated by the bourgeoisie and their hire lickspittles.
ReplyDeleteYou are right that workers will seek out the most obvious blame for their misfortune, ably assisted by a media eager to divert attention. Another example is housing ...it's those holiday home tourists taking our homes and pushing up the prices...so as the Welsh once said, lets give them a warm welcome and burn down their second homes.
ReplyDeleteOur task is indeed a very difficult one which is to educate the working class into understanding the real cause of social ills and that will not always be the popular message nor always an easy one to convey but we would be failing in our duty as socialists not to persevere.