Migration beyond capitalism by Hannah Cross is an ambitious intervention using a broad engagement with cases of resistance and oppression from across the world, arguing that it is capitalism that drives migration. The book has a strong Anglo-American focus due to the in-depth case studies explored in the UK and USA, however, there are also global examples used throughout the book. A key message is that freedom of movement cannot be fought for without also arguing for the right to remain, to stay in your home and to not be forced to migrate due to capitalism, labour patterns or ecological disasters (4). Cross emphasises that we must work to interrupt the patterns that compel people to move, forcing people from their communities (4) into exploitative and violent working conditions. Additionally, Cross asserts that when the left focuses on migrants’ contributions to society, it reproduces and colludes with the very patterns of displacement that capitalism’s need for cheap labour drives. She contends that in order to ‘usurp capital’s war on people and the environment’ (7), a radical reimagining and revaluing of labour is needed that will stop reinforcing the toxic narratives of capitalism. The book also argues that visions of more collective societies and of another world tend to ignore overexploited migrant labour (9). However, this fails to consider that in feminists’ visions, in everyday demands, we evoke a future where all labour is valued equally and the caring labour (disproportionately carried out by women, the load borne heavier by Black women and women of colour) is shared, valued, and removed from exploitation. There is a missed opportunity to go further, radically engaging with and describing more vividly the impact and the need for a feminist–Marxist approach. Despite this omission, the work is a valuable contribution to migration studies, offering the left a chance to refocus and reframe their understanding of migration.
The book is made up of eight chapters. Chapter 1, ‘Introduction: migration politics and the left’, focuses on international unity, with a local focus on labour rights and organising. The introduction sets the tone, highlighting the historical and current need to understand migration in relation to capitalism. The key argument is that to be ‘pro’ or ‘anti’ migration is redundant and that a global regime of labour mobility is driven by capitalism. Chapter 2, ‘Socialism, Marxism and migration’, looks at class solidarity and shows it to be pivotal to the transformation of migration regimes; class solidarity as the root, the first grounded requirement for transformation, that literally feeds the change. It argues for an understanding that migration and capitalism are entwined in a way that requires work in and against the state to redistribute power. In the third chapter, ‘Imperialism and migrant labour in the capitalist world economy’, the author explains what a ‘surplus’ of labour is and how it was created, showing that a labour force is dependent on what bonded and cheap labour is available. This chapter also explains the concept of ‘overpopulation’, which creates ‘a deportable and disposable labour force that capitalism production relies on’ (51–52). She also explains that when ‘sending’ countries are used to meet labour demands, the act of remittance-sending absolves a state from the responsibility of social development while giving a veneer of stability (68). Chapter 4, ‘Borders, militarism and inequality’, illustrates that transnational corporations enjoy a borderless world where they can exploit resources and that wealth can buy citizenship. It shows that the development of the capitalist state established, reinforced and violently policed both borders and a conception of citizenship that separated and defined immigrants as separate groups (70). The chapter also contains a poignant quote: ‘[t]he profitable war against migrants is not one that is meant to be won’ (73), highlighting the predatory space that migration policies and labour practices occupy.
Moving on to ‘Wages, organized labour and post-work utopianism’, the fifth chapter focuses on unpacking migration policies and their effects on labour markets. It refutes neoliberal arguments against organised labour and argues for socially valuable work, highlighting that Covid-19 illustrated the need for essential services (108). Drawing on Marx and Engels’ work, Chapter 6, ‘The production of class antagonisms in capitalism’, argues that racism and other forms of social oppression are used by the state to create weakened labour movements and divided communities (128); it draws too on Luxemburg’s work on the different interests of the bourgeoisie and the labouring classes with respect to nationality and the need to dominate others. Policies create ‘a workforce that can be easily dismissed or deported’ (123) and are reinforced by artificially created and promoted ideas of social disharmony, national security and hierarchies of development. Chapter 7, ‘Strikes, internationalism and solidarity’, promises discussion of emancipatory praxis including challenges via anti-racist struggles and anti-border resistance. The chapter uses a good case study based in London, looking at the work of the Latin American Workers’ Association, exploring how fighting for a living wage drew on its organising, solidarity-building and co-operation with other interest groups. The chapter explores strikes elsewhere, where managements have responded through violence and torture and by segmenting workforces to split solidarity. It also has a discussion of the weakening of traditional and recognised unions and the formation of counter unions when this has happened. Finally, it argues that ‘[w]orking-class struggles are based in communities and neighbourhoods as much as the workplace, incorporating issues of police harassment, housing, childcare, education and dignity in their organization, especially during times of strike action’ (136). The final chapter, ‘A socialist approach to migration’, begins with a destination, a utopian vision of what the world would look like with migration beyond capitalism. This is offered as an invitation to readers so that they can imagine possible and positive changes within reach, rather than leave them considering the problem to be intractable. This vision would have been wonderful at the start of the book, to shape the reader’s journey through the other seven chapters.
This work endeavours to explain the economic drivers of migration patterns across the entire world in 178 pages. Although this is an ambitious task, the book is informative and provides a broad introduction to the topic, leaving the reader wanting to explore the outlined topics in greater depth. It makes a theoretical intervention that is much needed in this area and provides a platform for exploring these issues on a global scale. There are enough examples and academic references to enable the reader to look elsewhere and to link the global struggles against exploitation and capitalism – two symbiotic terms. Overall, this book is a worthwhile read that makes an important contribution to the field of migration studies. By the end, the reader knows that to gain emancipation from borders you need to tackle the social and political issues behind cheap labour.