The complex relationship between labour migration and capital accumulation within Western Europe has started to receive attention and generate debate only in recent years. But with this development, analysis of specific societies and migrant groups has extended ahead of the comparative experience of labour migration. This paper is concerned with the post-war political economy of migrant labour in Western Europe, and gives particular attention to the role of the state, the production crisis and the crisis management since the mid-1970s. Functionalist and economistic explanations of labour migration are rejected. Instead, a dialectical analysis is offered which takes fully into account the contradictory forms of the management and political control of migrant labour. In conclusion, some consideration is given to the growth of ‘anti-foreigner’ and racist forms of political action.
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