Suchergebnisse

This article revisits the life and times of Indian migrant workers in Persia/Iran during the first half of the twentieth century, and discusses their contributions to the founding, development and eventual consolidation of the Persian/Iranian oil industry. A number of factors that shaped this experience are investigated. They include the geographic and ethno-religious origins of Indian labourers; the policies adopted by the oil company (APOC), labour agencies and the Government of India to recruit workers and regulate their working conditions and terms of contract; and the lived experience of the workers once they were hired and began working in the Persian/Iranian oil industry. Across nearly half a century, Indian workers in the Persian/Iranian oil industry faced a variety of labour experiences ranging from coerced recruitment as indentured workers during wartime, to wage labour with a negotiated contract and protection under colonial labour laws. I will discuss how these workers responded to the various recruitment policies, the demanding working conditions and labour discipline imposed on them, their remuneration and wage-structures, and their living conditions and housing situation. Records of the lengthy presence of Indian workers in the oil industry provide us with numerous stories of contestation, resistance and negotiations for better working and living conditions. Ultimately, the story of Indian migrant workers is also a story of accommodating within an emerging multinational corporation. I situate the history of migrant labour agencies within the framework of colonial labour practices. By examining the workers' encounter with multiple class, ethnic and territorial identities, I survey the changing relations of both solidarity and discord between Indian migrant workers and indigenous Iranian workers.

Central to the agenda of the 1979 UK Government of Margaret Thatcher was the necessity to degrade the level of organisation and sense of well-being enjoyed by British Trade Union members. I argue that this represented a reversal of the civilising process – rather a civilising offensive conducted against one of the industrial classes, the working class, in order to strengthen the other, the bourgeoisie. This article discusses how this objective was realised, and evaluates its role in shaping the contemporary context.

The Peruvian failure and an attempt to repair it. On Polish interwar emigration and colonial conceptsIn the interwar Poland, emigration was considered a possible solution of numerous interior problems of the country. That is why the contemporary Polish authorities believed in the success of colonial plans. In the early 1930s, Peru became a place where these efforts were intensified, encouraged by the president of Peru. The Polish government sent an official commission to this country with the aim to investigate possible settlement in the middle valley of the-Ucayali River. The conditions there were found favorable by the Polish officials. In 1927 and 1928, two settlement licenses were negotiated by private entrepreneurs. The article presents the details of this settlement campaign and its final results. Due to a variety of reasons, the action ultimately was a failure, and the Polish government decided to stop it in 1933. Next, it helped its participants leave Peru for Poland or alternatively move to Brazil or Argentina. In the late 1930, Poland returned to an idea of an official license agreement with Peru, this time without the participation of private institutions. These negotiations were never completed, however, because in 1939 WW II broke out. Peruwiańska porażka i próba jej naprawy. Wokół polskich międzywojennych koncepcji emigracyjnych i kolonialnychMiędzywojenna Polska w emigracji postrzegała możliwość złagodzenia występujących napięć społeczno-gospodarczych. Owe wysiłki nazywano planami czy też ambicjami kolonialnymi. Peru na początku lat trzydziestych XX wieku stało się swoistym poligonem tych wysiłków przy zachęcie prezydenta tego kraju. Obszary osiedlenia w środkowym biegu Ucayali zostały zbadane, z pozytywnym wynikiem, przez przysłaną z Polski komisję rządową. Równocześnie (1927-1928) prowadzono rozmowy o dwóch koncesjach prywatnych: dla K. Warchałowskiego, urzędnika państwowego i wieloletniego emigranta z Brazylii, oraz Polsko–Amerykańskiego Syndykatu Kolonialnego – obie z powodzeniem. Warchałowski, nie mając wystarczającej sumy pieniędzy, część swojej koncesji na mocy umowy przekazał specjalnie powołanej spółdzielni Kolonia Polska. Jednak akcja Warchałowskiego przyniosła porażkę.Przypadkowy dobór kandydatów do wyjazdu, problemy z komunikacją poprzez oddalenie centrum osadnictwa w Cumarii, szczupłe środki finansowe, biurokratyczna rutyna, nadmierne obietnice, brak jasnego planu, jak również dwuznaczna rola inicjatora, a zarazem przedsiębiorcy – wszystko to zawiodło. Syndykat zaś, nie posiadając oficjalnej zgody na nabór osadników, stosował nieuczciwe praktyki zawierania z kandydatami umowy o pracę. Akcja ta kompromitowała Polskę, toteż władze zdecydowały się ją zamknąć w 1933 r., części emigrantów zapewniając repatriację czy wyjazd do Brazylii bądź Argentyny. U schyłku lat trzydziestych Polska powróciła do idei podpisania umowy koncesyjnej z Peru, tym razem na siebie biorąc ciężar negocjacji, rezygnując z prywatnych instytucji. Wybuch II wojny św. przerwał niemal sfinalizowane negocjacje.

This article focuses on the history and current situation of Mexican hometown associations (HTAs) in the United States with a special emphasis on Chicago-based Mexican hometown associations and federations. It presents empirical evidence of new forms of binational engagement among Mexican migrant communities in the United States leading to the creation of a Mexican migrant civil society.