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Book Review: Latinos and the Political System

John S. MacDonald had earlier maintained that migration and labor militancy were alternative responses to economic and political crises; Italian immigrants who rebelled seldom fled. Gabaccia clearly demonstrates that Sicilians could fight and flee, and that tradition of protest could and did survive the transplantation to the United States. Gabaccia deals extensively with several major questions that have preoccupied immigration scholars. How does one explain why immigrants from the same village and region acted so differently in their responses to industrialization and the corporate state? How did migration alter traditions of rural protest in southwestern Sicily? Offering a balanced and sophisticated analysis of the hotly debated issues, she argues that existing interpretations have underestimated "the migrants' cultural baggage." In particular, deeply rooted traditions of voluntary association with ties to the emerging labor movement, substantial experience with "modern" forms oflabor protest, and not inconsiderable commitment to class conscious ideologies played predominant roles. In examining Sicilian experiences in the Americas, Gabaccia deftly analyzes the role of the padrone, the nature of migration routes, the migration selection process and characteristics ofthe host community. For instance, she notes the disproportionate number of unskilled Sicilian laborers in Chicago's construction gangs and railroad yards as an outgrowth of the padrone-boss system. Economic patterns resulted in distinctive political behavior in such places, suggesting that peasant immigrants expressed little inclination for radicalism. On the contrary, where artisans formed the major migration element, radical politics tended to flourish. Militants and Migrants offers eloquent evidence as to the growing sophistication of immigration studies. This monograph represents a splendid addition to the field and is a tribute to the author's scholarship.