DEBUNKING: Marx and Lenin on Immigration

There always seems to be a lot of context missing.

Recently, I went on my friend’s podcast, Kollectiv TV, to talk about a lot of bad rhetoric I have been seeing lately over immigration (as seems to happen in election years). A bunch of this was coming from people who claim to be on the left and some that claim to be Marxist. They are hitting at immigration because a lot of people are struggling right now but, know this, the immigrants are NOT your enemy. The capitalist (the ruling class) is.

First, let me show you a tweet from Chris Freiman who, according to his Twitter Bio, is a “Professor, John Chambers College of Business and Economics at WVU | Political philosophy, libertarianism, neoliberalism, effective altruism”. (OK, so I know you do not have high hopes for his take but here goes).

This was pulled from a letter from Marx to Sigfrid Meyer and August Vogt written on April 9, 1870 and, in particular, focuses on the Irish Question. ( I know “Question” after a group of people seems sus but back in the day this is how theorists talked about issues of certain people. We know how the fascists answered that question about the Jewish people.)

Marx explains that after years of researching and looking at how the English bourgeoisie uses Irish immigrants to not only hurt the Irish but the English workers as well (using the Irish immigrants’ desperation to lower pay for all workers).

“Ireland is the bulwark of the English landed aristocracy. The exploitation of that country is not only one of the main sources of their material wealth; it is their greatest moral strength. They, in fact, represent the domination over Ireland. Ireland is therefore the cardinal means by which the English aristocracy maintain their domination in England itself.”

Marx goes on to explain that if the Irish hit the English in Ireland and sent them packing, then the workers in England could rise. He talks about how the English ruling class benefits from the continued antagonisms kicked up between the English workers and Irish workers and how the media helps kick up these fights.

“This antagonism is artificially kept alive and intensified by the press, the pulpit, the comic papers, in short, by all the means at the disposal of the ruling classes. This antagonism is the secret of the impotence of the English working class, despite its organization. It is the secret by which the capitalist class maintains its power. And the latter is quite aware of this.”

Then he says that these relations are the same between the US workers and English which, done correctly, can be used in the future if war is needed (which we know boosts the capitalist economy for the rich).

“But the evil does not stop here. It continues across the ocean. The antagonism between Englishmen and Irishmen is the hidden basis of the conflict between the United States and England. It makes any honest and serious co-operation between the working classes of the two countries impossible. It enables the governments of both countries, whenever they think fit, to break the edge off the social conflict by their mutual bullying, and, in case of need, by war between the two countries.”

OK, but doesn’t all this seem like Marx is against immigration? No.

What Marx is talking about is the conditions and why things are the way they are under capitalism and how that is always a help to the ruling class and a strain on the working one.

Another clipped quote people have been known to use to claim Marx was against immigration is from On The Lausanne Congress.

“A study of the struggle waged by the English working class reveals that, in order to oppose their workers, the employers either bring in workers from abroad or else transfer manufacture to countries where there is a cheap labor force.”

But upon reading the full paragraph, you can see what answer Marx gives:

“The power of the human individual has disappeared before the power of capital, in the factory the worker is now nothing but a cog in the machine. In order to recover his individuality, the worker has had to unite together with others and create associations to defend his wages and his life. Until today these associations had remained purely local, while the power of capital, thanks to new industrial inventions, is increasing day by day; furthermore in many cases national associations have become powerless: a study of the struggle waged by the English working class reveals that, in order to oppose their workers, the employers either bring in workers from abroad or else transfer manufacture to countries where there is a cheap labor force. Given this state of affairs, if the working class wishes to continue its struggle with some chance of success, the national organizations must become international.”

So, Marx is not looking to stop or end migration, that would hurt the stages of capitalism that we must go through. He was for organizing internationally as one big working force.

For more reading on this, Lenin talks about it here: Capitalism and the Workers’ Immigration

“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.”

Once conditions for everyone around the world improved (i.e. capitalism ends and we move into socialism), immigration would not be as prevalent or hurt the workers. If you feel immigration is hurting you, the next steps you should take is move your blame to the ones who are actually benefitting (the capitalists and ruling class) and join in the fight against them, not the poor immigrant who is just trying to do the best they can.