The New Slavic Migration In Europe And The Reasons Behind It

I read an interesting article by Thomas Fuller of the IHT, about the migration of Eastern Europeans to the West, particularly Britain.

It turns out the doomsayers were partly right: Nearly a year and a half after the expansion of the European Union, floods of East Europeans have washed into Britain.

Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians and other Easterners are arriving at an average rate of 16,000 a month, a result of Britain's decision to allow unlimited access to the citizens of the eight East European countries that joined the EU last year.

They work as bus drivers, farmhands and dentists, as waitresses, builders, and saleswomen; they are transforming parts of London into Slavic and Baltic enclaves where pickles and Polish beer are stacked in delicatessens and Polish can be heard on the streets almost as often as English.

Why am I not surprised?

When the pie-in-the-sky, ivory tower elitists dreamed up this ill-conceived scheme to unite Europe under one banner, they miscalulated the response to open borders and open markets, in the post-Soviet era.

Anyone (but the socialists) can understand why. Socialism fails. That is well understood, by free thinkers and those that understand the big picture.

But one further thing to note is, after socialism failed, the people brought up and educated in that system, have had an incredibly difficult time converting to a free market system. Most of these nations never really had a system like western Europe, before the Marxists took over. For 70 years, universities taught Marxist theory, as fact, in these eastern countries. Capitalism was demonized as the road to ruin, and socialism was promoted as the panacea that would engulf and save the world, from itself. The former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact countries are now in a state of flux in their quest to convert from central planning to free markets. For several reasons.

I read an article from an economist from the Hoover Institution (whose name escapes me and I cannot find the article on the site, because it was 6-7 years ago). This man went to give top Russian finance officials instruction on the fundamentals of a free market economy, when Russia was just in its infancy stage (status post Soviet Union).

During one part of the conference, one of the Russian officials asked, "who sets the prices?". Those that have read a high school history book knows who set the prices in the Soviet world and in the free market world. But this guy was evidently sincere, so the economist went through the supply versus demand concepts using charts, graphs, and other things to illustrate the relationship between the two. He said he had covered it very well, the men listening all looked on attentively, and appeared to be soaking it all in. He thought he was doing good and they were getting it. No problem, right?

After all of the material was covered, he asked if there were any questions. The same man asked something to the effect of, "Yes, we read all that and understand it well, but, who sets the prices?". They just could not grasp the notion that something could free flow and work itself out, without some sort of intervention from the government. Seventy years of indoctrination makes it hard to re-educate people into something that is diametrically oppsed to what you have been taught all of your life.

Another reason the former Soviet bloc nations have had trouble converting is, the black market. During the Soviet central planning days, there was never enough goods available to be sold through party approved suppliers, to meet the most basic needs of the people. Queues were incredibly common for basic necessities, and supplies often ran out.

Enter the black market. The demand was high because the supply was low, so people were getting what the government could not provide, through it. What the government could not provide, the mob could. So when the conversion to free market finally happened, the black market corporations were already in place and poised to become legit, even though their business practices were used to being, anything but.

Which leads us to the third reason of why the East has had their troubles since the collapse of the Wall in 1990, the world of bribes and kickbacks.

For the black market to operate so freely and efficiently meet needs that the government could not, they had to buy off local and regional officials. The government officials recognized that they could not meet the needs of the people and as a result, allowed the underworld to fill the gaps, but, only for a price. As long as mafiosos paid their bribes and cut the officials in on the action, they were not harassed. They were left alone. The moment they didn't play by the rules of the government officials, they were dealt with severely. And then, new suppliers moved in to take their place.

Today, the same business protocols exist and are still being followed in Russia, today.

So what does this all have to do with the migration of Slavic workers to Britain?

The people from these nations that want a piece of the pie, are becoming more and more convinced that their countries cannot provide them with the dream. They cannot meet the needs of their people today and it is looking more and more likely that the time will not come, anytime too soon. Many fear that their time will come and go, before they ever get a handle on it, if they ever do. Their lives and chances are running out, so they turn to Britain, where they are welcomed.

The EU did not envision this. The EU wanted the continent to embrace the concept of the richer nations, helping the poorer ones (which are mostly former socialist nations). Then they could all realize the dream of a strong neo-Roman Empire, where they could all sing Kumbaya, and live happily ever after. But, what help the poorer ones have received has been eaten up by corruption and gross mismanagement. And now, many countries that are well-adept at free markets are not willing to continue sinking more and more money into a corrupt system, not getting a decent return on their investment. So now, the people in these countries that want to work hard and not deal with the games that are going on in their areas, right now, are going where the opportunity exists for them, to better themselves through hard work.

But rest assured, this will make it even more difficult to jump start these countries' economies. The people that want to work are leaving for greener pastures elsewhere and all that is left is the old corrupt, lazy, ex-socialists that want something for nothing. You cannot build a strong nation with lazy-asses and corrupt politicians.

This nation was not built by socialists, it was built by hard working men and women that poured their hearts, their souls, and their spirits into this endeavor. Blood, sweat, and tears were shed for this country, and sugar coated feel good theories (that have never worked and never will) played no part of it.

Those opposed to the EU, saw this coming. But somehow they could not convince the pie-in-the-sky, ivory tower elitists that dreamed up this ill-conceived scheme to unite Europe, under one banner.

So.

What else is new?

Cross-posted at The Wide Awakes