Surpluspeople. It sounds and is awful. Unfortunately, Marx's enduring insight is thatany society touched by capitalism contains an "industrial reserve army" of fluctuating size. Some workers are "stagnant" orendlessly unemployed; others "float", they seek work wherever they can find it. Either way,  the army's"misery is in inverse proportion to the amount of torture it has to undergo in the form of labor."

   In Russia, floaters from Tajikistan (in Central Asia) pay thousands of dollars for the chance at ajob no one else will do. As the InternationalCrisis Group explained in a January 2010 study, "what sets migrants apart from the local population in their host countries is their willingness towork long hours in the worst conditions. No matter how severe the crisis is, a Russian will never agree to dig trenches and lay pipes in a minus-twenty degreecold."

     In Italy, the surplus people come from, among other nations, Albania, Romania, and Senegal. In the center and North floaters work in the smaller firms, without the protections or salaries offered to Italians. In the South, the need for agricultural stoop and squat labor produces conditions of "semi-slavery". Even the Pope felt tocompelled to remind Italians that "an immigrant is a human being".

    In Postville, Iowa Guatemalan "floaters" labored in a Kosher meat packing plant whereeven the Rabbis were illegal. They blessed the meat, workers suffered many unreported amputations and officials from the host society sent police to arrest the Guatemalans doing work shunned by the vast majority of "real"Americans.

    Institutionalized  misery links illegal immigrants in Russia,Italy and the United States. However, the need for immigrants includes more than a desire to fill jobs no one else will do . In Russia the low birth and very high death rates produce this result:"Between 2008 and 2025 Russia's population will undergo a natural decline of 11 million." Russia either imports people or it will have fewer and fewer workers to fill jobs all across the economy. In Italy, out of a list of 221 nations and localities, the Italians rank 219th. They have close to the lowest birth rate on earth and among the highest percentage of aged on earth. Italy is caught in a double bind. It must import people to fill jobs and to provide funding for the Italians who are and will be retiring. In the United Statesthe birth rate is even (about 1.99 children born for each women) but the aged population is increasing and immigrants -legal and illegal- need to help provide the funding for our seniors to live in Florida, Arizona, and the Carolinas.

   While low birth rates lay out a welcome mat for illegal immigrants, when they come and stay another factor enters the equation. Remittances are an independent variable that create a dependence on the funds in the immigrant's country of origin. A November 2009 study from the World Bank explains that Romanians rank seventh inthe world; they send home more than $9 billion dollars a year. As a percentage of the nation's GDP, Tajikistan ranks number one; an astonishing 50% of its GDPcomes from immigrant remittances. In 2008, a bad year, Mexicans sent home no less than $26 billion dollars.

     One unintended consequence of the remittances (and other variables, e.g., border enforcement) is that "contrary to World Bank expectations, there is little evidence of return migration as a result of the financial crisis in the United States and Europe." In fact, "there are widespread reports that migrants are unwilling to return to their countries of origin fearing that they may not be able to re-enter once they leave because of tighter immigration controls."

  So, Russia, Italy and the United States want the immigrants. When things get bad -or some of their constituents complain about foreigners stealing jobs- they try to get rid ofthem. But, if only because of the need for remittances at home, the immigrants must stay where they are longer wanted. Even the lowest of wages in Russia arebetter than no wages at home. Remember, too, that some of those who remain inthe "host" society, abandon their first families for a second one in Russia or Italy. Remittances stop coming and the first family now needs to find a new floater if it is to survive.

  Whether birth rates,death rates or remittances, we are discussing structural variables in each ofthe three societies. An effective and moral response requires facing the structural truth. Unfortunately, another factor that links the three receiving nations is rank hypocrisy. In Italy, "industry would close without them, especially the Romanians and especially small and medium firms...Business owners are really worried about this campaign (to get rid of the illegals) because they need this workforce - they are good workers."

   In the United States, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "Although they broke the law by illegally crossing our borders or overstaying their visas, our City'seconomy would be a shell of itself had they not, and it would collapse if they were deported. The same holds true for the nation."

   Employers want the workers and governments want the taxes. But another sector of the society takes charge and blames the victim. The platform of Italy's People of Liberty Party is "never again, illegal immigrants under your house...empty illegal camps and get rid of nomads who have no residence and no means of subsistence." Similar rmovements exist in Russia and the U.S. Indeed, to the extent the Christian right is involved in closing the U.S.' doors to illegals, the degree of hypocrisy reaches new levels: What happened to do unto others as you would have them do unto you?

   Here is my conclusion: A commonality of  response to illegal immigrants is what links the three societies. Employers and the rest of us exploit the reserve industrial army; no American shopping at Whole Foods avoids eating vegetables produced by illegal stoop and squat labor. Meanwhile, locals who do not need floaters express their prejudices, and "surplus people" endure misery in many forms.

    In response, let's at least admit that in all three nations we turn a blind eye to endless exploitation and that if this is"civilization", imagine barbarity.