Set sail Irish; Land White Re: ethnic divisions

[Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxx>]

Michael Perelman wrote:
>
> The Irish were regarded almost identically to the Blacks in the US. I gave some
> sources on this a few days ago, I believe.  Yet, there is not a high level of
> anti-Irish feeling in the US.

All _european_ "ethnic" groups that have migrated to the u.s. have come
to begin with as "micks," "wops," "hunkies," etc., which _at the time_
were very close synonyms for n....r. But as their position (economic
and/or political power) increased, they ceased (except for purely
ceremonial occasions) to be Irish, Italian, etc. and became generic
"whites." There was a large Irish migration apparently to the Boston
area in the 1980s, at the same time there was also a large Haitian
migration. The Irish migrants _could_ have kept their position as
migrants and joined with the Haitians in a joint struggle for migrant
rights. Manning Marable in a speech in Chicago a few years ago summed it
up in the phrase, "They got on the boat Irish, they got off whites."

>
> If my suspicion is correct, are there any models for people confronting those who try
> to whip up divisions?

See Foner's history of labor, particularly his report on a lumbermen's
strike in Louisiana (or Mississippi) around the beginning of the 20th
century. When _all_ the divisions broke down, the governor called out
the National Guard and crushed the strike. I believe Foner also reports
on both occasions of unity and of division between white miners and
black convict labor in the mines. It's been quite a while since I read
it.

Carrol

>  --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu