Page 382 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 382
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
in the valley were not enough, in particular in the villages of the high val-
leys, some inhabitants accepted seasonal jobs on the plain, e.g. in the build-
ing sector or on the farms (in particular for the cereal or the grape harvest
on the Lombard plain and low hills). The seasonal emigration normally in-
volved adult males who could work in several different economic branch-
es: on the contrary, women were few and they were occupied in rural works
only, in particular in the vines and paddy fields.
The migrants who came from the mountains were very competitive
in the labour market both on the plain and in the lower hills because they
had all the professional skills requested by the farmers and, at the same
time, their wages were lower than those demanded by the local rural pop-
ulation. In particular on the Eastern plain, the lack of peasants allowed
the workforce to obtain a better remuneration in cash and kind. Migrants
from the Alpine valleys had a double advantage: a) they simply had to in-
tegrate the other earnings of their families and so they could reduce their
wages; b) they were selected by the intermediaries who created the contrac-
tual links between the village and the farm, that is they had to show their
ability and only the best ones could emigrate. The mountain villages al-
ways had to show and confirm the high quality skills of its inhabitants be-
cause this guaranteed the annual renewal of the contracts with the farmer.
This rule obviously existed in other jobs too, in particular for the bricklay-
ers and longshoremen.
Even in the presence of the IPE, some inhabitants could leave the
mountain valleys for a long time or forever. When this happened, it of-
ten concerned craftsmen with very high professional skills (who produced
iron and steel hand manufactured goods and were invited to other coun-
tries where they received fiscal facilitation and high earnings) or people
who managed and organised the work of other Alpine temporary migrants,
such as the bricklayers working in the towns of the Lombard plain and the
longshoremen who operated in the docks at the ports of Genoa and Venice.
These two professional categories also represented the main cases of Lom-
bard Alpine people who could remain out of the native Alps for more than
a year without emigrating forever.
Within the IPE the Alpine family’s earnings came in from different
jobs and allowed all family members to have the necessary amount to sur-
vive (food, a house, heating and clothes). The positive effects of the IPE were
1790 they sold almost 9,000 tons of grain for a value of more than three million lire.
See Zalin 1988.
380
in the valley were not enough, in particular in the villages of the high val-
leys, some inhabitants accepted seasonal jobs on the plain, e.g. in the build-
ing sector or on the farms (in particular for the cereal or the grape harvest
on the Lombard plain and low hills). The seasonal emigration normally in-
volved adult males who could work in several different economic branch-
es: on the contrary, women were few and they were occupied in rural works
only, in particular in the vines and paddy fields.
The migrants who came from the mountains were very competitive
in the labour market both on the plain and in the lower hills because they
had all the professional skills requested by the farmers and, at the same
time, their wages were lower than those demanded by the local rural pop-
ulation. In particular on the Eastern plain, the lack of peasants allowed
the workforce to obtain a better remuneration in cash and kind. Migrants
from the Alpine valleys had a double advantage: a) they simply had to in-
tegrate the other earnings of their families and so they could reduce their
wages; b) they were selected by the intermediaries who created the contrac-
tual links between the village and the farm, that is they had to show their
ability and only the best ones could emigrate. The mountain villages al-
ways had to show and confirm the high quality skills of its inhabitants be-
cause this guaranteed the annual renewal of the contracts with the farmer.
This rule obviously existed in other jobs too, in particular for the bricklay-
ers and longshoremen.
Even in the presence of the IPE, some inhabitants could leave the
mountain valleys for a long time or forever. When this happened, it of-
ten concerned craftsmen with very high professional skills (who produced
iron and steel hand manufactured goods and were invited to other coun-
tries where they received fiscal facilitation and high earnings) or people
who managed and organised the work of other Alpine temporary migrants,
such as the bricklayers working in the towns of the Lombard plain and the
longshoremen who operated in the docks at the ports of Genoa and Venice.
These two professional categories also represented the main cases of Lom-
bard Alpine people who could remain out of the native Alps for more than
a year without emigrating forever.
Within the IPE the Alpine family’s earnings came in from different
jobs and allowed all family members to have the necessary amount to sur-
vive (food, a house, heating and clothes). The positive effects of the IPE were
1790 they sold almost 9,000 tons of grain for a value of more than three million lire.
See Zalin 1988.
380
