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Polish America, American Poland
History of European Ideas, Vol. 20, Nos I-3, pp. 599-605, 1995
~ )
Pergamon
Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0191-6599/95 $9.50 + 00
POLISH AMERICA, AMERICAN POLAND JANUSZ MUCHA*
American has been a 'promised land' for numerous national groups throughout the world. Poles are one of these groups. The cultural contact between Poland and the United States has been, as it usually is, a two-way street. The impact of Polish culture on American culture has been, however, quite small despite the many outstanding achievements of Poles in the New Wodd.~ The impact of American civflisation and American ways on the dreams of the Polish people has been much stronger. However, their influence on Polish everyday life should not be exaggerated. According to the 1980 U.S. Census, there are over 8 million Americans of Polish heritage and nearly 4 million people of exclusively Polish extraction. The Polish group is the eighth largest ethnic group in the States. ~Until 1939, causes of Polish emigration were due mostly to economic factors. People emigrating from the Russian and Austrian parts of partitioned Poland were mainly peasants. The social structure of the migrant group coming from the German part of Poland was more complicated. The post-World War II period brought changes in the character of Polish immigrants to the U.S. Now, the pre-World War II group, already established and assimilated, was called Old Polonia. The New Polonia was of a different character which included refugees, 'displaced persons', armed forces officers and anti-Communist activists. Altogether, nearly 150,000 Poles arrived. As previously stated, this was a political migration. Interestingly, the social characteristics of this aggregate of Polish immigrants to the U.S. included those with university, middle-class and white collar backgrounds. The interests and problems of the New Polonia were dissimilar to those of the Old Polonia. For decades to come, the point of reference of New Polonia immigrants would be Poland. They established several museums, archives and historical institutes which remain important to this day (it should be pointed out, however, that the Old Polonia had been active in this field as well). This does not mean, that they have not assimilated. Possessing a European education, and with experiences in difficult situations, they were able to adjust to modern, American society. The collapse of the short-lived equilibrium between the Communist authorities and Solidarity resulted in the declaration of martial law in December 1981. Martial law, and the so-called normalisation process that followed, resulted in new waves of emigration from Poland. The ftrst of these waves lasted approximately until 1984. According to estimates coveting the period from 1980 to 1984, approximately 38,000 Poles emigrated to the U.S.. Three-quarters of this emigration were of a political or a semi-political character. Many of the emigrating Poles were the Solidarity activists including both blue-coUar workers and intellectuals. 2"3The social and administrative status of this group was unique *Department of Sociology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Gagarina II, Torun, Poland 87100. 599
600
Janusz Mucha
compared to previous emigrants. The social base of the new migrants was not families, but various sponsoring organisations. Newcomers rarely had problems obtaining work permission and residency status. Sponsoring agencies provided them with assistance in learning English. In the mid-1980s, the character of Polish immigration to the U.S. changed once again. An overwhelming majority of migrants were young, relatively well educated people looking not for bread but rather for a better and eventually much easier way of life. What is the result of this process of continuous immigration of different groups of Poles to America? Today, the Polish-American ethnic group is a mosaic of at least four different generations. The Old Polonia arrived mainly between 1880 and 1939. Today, the first generation and most of the second generation have been deceased for years. The third and fourth generations are Americans, interested in things which are Polish. The political immigration that arrived after World War II is quite aged by now. Though this group obviously belongs to the American society, they are, psychologically speaking, still Poles. Their children are Americans, though, and rarely speak Polish. New Polonia has its own associations and magazines and, until 1989, its main concern was the regaining of Polish sovereignty. The Polish-American ethnic group also has three other components. One of them is the first generation of the newest economic immigration of the 1970s and the 1980s. The second component is the new political, also completely legalised, immigration of the first half of the 1980s. The third component is a group of temporarily and illegally working so-called 'vacationists' or 'tourists'. The fact that the Solidarity immigration is of a political nature makes it similar to that of New Polonia. The fact that they experienced the realities of communism in Poland makes them similar to the latest immigrants due to economic factors. These ties seem to be even more important. The two newest groups also have another common denominator. They want to assimilate quickly, despite the fact that some of these people used to be patriotically oriented Polish activists. However, the members of these two groups monitor Poland closely. They subscribe to Polish weeklies, published both in Polish and in English, in Poland and in America. If they live in Chicago and New York City, they have their own radio stations and cable TV programs produced in the US. If they live in New York City, they can watch every night the newsreel broadcasted 10 hours earlier in Warsaw. Once a week, they can watch one of the best political talk shows three evenings after it had been broadcast in Poland. What are the newest groups' chances to assimilate? Due to their educational backgrounds in addition to the assistance provided by sponsoring agencies, most of them were able to find good jobs. On the other hand, they are not likely to speak English fluently. Polish concerns will continue to be more important to them than American, particularly local, concerns. The children of this group of the newest Polish immigrants are completely Americanised, much more than children of immigrants who came from Poland 100 years earlier. At that time, there were Polish neighbourhoods, Polish parishes, and parish schools. Today, only grandparents help retain the Polish language when visiting or when they host them in Poland. This is only a few weeks a year. The impact of American culture and social environment is enormous.
History of European Ideas
Polish America, American Poland
601
Let me return to the composition of the entire Polish ethnic group in America. As has been stated, there is a number of different first generations which emigrated in different periods; at least two second generations; a third and a fourth generation. Various waves of immigration came from different regions of Poland thereby retaining their regional loyalties. Sometimes they live in the 'urban villages' of big American cities which are social and cultural replicas of their own villages in Poland. The first generations had different experiences in Poland and experienced a different social, economic and political situation in America at the time of their immigration. The pre-war economic immigration was much more collectively oriented than the most recent immigration. The work ethic is different in various groups. Old and New Polonia accuse the newest Polonia of not being patriotic while the newest Polonia accuses the Old Polonia of being overly parochial, etc. As a result of this situation, co-operation hardly exists. Polish-Americans have not achieved the political successes that other ethnic groups, which are much smaller such as Greek-Americans, have made. In Chicago, for example, Poles are the largest group among white ethnics. On a few occasions they attempted to elect a Polish mayor, but were unsuccessful due to internal conflicts and the inability to arrive at consensus concerning necessary coalitions. The newest Polish immigration to the U.S., unlike both the old and the new immigration, has not been a focus of research by either American or Polish scholars. The only report which I am aware of covers the period from 1983 to 1985 and includes four ethnic groups: Afghans, Ethiopians, Romanians and Poles/According to this study, the newest Polish immigrants appear to have assimilated very well into American society. Within a few years, they are likely to become self-sufficient. Their income will be comparable to the American average. Whatever the reason of their immigration, they will stay permanently in their new, chosen motherland and only visit Poland to see their relatives. Equally interesting is another group of Polish immigrants which have not yet been studied systematically by social scientists. They are referred to as tourists or vacationists: those who come to America as visitors, only possessing a tourist visa without a permit to work, have no chance to legalise their stay in the U.S. Most of them eventually return to Poland. The new temporary immigrants take their place in America and the pattern repeats itself. Polish 'tourists' or temporary illegal workers can be found in various regions and cities, but the vast majority live in Chicago, New York City and Detroit. In this paper, the focus will be on Chicago. Some regions in Poland have a long tradition of emigration to America. The southern part of Poland, i.e. the former Austro-Hungarian Galicia, is such a region. Polish-Americans who have come from this part of the old country are well organised in Chicago, and have retained strong ties with the Polish villages from which their great-grandparents had left. Now, they constitute an established, third and fourth generation of Americans and they still invite their cousins to visit them. These cousins reinforce the ties between Chicago's Polish neighbourhoods and the Polish villages thereby contributing to the continuation of the existence of urban villages, as mentioned previously. Why leave Poland for work in America? Labour wages, even on the black market, have always been many times greater in the U.S. than in Poland. Volume 20, Nos 1-3, January 1995
602
Janusz Mucha
Moreover, the buying power of the dollar had been until 1990 much higher in Poland than in the U.S. The 'tourists' stay in America anywhere from one month to more than 10 years. Every year between 15,000 and 40,000 of them are found in Chicago. They constitute a large part of the Polish community in Chicago and contribute to its folklore. Along with the already legalised economic immigrants, they are the patrons of the Polish stores, restaurants and clubs. They are the audience of theatres and music bands on tour from Poland with special programs addressed to Polonia. They are buying records and cassettes with PolishAmerican polkas, or folk music. Illegal Polish workers stay, at least in the beginning, with relatives or friends, but attempt to become self-sufficient. They rent boarding rooms run by other Poles, some of whom are their employers. In many cases their lodging consists merely of a bed or half of bed where one person sleeps during a day while another at night, depending on their work hours. People having better-paying jobs form a team and rent a modest apartment in which each bedroom is shared by two mates. Upon returning to Poland, they'sell' their lodging, cars and jobs to others coming from the old country looking for such goods. The Poles, lacking work permits, are employed in Chicago's cash economy. There are female jobs, e.g. housekeeping, cleaning, and male jobs, mostly in the construction business. Most of the illegal workers who have two or three different jobs, work approximately 12 hours a day, six days a week. Many of the employers are established Polish-Americans, who take advantage of the cheap illegal labour while at the same time provide employment opportunities to those who are excluded from legitimate means of work. It is possible to earn a net annual income of approximately $10,000. Until 1989, this amount would have purchased a medium size car in addition to condominium on the free market in Poland. Farmers use the money to build houses, buy more land or, occasionally, purchase equipment. The 'tourists' are rarely interested in learning English. It is not necessary. In two of the largest Polish neighbourhoods of Chicago, it is possible to meet the requirements of everyday life in Polish. One does not need English in grocery stores, banks, garages, restaurants, or church. There are Polish dailies and magazines. Polish radio and TV stations. The Poles who work illegally, have no American acquaintances or friends. Not unlike other ethnic ghettoes, the Poles separated from mainstream American life. They work in America, they drive American cars, but the impact of American civilisation on their lives is extremely superficial. What are the relationships between the 'tourists' and the established Polonia? I have already mentioned the kinship relations, a sense of belonging to a single rural community with one branch in Poland and another one in America, and some aspects of economic symbiosis. There are, however, numerous tensions and conflicts, resulting from the willingness of both sides to maximise their income. What is Polish in America? Polish neighbourhoods still remain. There are Polish names in the symbolic hall of fame of American culture and politics. We can ask another question, though. Do Polish things influence the Americans' everyday life in any other sense than via Polish sausage? The Polish group, like many other ethnic groups, has survived in America for more than I00 years and
History of European Ideas
Polish America, American Poland
603
most probably will continue to do so. It is an important component of the white ethnics and, as such, still influences American polities and cultural pluralism. The popularity of the polkas in American folk culture may serve as an example. 8 The Old, New and Newest Polonia is Polish first of all at home and in its primary groups while being white ethnic in its political life and American in most of its public life. Therefore, it seems to me that the Polish influences on America come rather directly from Poland than via the Polish group in this country. Even the lobbying power of large Polish-American organisations, e.g. the PolishAmerican Congress, is more visible when American interests in Poland are at stake. The Polish 'tourists' strengthen the ethnic niche and will most likely continue coming to the U.S. The long-run impact of the temporary migrants on the American culture does not exist at all. What they do is only maintain the lively, colourful 'new Poland' in big American cities, 'new Poland' inhabitated solely by Poles. 'Vacationists' are Polish in all aspects of their life in America, but they cannot infuence it because they have little contact socially with Americans. Another topic of discussion is what is American in Poland or what are the American influences on the everyday lives of Poles. America has been a promised land for Poles for over a century. Nowadays, since the demise of Communism in Poland, 90% of movies shown in Polish theatres are produced in America; everywhere are inscriptions and advertisements in English. I am interested, however, in deeper influences. It seems to me that a proper method of study would be to examine the changes resulting from temporary emigration and reemigration to the villages which have a long tradition of sending their surplus inhabitants across the ocean. We shall use a few old and n e w sources. 5'6'9t0 These sources suggest that the pattern has remained stable since the beginning of the twentieth century. The temporary emigration, the re-emigration, as well as the permanent emigration connected with sending money to families in the village of origin, have had some consequences that are quite general and do not have to be linked to America. I am referring to the influx of large amounts of money to the barter economy of traditional villages and the disorganisation of the family and community life. It is interesting to note that the cultural gap between America and the Polish villages has been, for decades, so large, that the cultural patterns learned by emigrants in the U.S. have been in many cases useless at home. First of all, the emigrants work in big, industrial cities in America, and return to the lesser developed rural economy and traditional prestige structure and culture. They do not learn anything new about agriculture in the U.S. and the level of industrial technology in Polish villages is insufficient to take advantage of their experience. The money they bring back home is spent almost entirely on consumer goods or on buying new pieces of land to be cultivated with traditional methods. A higher standard of living of emigrants' and of re-emigrants' families means more land, new houses and more consumer goods. Clubs and associations of emigrants coming from the same parish founded churches and community centres 'at home', but these centres do not propagate American civilisation. Nowadays, reemigrants and relatives of emigrants enjoy new models of Western cars, hi-fi
Volume 20, Nos 1-3, January 1995
604
Janusz Mucha
stereo equipment, VCRs, etc. Investments in production are quite rare. There is a saying, according to which, it is worthwhile only to work in Chicago, but to spend money only at home, in Poland. In the first half of the twentieth century, the re-emigrants tried to introduce some new habits: eating at the table and from separate dishes, wearing shirts with collars, etc. They would use some American expressions. Eating habits have survived, but other examples of American ways have withered away. Traditional culture was strong enough to wash away the elements which were not compatible. Re-emigrants from the U.S. have often been referred to as Americans. As a matter of fact, most of them were Polish peasants before emigrating, during the emigration and after returning back home. Being peasants, they are quite sensitive to American folk culture in neighbourhoods where they lived in Chicago, New York City or Detroit. Returning back home, they bring with themselves Polish-American music. The demand for polkas was so great in the 1960s and the 1970s that the Polish radio broadcasted special programmes entitled 'Polonia Sings'. The American impact on Polish reality has belonged mostly to the reality of dreams. JanuszMucha Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland
NOTES 1. Frank Mocha (ed.), Poles in America. Bicentennial Essays (Stevens Point, WI: Worzalla Publishing Company, 1978). 2. Jarostaw Rokicki, Wiez Spoleczna a Zmiana Kultury (Social Bond and Culture Change), Wroclaw et al. (Ossolineum, 1992). 3. Danuta Mostwin, Emigranci Polscy w U.S.A. (Polish Emigrants to the U.S.), (Lblin: KUL, 1991). 4. Donald J. Cichon, Elzbieta M. Gozdziak and Jane G. Grover, The Economic and Social Adjustment of Non-Southeast Asian Refugees, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement, 1986. 5. Ryszard Kantor, 'Miejsce Chicago we wsp61czesnych migracjach zarobkowych ludno~ciparafii Zabor6w (wojew6dztwo Tarn6w' (The position of Chicago in modern employmentseeking migrations of the inhabitants of the Zaborow Parish, Province of Tarnow), Przeglad Polonijny X, (3), (1984). 6. Ryszard Kantor 'Wspd¥czesne migracje zarobkowe mieszkatic6w Podhala do U.S.A. Raport z badan terenowych w latach 1987-88 (Modern employment seeking migrations from the Podha|e Region to the U.S.A.), Przeglad Polonijny XVII (1), (1991). 7. Jaroslaw Rokicki, 'Wakacjusze na Jackowie i inni. Szkic o sytuacfi wsptticzesnych polskich emigrant6w zarobkowych w Chicago' (Vacationists in the Jackowo Parish. An Essay on the modern Polish employmentseekingemigrantsin Chicago),Przeglad Polonijny XV, (3), (1989). 8. Jaros/aw Rokicki, 'Etniczny ruch polkowy w Stanach Zjednocaonych Ameryki" (The Ethnic Polka Movement in the U.S.), mimeo. 9. Krystyna Duda-Dziewierz, IVies Malopolska a Emigracja Amerykanska. Studium wsi History of European Ideas
Polish America, American Poland
605
Babica Powiatu Rzeszowskiego (Little Poland Village and the Emigration to America. Case Study of Babiea in the Rzesz6w County), (Warszawa-Poznafi: PIS, 1938). 10. Barbara Golda, 'Konsekweneje emigracji w zyciu wiejskiej spalecznoJci polskiej~(The effects of emigration on a rural community life), Przeglad Poionijny II (1), (1976). 11. Ryszard Kantor, 'Etnograficzne badania poionijne. Rzeczywistosc i propozycje' (Ethnographic Research on Polish Emigrants. Facts and Propositions), LUD 68 (1984). 12. Maria Wieruszewska-Adamczyk, (Spalecznosc Zaborowa w Procesie Przemian (The Zabor6w Community in the Period of Transition), (Warszawa: PWN, 1980).
Volume 20,
Nos 1-3, January 1995
~ )
Pergamon
Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0191-6599/95 $9.50 + 00
POLISH AMERICA, AMERICAN POLAND JANUSZ MUCHA*
American has been a 'promised land' for numerous national groups throughout the world. Poles are one of these groups. The cultural contact between Poland and the United States has been, as it usually is, a two-way street. The impact of Polish culture on American culture has been, however, quite small despite the many outstanding achievements of Poles in the New Wodd.~ The impact of American civflisation and American ways on the dreams of the Polish people has been much stronger. However, their influence on Polish everyday life should not be exaggerated. According to the 1980 U.S. Census, there are over 8 million Americans of Polish heritage and nearly 4 million people of exclusively Polish extraction. The Polish group is the eighth largest ethnic group in the States. ~Until 1939, causes of Polish emigration were due mostly to economic factors. People emigrating from the Russian and Austrian parts of partitioned Poland were mainly peasants. The social structure of the migrant group coming from the German part of Poland was more complicated. The post-World War II period brought changes in the character of Polish immigrants to the U.S. Now, the pre-World War II group, already established and assimilated, was called Old Polonia. The New Polonia was of a different character which included refugees, 'displaced persons', armed forces officers and anti-Communist activists. Altogether, nearly 150,000 Poles arrived. As previously stated, this was a political migration. Interestingly, the social characteristics of this aggregate of Polish immigrants to the U.S. included those with university, middle-class and white collar backgrounds. The interests and problems of the New Polonia were dissimilar to those of the Old Polonia. For decades to come, the point of reference of New Polonia immigrants would be Poland. They established several museums, archives and historical institutes which remain important to this day (it should be pointed out, however, that the Old Polonia had been active in this field as well). This does not mean, that they have not assimilated. Possessing a European education, and with experiences in difficult situations, they were able to adjust to modern, American society. The collapse of the short-lived equilibrium between the Communist authorities and Solidarity resulted in the declaration of martial law in December 1981. Martial law, and the so-called normalisation process that followed, resulted in new waves of emigration from Poland. The ftrst of these waves lasted approximately until 1984. According to estimates coveting the period from 1980 to 1984, approximately 38,000 Poles emigrated to the U.S.. Three-quarters of this emigration were of a political or a semi-political character. Many of the emigrating Poles were the Solidarity activists including both blue-coUar workers and intellectuals. 2"3The social and administrative status of this group was unique *Department of Sociology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Gagarina II, Torun, Poland 87100. 599
600
Janusz Mucha
compared to previous emigrants. The social base of the new migrants was not families, but various sponsoring organisations. Newcomers rarely had problems obtaining work permission and residency status. Sponsoring agencies provided them with assistance in learning English. In the mid-1980s, the character of Polish immigration to the U.S. changed once again. An overwhelming majority of migrants were young, relatively well educated people looking not for bread but rather for a better and eventually much easier way of life. What is the result of this process of continuous immigration of different groups of Poles to America? Today, the Polish-American ethnic group is a mosaic of at least four different generations. The Old Polonia arrived mainly between 1880 and 1939. Today, the first generation and most of the second generation have been deceased for years. The third and fourth generations are Americans, interested in things which are Polish. The political immigration that arrived after World War II is quite aged by now. Though this group obviously belongs to the American society, they are, psychologically speaking, still Poles. Their children are Americans, though, and rarely speak Polish. New Polonia has its own associations and magazines and, until 1989, its main concern was the regaining of Polish sovereignty. The Polish-American ethnic group also has three other components. One of them is the first generation of the newest economic immigration of the 1970s and the 1980s. The second component is the new political, also completely legalised, immigration of the first half of the 1980s. The third component is a group of temporarily and illegally working so-called 'vacationists' or 'tourists'. The fact that the Solidarity immigration is of a political nature makes it similar to that of New Polonia. The fact that they experienced the realities of communism in Poland makes them similar to the latest immigrants due to economic factors. These ties seem to be even more important. The two newest groups also have another common denominator. They want to assimilate quickly, despite the fact that some of these people used to be patriotically oriented Polish activists. However, the members of these two groups monitor Poland closely. They subscribe to Polish weeklies, published both in Polish and in English, in Poland and in America. If they live in Chicago and New York City, they have their own radio stations and cable TV programs produced in the US. If they live in New York City, they can watch every night the newsreel broadcasted 10 hours earlier in Warsaw. Once a week, they can watch one of the best political talk shows three evenings after it had been broadcast in Poland. What are the newest groups' chances to assimilate? Due to their educational backgrounds in addition to the assistance provided by sponsoring agencies, most of them were able to find good jobs. On the other hand, they are not likely to speak English fluently. Polish concerns will continue to be more important to them than American, particularly local, concerns. The children of this group of the newest Polish immigrants are completely Americanised, much more than children of immigrants who came from Poland 100 years earlier. At that time, there were Polish neighbourhoods, Polish parishes, and parish schools. Today, only grandparents help retain the Polish language when visiting or when they host them in Poland. This is only a few weeks a year. The impact of American culture and social environment is enormous.
History of European Ideas
Polish America, American Poland
601
Let me return to the composition of the entire Polish ethnic group in America. As has been stated, there is a number of different first generations which emigrated in different periods; at least two second generations; a third and a fourth generation. Various waves of immigration came from different regions of Poland thereby retaining their regional loyalties. Sometimes they live in the 'urban villages' of big American cities which are social and cultural replicas of their own villages in Poland. The first generations had different experiences in Poland and experienced a different social, economic and political situation in America at the time of their immigration. The pre-war economic immigration was much more collectively oriented than the most recent immigration. The work ethic is different in various groups. Old and New Polonia accuse the newest Polonia of not being patriotic while the newest Polonia accuses the Old Polonia of being overly parochial, etc. As a result of this situation, co-operation hardly exists. Polish-Americans have not achieved the political successes that other ethnic groups, which are much smaller such as Greek-Americans, have made. In Chicago, for example, Poles are the largest group among white ethnics. On a few occasions they attempted to elect a Polish mayor, but were unsuccessful due to internal conflicts and the inability to arrive at consensus concerning necessary coalitions. The newest Polish immigration to the U.S., unlike both the old and the new immigration, has not been a focus of research by either American or Polish scholars. The only report which I am aware of covers the period from 1983 to 1985 and includes four ethnic groups: Afghans, Ethiopians, Romanians and Poles/According to this study, the newest Polish immigrants appear to have assimilated very well into American society. Within a few years, they are likely to become self-sufficient. Their income will be comparable to the American average. Whatever the reason of their immigration, they will stay permanently in their new, chosen motherland and only visit Poland to see their relatives. Equally interesting is another group of Polish immigrants which have not yet been studied systematically by social scientists. They are referred to as tourists or vacationists: those who come to America as visitors, only possessing a tourist visa without a permit to work, have no chance to legalise their stay in the U.S. Most of them eventually return to Poland. The new temporary immigrants take their place in America and the pattern repeats itself. Polish 'tourists' or temporary illegal workers can be found in various regions and cities, but the vast majority live in Chicago, New York City and Detroit. In this paper, the focus will be on Chicago. Some regions in Poland have a long tradition of emigration to America. The southern part of Poland, i.e. the former Austro-Hungarian Galicia, is such a region. Polish-Americans who have come from this part of the old country are well organised in Chicago, and have retained strong ties with the Polish villages from which their great-grandparents had left. Now, they constitute an established, third and fourth generation of Americans and they still invite their cousins to visit them. These cousins reinforce the ties between Chicago's Polish neighbourhoods and the Polish villages thereby contributing to the continuation of the existence of urban villages, as mentioned previously. Why leave Poland for work in America? Labour wages, even on the black market, have always been many times greater in the U.S. than in Poland. Volume 20, Nos 1-3, January 1995
602
Janusz Mucha
Moreover, the buying power of the dollar had been until 1990 much higher in Poland than in the U.S. The 'tourists' stay in America anywhere from one month to more than 10 years. Every year between 15,000 and 40,000 of them are found in Chicago. They constitute a large part of the Polish community in Chicago and contribute to its folklore. Along with the already legalised economic immigrants, they are the patrons of the Polish stores, restaurants and clubs. They are the audience of theatres and music bands on tour from Poland with special programs addressed to Polonia. They are buying records and cassettes with PolishAmerican polkas, or folk music. Illegal Polish workers stay, at least in the beginning, with relatives or friends, but attempt to become self-sufficient. They rent boarding rooms run by other Poles, some of whom are their employers. In many cases their lodging consists merely of a bed or half of bed where one person sleeps during a day while another at night, depending on their work hours. People having better-paying jobs form a team and rent a modest apartment in which each bedroom is shared by two mates. Upon returning to Poland, they'sell' their lodging, cars and jobs to others coming from the old country looking for such goods. The Poles, lacking work permits, are employed in Chicago's cash economy. There are female jobs, e.g. housekeeping, cleaning, and male jobs, mostly in the construction business. Most of the illegal workers who have two or three different jobs, work approximately 12 hours a day, six days a week. Many of the employers are established Polish-Americans, who take advantage of the cheap illegal labour while at the same time provide employment opportunities to those who are excluded from legitimate means of work. It is possible to earn a net annual income of approximately $10,000. Until 1989, this amount would have purchased a medium size car in addition to condominium on the free market in Poland. Farmers use the money to build houses, buy more land or, occasionally, purchase equipment. The 'tourists' are rarely interested in learning English. It is not necessary. In two of the largest Polish neighbourhoods of Chicago, it is possible to meet the requirements of everyday life in Polish. One does not need English in grocery stores, banks, garages, restaurants, or church. There are Polish dailies and magazines. Polish radio and TV stations. The Poles who work illegally, have no American acquaintances or friends. Not unlike other ethnic ghettoes, the Poles separated from mainstream American life. They work in America, they drive American cars, but the impact of American civilisation on their lives is extremely superficial. What are the relationships between the 'tourists' and the established Polonia? I have already mentioned the kinship relations, a sense of belonging to a single rural community with one branch in Poland and another one in America, and some aspects of economic symbiosis. There are, however, numerous tensions and conflicts, resulting from the willingness of both sides to maximise their income. What is Polish in America? Polish neighbourhoods still remain. There are Polish names in the symbolic hall of fame of American culture and politics. We can ask another question, though. Do Polish things influence the Americans' everyday life in any other sense than via Polish sausage? The Polish group, like many other ethnic groups, has survived in America for more than I00 years and
History of European Ideas
Polish America, American Poland
603
most probably will continue to do so. It is an important component of the white ethnics and, as such, still influences American polities and cultural pluralism. The popularity of the polkas in American folk culture may serve as an example. 8 The Old, New and Newest Polonia is Polish first of all at home and in its primary groups while being white ethnic in its political life and American in most of its public life. Therefore, it seems to me that the Polish influences on America come rather directly from Poland than via the Polish group in this country. Even the lobbying power of large Polish-American organisations, e.g. the PolishAmerican Congress, is more visible when American interests in Poland are at stake. The Polish 'tourists' strengthen the ethnic niche and will most likely continue coming to the U.S. The long-run impact of the temporary migrants on the American culture does not exist at all. What they do is only maintain the lively, colourful 'new Poland' in big American cities, 'new Poland' inhabitated solely by Poles. 'Vacationists' are Polish in all aspects of their life in America, but they cannot infuence it because they have little contact socially with Americans. Another topic of discussion is what is American in Poland or what are the American influences on the everyday lives of Poles. America has been a promised land for Poles for over a century. Nowadays, since the demise of Communism in Poland, 90% of movies shown in Polish theatres are produced in America; everywhere are inscriptions and advertisements in English. I am interested, however, in deeper influences. It seems to me that a proper method of study would be to examine the changes resulting from temporary emigration and reemigration to the villages which have a long tradition of sending their surplus inhabitants across the ocean. We shall use a few old and n e w sources. 5'6'9t0 These sources suggest that the pattern has remained stable since the beginning of the twentieth century. The temporary emigration, the re-emigration, as well as the permanent emigration connected with sending money to families in the village of origin, have had some consequences that are quite general and do not have to be linked to America. I am referring to the influx of large amounts of money to the barter economy of traditional villages and the disorganisation of the family and community life. It is interesting to note that the cultural gap between America and the Polish villages has been, for decades, so large, that the cultural patterns learned by emigrants in the U.S. have been in many cases useless at home. First of all, the emigrants work in big, industrial cities in America, and return to the lesser developed rural economy and traditional prestige structure and culture. They do not learn anything new about agriculture in the U.S. and the level of industrial technology in Polish villages is insufficient to take advantage of their experience. The money they bring back home is spent almost entirely on consumer goods or on buying new pieces of land to be cultivated with traditional methods. A higher standard of living of emigrants' and of re-emigrants' families means more land, new houses and more consumer goods. Clubs and associations of emigrants coming from the same parish founded churches and community centres 'at home', but these centres do not propagate American civilisation. Nowadays, reemigrants and relatives of emigrants enjoy new models of Western cars, hi-fi
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stereo equipment, VCRs, etc. Investments in production are quite rare. There is a saying, according to which, it is worthwhile only to work in Chicago, but to spend money only at home, in Poland. In the first half of the twentieth century, the re-emigrants tried to introduce some new habits: eating at the table and from separate dishes, wearing shirts with collars, etc. They would use some American expressions. Eating habits have survived, but other examples of American ways have withered away. Traditional culture was strong enough to wash away the elements which were not compatible. Re-emigrants from the U.S. have often been referred to as Americans. As a matter of fact, most of them were Polish peasants before emigrating, during the emigration and after returning back home. Being peasants, they are quite sensitive to American folk culture in neighbourhoods where they lived in Chicago, New York City or Detroit. Returning back home, they bring with themselves Polish-American music. The demand for polkas was so great in the 1960s and the 1970s that the Polish radio broadcasted special programmes entitled 'Polonia Sings'. The American impact on Polish reality has belonged mostly to the reality of dreams. JanuszMucha Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland
NOTES 1. Frank Mocha (ed.), Poles in America. Bicentennial Essays (Stevens Point, WI: Worzalla Publishing Company, 1978). 2. Jarostaw Rokicki, Wiez Spoleczna a Zmiana Kultury (Social Bond and Culture Change), Wroclaw et al. (Ossolineum, 1992). 3. Danuta Mostwin, Emigranci Polscy w U.S.A. (Polish Emigrants to the U.S.), (Lblin: KUL, 1991). 4. Donald J. Cichon, Elzbieta M. Gozdziak and Jane G. Grover, The Economic and Social Adjustment of Non-Southeast Asian Refugees, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement, 1986. 5. Ryszard Kantor, 'Miejsce Chicago we wsp61czesnych migracjach zarobkowych ludno~ciparafii Zabor6w (wojew6dztwo Tarn6w' (The position of Chicago in modern employmentseeking migrations of the inhabitants of the Zaborow Parish, Province of Tarnow), Przeglad Polonijny X, (3), (1984). 6. Ryszard Kantor 'Wspd¥czesne migracje zarobkowe mieszkatic6w Podhala do U.S.A. Raport z badan terenowych w latach 1987-88 (Modern employment seeking migrations from the Podha|e Region to the U.S.A.), Przeglad Polonijny XVII (1), (1991). 7. Jaroslaw Rokicki, 'Wakacjusze na Jackowie i inni. Szkic o sytuacfi wsptticzesnych polskich emigrant6w zarobkowych w Chicago' (Vacationists in the Jackowo Parish. An Essay on the modern Polish employmentseekingemigrantsin Chicago),Przeglad Polonijny XV, (3), (1989). 8. Jaros/aw Rokicki, 'Etniczny ruch polkowy w Stanach Zjednocaonych Ameryki" (The Ethnic Polka Movement in the U.S.), mimeo. 9. Krystyna Duda-Dziewierz, IVies Malopolska a Emigracja Amerykanska. Studium wsi History of European Ideas
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Babica Powiatu Rzeszowskiego (Little Poland Village and the Emigration to America. Case Study of Babiea in the Rzesz6w County), (Warszawa-Poznafi: PIS, 1938). 10. Barbara Golda, 'Konsekweneje emigracji w zyciu wiejskiej spalecznoJci polskiej~(The effects of emigration on a rural community life), Przeglad Poionijny II (1), (1976). 11. Ryszard Kantor, 'Etnograficzne badania poionijne. Rzeczywistosc i propozycje' (Ethnographic Research on Polish Emigrants. Facts and Propositions), LUD 68 (1984). 12. Maria Wieruszewska-Adamczyk, (Spalecznosc Zaborowa w Procesie Przemian (The Zabor6w Community in the Period of Transition), (Warszawa: PWN, 1980).
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Nos 1-3, January 1995