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In quest for welfare. The Labour Migrations of Yugoslav Citizens in Western European Countries 1960 – 1977
| The paper tries to analyze Yugoslav migration processes to the Western Countries (mainly Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland) in the period from 1960, when the first migrations started, until the 1977. The special emphasis is put on the attempts and measures taken by the regime in order to control and coordinate those processes and make them “suite” the Party’s interests and the state economy. The article is based on sources kept in Archive of Yugoslavia and Tito’s Archive.
The relative liberalization and the weakening of the communist repression, economic crisis followed by dramatic unemployment, low standard of living and great pressure of the unqualified workers on the cities led to the continuation of the migration processes that were interrupted in 1945, when the Communist Party ceased the power. Until the 60 – ties, Party leadership considered that sporadic migration to Western Europe is equivalent to treason. Due to the economic crisis, officials changed the point of view and became benevolent to the mass emigration on uneducated workers. Workers, their families and the state had a clear benefit from gastarbaiters, as the influx of migrant’s hard currency was enormous – since they were sending 2 /3 of their income home. During the 1973. 1.1 million of Yugoslavs was working abroad and that number represents and absolute peak. Due to the recession in Western countries, Yugoslav government adopted the set of measures in order to enable the easy repatriation of migrants (May 1976). Although the number of returnees was growing as years went by, the total number of Yugoslav citizens remained constant, since German economy was absorbing the second generation of migrants.
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