This book responds to global tendencies toward increasingly restrictive border controls and populist movements targeting migrants for violence and exclusion, and integrates elements of classical Marxism, Lenin's theory of imperialism, post-colonialism, and recent work within critical migration and border studies.
Informed by Marxist theory, it challenges standard narratives about immigration and problematises commonplace distinctions between 'migrants' and 'workers'.
Using Britain as a case study, the book examines how these categories have been constructed and mobilised within representations of a 'migrant crisis' and a 'welfare crisis' to facilitate capitalist exploitation. It uses ideas from grassroots activism to propose alternative understandings of the relationship between borders, migration and class that provide a basis for solidarity.
