ABSTRACT
Emigration and radicalism were contempo-raneous responses on the part of workers and peasants to oppressive conditions in late-nineteenth-century Italy. The general causes of both Italian migration and radicalism can be condensed into specific categories: rapid population growth, concentration of land ownership, industrial capitalism, heavy taxes and duties, and chronic agricultural depres-sion. Since the 1870s class consciousness and militancy characterized a growing segment of the working classes. Although immigrants to the United States were drawn predominantly from the ranks of contadini (peasants) and artisans, not industrial workers, many had been affected by socialist ideas and move-ments. The formation of peasants’ leagues, socialist groups, and chambers of labor was widespread in the Mezzogiorno (south) as well as the north.
