France, like Europe, has been built up by perpetual waves of immigration.
This argument is used in the debates Does being on the left necessarily mean being in favor of mass immigration? and Should we accept immigration?.
This argument is a justification of We can't stop immigration.
Summary
Quotes
“From the very beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, the proletariat was built up through the successive influxes of immigrants. Thousands of Irish came to work in the industrial colonies of Manchester, London and Liverpool. Before 1850, Belgians and Germans emigrated to the spinning mills and early mines of the North and to the Paris region. Between 1870 and 1914, hundreds of thousands of Italians settled in France, Austria and Germany to turn blast furnaces, dig mines, build railroads and unload ships. Then it was the turn of the Poles to emigrate en masse to the industrial centers of Germany and France. Others came from Spain and Portugal. Not to mention all those who set sail for the Americas, some 50 million Europeans between 1840 and 1940.”
