ABSTRACT

This essay presents a critical overview of Marxian scholarship addressing the interrelation between class and migration. Certainly, how migration affects the logic of exploitation is a central theme, as is the history of labor, xenophobia, strike-breaking and striking that involves migrants. We cannot do full justice to the rich variation of migration patterns across the globe and readily admit that our geographical situatedness (in the U.S. and Europe) heavily affects the material we select. Ultimately, though, we argue that the conceptualization of migration contributes to Marxian theory as it crystallizes tensions in and issues concerning the conceptualization of unemployment, the reserve army, exploitation and the capitalist/postcapitalist divide.