[.ca] Italian Workers of the World: Labor Migration and the ... (ISBN 025207257X)

Broad strokes study Italian workers worldwide:
Italians, including Sardinians and Sicilians, left their homeland by the millions between the French Revolution and the onset of World War II. Roughly 20,000,000 Italian migrants, about 10% of all long-distance migrants during those years, left for newer, more profitable worlds. The vast majority of the Italian migrants were unskilled workers and peasants, street traders, and owners of small parcels of land. Their search for wages prompted temporary migration but scattered them more widely than most other European and Asian migrants of the era. About half of the Italian migrants found work in Europe, approximately a third traveled to North America, and a quarter went to South America, while small, but significant numbers also worked in Australia and in North and South Africa. Once abroad, the largest groups were men who worked in construction, mining, and industry, or in plantation or other forms of large-scale, commercial agriculture. During the 19th century, the creation of new nations and international mass migrations progressed along with the development of new labor movements. Many of these movements were based on the notion that class transcended national boundaries, "workers of the world unite," where an Italian anarchist proclaimed "there are no frontiers." Whether they were "sent" or "received" migrants, Italian or non-Italian, the nation-state was challenged from below (by the regionalism or ethnic diversity of their populations) and from above (by class-conscious and consciously internationalist labor movements). During and after World War I, nation-states increasingly resolved this tension by pressuring migrants to increase commitment and loyalty to one nation. This is a fascinating study of the Italian workers of the world and how they saw themselves as Italians, part of the international workers of the world, and as assimilated immigrants in their new countries and what impact that had on the formation of those nation-states and Italy. Eleven experts from various universities and research institutions contributed to this book. Two segments are about Italian nationalism in the age of exile and labor migration, 1789-1880. Five segments look at class, nation, and internationalism in an era of proletarian mass migration, 1870-1920. The last four segments look at antifascism as an international movement. If you ever wanted to put the Italian-American (United States) immigrant movement in perspective, this book will certainly help.