The Borders of Integration: Polish Migrants in Germany and the United States, 1870-1924

Conclusion Determining the Borders of Integration

conclusion l l l determining the Borders of Integration during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, hundreds of thousands of Poles, driven by diverse economic, cultural, and political factors, left their homeland and migrated to the coal regions of the ruhr and northeastern Pennsylvania. arriving in each region, Poles faced severe challenges. The majority entered industrial environments that differed vastly from the largely agricultural settings to which they were accustomed. cast as an internal “other” against which German and american national identities became defined, Poles experienced significant levels of discrimination ; their presence both in the workplace and larger society was increasingly deemed undesirable, even dangerous, by large segments of the general public and the state. despite such hostility, Poles persevered and ultimately thrived during the pre–World War I period within their adopted societies. In order to overcome discrimination and isolation, to challenge their subordinate position in the social hierarchy, and to make themselves subjects of their own history, Poles initially turned inward. Poles established vibrant cultural communities, sustained by familial and extended kinship networks, catholicism and the local parish, and a diverse array of informal and formal Polish institutions. Participation in ethnic life went far in forging a common ethnonational identity among diverse groups of Poles who, prior to migrating, possessed local or at best regional identities. at the same time, the Polish communities in the ruhr and northeastern Pennsylvania were never closed subcultures, and ethnicization aided the adaptation of Polish migrants in the long run by providing needed stability and, more important, the means to become active participants in the public life of their host societies , especially from the 1890s onward. In the workplace, Poles responded to intolerable conditions and native animosity by organizing themselves into formal unions such as the UmW Determining the Borders of Integration l 165 and ZZP after the turn of the century. These institutions enabled Poles to begin to redress the economic and cultural disparities under which they labored and, more important in terms of integration, to acquire a strong and influential voice in working-class affairs. Within the confessional sphere, Poles rallied their ethnic communities to protest assaults on their religious practices and traditions. Through such mobilization, Poles in the ruhr were able to obtain equal representation on many church councils and executive boards between 1904 and 1912. In northeastern Pennsylvania, Polish activism led to an increase in Polish ethnic parishes, though such growth was also dependent on the willingness of a minority of Poles to break away from the catholic church altogether and establish the Pncc, an independent, nationalist , working-class religious institution supporting working-class struggle as a means to liberation both in the Pennsylvania coalfields and in Poland. Perhaps the best example of ethnicization as a means to greater integration occurred with the growth of Polish ethnic associations. although such associations were ethnically exclusive, they provided Poles with invaluable lessons in democratic organizational practices. as the associational movement matured, it grew increasingly secular, diverse, and politically active on a wide range of issues. Preserving ethnic culture and national awareness was a constant goal of these associations, regardless of political orientation, but many simultaneously advanced interests based on class, confession, and gender. Taken as a whole, the experience of migration, living in the culturally diverse milieus of the ruhr and northeastern Pennsylvania, and organizing large numbers of their community broadened Polish outlook. By the eve of World War I, Poles in both regions possessed identities that were highly pluralistic and transnational in character, influenced by homeland and host societies, yet also distinct from both. This can be seen in the way Poles viewed themselves. many embraced a concept of “Polishness” that incorporated class and gender perspectives derived from the host cultures in which they lived. In the case of male miners, a “true” Pole was someone who fulfilled not only certain ethnolinguistic/religious criteria, agitated for the cause of Polish independence, and defended his ethnicity against the forces of Germanization or americanization, but was also a class-conscious, respectable worker and producer, a male breadwinner who acted as protector of the family and upholder of the social order. meanwhile, a “proper” Polish woman was politically aware and active in the public sphere, though within limits; her first duty was to ensure a respectable home life and imbue the children with a national awareness. 166 l Conclusion The emergence of transnational identities can also be discerned in the...