1 Changing migration dynamics in a small rural town: a case of replacement
migration and social transformation
Albertus Sikke Jan (Siebert) Wielstra Student number: 10409254
Source: Creative Commons.
Program: Research Master Social Sciences, University of Amsterdam Supervisors: prof. dr. H.G. de Haas (1st) and dr. S. Vezzoli (2nd) Submission date: 10-5-2019
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1. Introduction
This paper examines how long term processes of social change in the Dutch town of Bolsward (, Friesland, and its hinterland, shaped people’s life aspirations and migration trajectories in the post-war period of 1945-1970. This analysis is embedded in a historical perspective, covering the period between 1880 and 1970, that aims to identify long term trends in migration and social change . By gathering and analysing internal and international migration data, and conducting semi-structured interviews with (ex-)Bolsward residents, this research identifies how social transformation processes, including agricultural mechanisation, educational expansion and industrialization, are intertwined with stable, intensifying and newly arising (im)mobility trajectories.
This paper is aim to contribute to the literature on migration and development by using migration transition theory. This strand of theory (Zelinsky 1971) expect to find patterned relationships between migration and different stages of economic and demographic development of the national level. However, the focus lies primarily on economic and demographic developments to explain mobility patterns, while the underlying mechanisms remain unclear (de Haas 2007; Skeldon 2012. The macro-level focus of transition theory furthermore conceals local variation in which migration transitions unfold in a local context.
This paper therefore adopts a social transformation framework, which builds on transition theory, to explore the relationship between migration and social change in a small rural town. Social transformation can defined as deep changes in economic, political, technological, cultural and demographic structures of society. This analysis explores how these various dimensions of social change affected the livelihoods, life-aspirations and subsequent human mobility patterns in the small agro-industrial town of Bolsward and its hinterland (de Haas et al.: forthcoming). This approach identifies the constellation and interlinkages of social processes that drove migration and explains why Bolsward shifted from a net out-migration to a net in-migration town, how Frisian destinations where increasingly substituted with inter-provincial destinations, and why origin areas of Bolsward’s in-migrants remained primarily rural.
3 The focus on Bolsward and its hinterland will show that small rural towns are both an important origin and destination of migrants during a period of deep social change in the Netherlands. Although emigration has often been the focus of Dutch migration research for the post-war period of 1945-1970, we focus on the entire mobility complex of Bolsward, including
international migration, intra-provincial internal migration, inter-provincial internal migration, commuting and immobility. The paper will show the importance of understanding the
interconnections between different forms of internal (rural-rural, rural-urban) and international migration, immobility and social transformation. While the bulk of migration research focusses on international migration and internal migration dynamics of large cities, this paper deals with a previously understudied area in migration research and focusses on a rural town in a peripheral province of the Netherlands. The focus on a small peripheral town helped us to show that small rural towns are both an important origin and destination of migrants during a period of deep social change and provides further empirical understanding of hypotheses on replacement migration by Ravenstein (1885) and Hägerstrand (1957).
Bolsward (see top of map 1) and its hinterland is a compelling case for study. Bolsward and its hinterland experienced several technological and economic transformations that fundamentally affected the livelihoods of peoples, including mechanization and a corresponding shift from labour intensive to large scale agriculture, a growing agro-industry and alongside this, upscaling in the retail sector in Bolsward town. These transformations provide the opportunity to analyse how and why the hinterland and town populations responded through new forms of migration or immobility. Bolsward and its hinterland had a diverse population in terms of employment, educational, religious and socio-economic characteristics, raising questions about constellation of inhabitants has influenced migration patterns to and from Bolsward. In this way we were able to provide further insight in the different ways people responded to social change.
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Map 1. Provincial map of the Netherlands.
Source: Noordhoff Atlas Productions.
The following summarizes the main findings of this research. It reviews migration history of Bolsward and its hinterlands and the core social transformations that drove these migration transitions, to set the context for the chapters that follow. In short, between 1945 and 1960 both migration to and out-migration from Bolsward increased. Out-migration was driven primarily by upscaling and concentration in the retail and trade sectors, in which many small street vendors and companies went bankrupt and lost faith in economic recovery. At the same time, the
5 possibility for skilled industrial personnel to earn higher wages at expanding industries within and more importantly outside Friesland increased. This process coincided with a diversification of migration destinations as short-distance Frisian destinations were increasingly substituted by quickly expanding industrial centers, like Rijswijk, Beverwijk and IJmuiden in the provinces Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland (see map). However, within a relatively short period of time, emigration appears to have temporarily substituted for this inter-provincial migration. Many working in the retail sector emigrated to Canada and Australia between 1947-1953, temporarily breaking a trend in increasing inter-provincial migration to Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland. This inter-provincial migration intensified again when emigration slackened.
At the same time that people were leaving Bolsward, others were migrating to it. Agricultural restructuring and mechanization led to an increase of in-migration to Bolsward by newly redundant land labourers. Bolsward and the surrounding areas had been primarily organized around agro-industry and agricultural employment before the war, but the post-war period brought expansion of the industrial sector and concomitant decline in agricultural labor. During this period, many day labourers, farm workers and farmers from the surrounding areas lost labour opportunities more rapidly than in the first half of the twentieth century and had to adapt their livelihood strategies to this new reality. Many land-labourers found industrial work in Bolsward, in the construction sector, or chose to emigrate overseas.
This research will show that underlying processes of technological and economic transformation, like agricultural restructuring and intensification, help explain emigration trends. However, the value of a social transformation approach, which goes beyond purely economic explanations for migration, is also illustrated. Cultural norms, more specifically the meaning of agricultural work to local people, are important to explain how people adapted to these economic transformations. For example, some former land labourers found it difficult to initially adjust to industrial work. The ideal of working outside helps explain why people sought work in construction, while others migrated overseas. Likewise, the cultural norms of farmers and the aspirations of agricultural labourers were also important. In particular, farmers sons were expected to become farmers, a norm they themselves endorsed as well (respondent 4, 23 and 27). Canada and America became a viable option due to the scarcity of farm land in the Netherlands. Agricultural labourers saw an opportunity for social mobility as possibilities to become farmers themselves in Canada or
6 America arose. Furthermore, the process of educational expansion and the establishment of a new school for secondary education started to attract more high skilled personnel to Bolsward – a trend that continued into the 1960s and explains the diverse origins of in-migrants.
From the 1960s, Bolsward also began shifting from a net out-migration town to a net in-migration town. In the 1960s out-in-migration rates decreased as people had increasing access to work in the surrounding areas through commuting, which enabled more people to stay in Bolsward. While significant numbers still chose to migrate, a growing number of people stayed in Bolsward after the 1960s. The occurrence of immobility is therefore of special interest to us as staying put can be one of the ways people adapt to social change in rural areas (Schewel 2019; Mata-Codesal 2015). As the process of agricultural transformation reached its conclusion at the end of the 1960s, in-migration from the country-side continued. Industry mechanized further but the sector continued to grow in terms of employment. As the state expanded educational
opportunities in the post-war period and lower social classes gained access to them, new work opportunities in the service sector arose. The capability to choose one’s own path in life grew for ever larger groups of people. Out-migration rates continued to decrease as aspirations to stay (which had also existed before but could not be fulfilled) could be fulfilled due to local economic growth, increased living standards and the growing possibility for commuting.
From the 1970s to 2010 commuting continued to become more important in reducing out-migration due to the large scale introduction of cars which replaced public transport and made it possible to work further away (Knippenberg & de Pater 1988). In the 1970s industrial work became increasingly due to risen educational levels and life-aspirations. The demand for labor could not be met locally anymore and a small amount of unskilled workers from Turkey came to Bolsward (respondent 21). Furthermore, Bolsward’s youth started to migrate for education as possibilities for tertiary education arise and Bolsward became a destination for young families that want to raise their kids in a small rural town instead of in a large city (respondent 23). In the remaining sections of this thesis, I will systematically work through the theoretical
framework in section 2, the methodology in section 3, the socio-economic and migration history of Bolsward in section 4, outline processes of social transformation underlying migration
7 patterns and its connection to migration decision-making in sections 5 and 6, concluding with theoretical implications in section 7.
2. Theoretical framework: social transformation and migration in an agro-industrial system
2.1 Migration transition theory and social transformation
In order to observe and explain Bolsward’s migration trends, this paper uses migration transition theory. The pioneer of migration transition theory is Wilbur Zelinsky (1971), who hypothesized a general increase in different forms of mobility due to the processes of development. This challenges the assumption of push/pull models that migration decreases due to economic growth and decreasing income inequalities between areas (Harris and Todaro 1970). To give substance to his idea, Zelinsky (1971) provides a model of mobility transition that follows the assumption that human mobility roughly follows a set of stages linked to demography, ‘modernization’ and industrialization. The forms, orientation and volume of migration are hypothesized to vary structurally within different stages of the demographic transition (‘vital transition’ in terms of Zelinsky) and the development process. Zelinsky (1971: 230) distinguished five successive stages of both the ‘vital transition’ and the ‘mobility transition’. In pre-modern traditional societies (1) populations are stable as high fertility levels are compensated by high mortality rates and little residential migration and circulation exists. In early transitional societies (2), major population growth due to decreasing mortality and high fertility-rates puts pressure on agricultural employment and resources in rural populations. It leads to a strong increase in rural-urban migration due to industrialization and emigration to foreign cities and rural frontiers. Late transitional societies show lagging fertility rates and population growth. Rural to urban
migrations, on the other hand, level off but stay on relatively high levels and emigration decreases quickly. The shift to an advanced society (4) coincides with the completion of the demographic transition as population growth is small or non-existent and fertility and mortality have stabilized. Rural-urban migration declines while non-migratory mobility (‘circulation in Zelinsky’s terms) increases as migration can be substituted by commuting due to technological developments. Urban to urban migration becomes prevalent, as migrants move within urban areas of various size and immigration from unskilled workers marks the shift from
8 the future. He expected them to be characterized by stable low mortality and fertility levels, unskilled immigration and almost exclusive inter- and intra-urban mobility. Furthermore, he expected a possible decline in residential mobility and a shift to non-economic motivations for migration.
The model of Zelinsky is useful, as it points us to the non-linear nature of changing migration trends and its connection to economic and demographic change. The model is, however, deterministic in expecting the mobility effects are the same in all areas (De Haas 2007). Zelinsky theorizes only one path through the transition and does not address ambiguous regional and national differences in the consequences of economic and demographic development
(Skeldon 2012; Findlay et al., 1998). We therefore expect that development has led to an increase in mobility in general while patterns can differ significantly at regional and local level.
The existence of a relationship between economic development, demographic changes and increased migration has been proven. (Skeldon 2012; de Haas 2014; de Haas 2010; Clemens 2014). The transitional approach to explaining changing migration trends fails to point to the mechanisms through which more people are capable and willing to migrate (de Haas 2014). The migrant is granted no agency and is assumed to react passively to structural changes and
challenges by migrating. To resolve this problem, a social transformation perspective is useful as it sees (non-) migration decision-making as an inherent part of wider social change and
development which influences both aspirations and capabilities to move (de Haas et al.: forthcoming). Migration and non-migration decision-making are seen as an agentic process in which individual migrants adjust in different ways to changing social conditions. To explain migration trends, we have to analyze how social transformations have affected people’s capabilities and aspiration to migrate.
Furthermore, the conceptualization of development remains unclear in Zelinsky’s transition model as he only points to the importance of economic developments like industrialization and demographic factors. However, the social processes that underlie changing migration patterns are more complex and ambiguous then Zelinsky (1971) assumed. In order to make the assessment of the complex factors influencing changing migration patterns more realistic, this paper applies a social transformation perspective. Social transformation can be defined in general as
9 ‘fundamental change in the deep structures and organization of society, affecting all dimensions of social life’. Social transformations therefore point to deep social changes. One example is the rapid upscaling in the retail sector in Bolsward after the war to which people had to respond by finding new employment opportunities locally, regionally or nationally. The social
transformation perspective assumes that social changes do not lead to certain migration outcomes automatically like transition theory assumes (de Haas and Fransen 2018). The deep social
changes are in turn expected to have ambiguous effects on mobility patterns as not everyone responds to them in the same way. Some respond by migrating over short or long distances while other stay put. Migration is thus seen as one possible way of adjusting to deep social changes. The perspective also widens the number of dimensions of social change. It focusses on the long term relationship between the economic (the growth and spread of industrial capitalism), political (national state formation), demographic (demographic transition and urbanization), technology (mechanization, standardization and automation of production processes) and cultural (changing beliefs, values and norms through rationalization and individualization) dimensions and migration (de Haas et al.: forthcoming).
The social transformation perspective also helps us to formulate questions on the relationship between migration patterns and different dimensions of social transformation in Bolsward. Economic changes can for example have different effects on migration patterns. Industrialization and income growth can for example lead to higher capabilities to migrate but can also decrease the aspiration to move as people are comfortable where they are (de Haas 2014). Agricultural mechanization and upscaling, which made many land labourers redundant in the Netherlands in the second part of the 20th century, can also have ambiguous effects as people can adjust in various ways to these changes. For example by transferring to the growing the industrial sector or by emigration to oversees destinations to continue to work in agriculture. This leads us to the question in what way industrialization and agricultural change influenced migration patterns in Bolsward.
The expansion of modern education systems, which is part of the political dimension of social transformation, can show different effects on migration patterns as well (de Haas et al.
10 forthcoming). From the start of the 20th century the Netherlands saw a state-led process of
increasing educational opportunities, which continued over the entire twentieth century. This meant quick growth of the number of schools all over the Netherlands and in Bolsward alike. But what does educational expansion mean for Bolsward’s migration patterns? The efforts by the state to integrate society and provide more opportunities for social mobility can have indirect mobility effects . As we know from other research, the creation of educational opportunities can have a positive effect on both aspirations and capabilities to migrate as formal education can change people’s perspective on ‘the good life’, professional aspirations and general capabilities to migrate (de Haas & Fransen: forthcoming; Schewel & Fransen 2018). New professional or educational aspirations that cannot be fulfilled in the rural area, in terms of job opportunities or educational institutions present, can then become one of the factors for out-migration (Schewel & Fransen 2019; Sumberg et al. 2014). Migration for education can be one of the manifestations of these new aspirations of inhabitants of rural areas (Crivello 2011), while on the other hand educational expansion in rural areas can also lead to immobility as people do not need to migrate for education anymore. A growing demand of teachers has also been shown to lead to migrations to rural areas in which labor shortages occur (Sharma 2013). Do we also observe changing educational or professional aspirations in Bolsward? Did people start migrating for educational opportunities during the process of educational expansion and did this process perhaps lead to a new migration of teachers and other educational staff to Bolsward?
Technological transformation led, for example through the development of roads, railways and communication systems, to increased connection between areas nationally and internationally and made it possible to move more and over longer distances. This process for example facilitated Dutch migration to cities in the late 19th century (Knippenberg & de Pater 1988). Improved infrastructure does however not necessarily lead to more migration. Zelinsky (1971) in turn foresaw an increase in circulation for business and educational purposes substituting internal migration due to these same processes. In the Netherlands after the Second World War, the means of communication, transport and access to it increased rapidly. Could it thus be the case that out-migration for employment or education in Bolsward has been substituted by
11 As shown before, not all societies go through the transition in the same way and the effects of social transformation on migration patterns can be diverse. In this paper we look for these variations and emergence of new migration patterns at different stages of development and try to explain them by analyzing processes of social transformation and the concurrent changes in aspirations and capabilities to migrate. The research question is therefore as follows: how have patterns of migration changed in Bolsward from 1880 and 1970, and can these be explained by various processes of deep social change? Through this research question we can show variation in the effects of social change on migration patterns in a small-town and its rural hinterland (de Haas 2007).
2.2 The connection between macro-level changes and migration decision-making
As was argued earlier, migration is not just a passive reaction to social change. People actively make migration decisions (de Haas 2014). If we want to go beyond macro-level explanations for changing migration trends and explain why individual people migrate, we need a perspective that conceptualizes both social development and individual factors in order to explain the behaviour of individual migrants and their (non-)migration decision-making. To connect the abstract and macro-level social transformation framework with actual processes of migration decision-making on an individual level, we apply an aspirations and capabilities model. In this model migration is the outcome of the interaction between aspirations (the wish to migrate) and the capabilities (or the positive freedom) to do so (De Haas 2014). Besides migration the aspirations and capability approach points to three categories of immobility (see figure 1): voluntary
(aspiration to stay and capability to migrate), involuntary (aspiration to migrate and no capability to do so) and acquiescent (aspiration to stay and no capability to migrate) (Carling 2002; de Haas 2014; Schewel 2019).
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Figure 1. (Im)mobility categories based on the aspirations and capabilities framework.
Source: Schewel (2019).
This model has been used to provide micro-level explanations for the positive relationship between development and migration as both aspirations and capabilities to migrate tend to
increase with development.However,recent findings show that overall internal mobility can also decline in later stages of modernization, which could point to increased voluntary immobility (Bell et al. 2015). Furthermore, previous research shows that even during times of major out-migration large, parts of agrarian populations stay where they are and actively ‘manage to stay put’ (Mata-Codesal 2015). It could thus be the case that people, independent of their capability to migrate, have the aspiration to stay, even if economic conditions would suggest otherwise and migration could increase opportunities or welfare somewhere else. Furthermore, could the observed decline in internal and international migration observed in Bolsward perhaps be
explained by the fact that more people are aspiring to stay due to increasing levels of welfare and social security instead of using their increased capabilities to migrate? As migration rates are declining over the case-study period this paper thus also examines the conditions and
motivations for immobility instead of focusing solely on mobility.
to Migrate Aspiration to Migrate Aspiration to Stay Capability to Migrate
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2.4 Studying changing migration patterns in a small rural town
This paper deals with a small rural and industrial town and its hinterland that shifts from an early transitional society (based on Zelinsky’s model) to an advanced society between 1880 and 1970. Bolsward should thus experience increasing movements to larger urban conglomerations and declining or vanishing emigration. As Zelinsky’s hypothesis focusses on national level or even at the level of continents it remains unclear what happens on the level of small towns and rural areas when applying Zelinsky’s model. Also, hypotheses on the relationship between small centers of industry and commerce and rural areas, are absent in the work of Zelinsky. It is therefore useful for us to examine migration dynamics within a rural area in depth and show the function of a small town within the hypothesized macro-level patterns. This is of particular interest as it points us to the role of small-towns as origin of migrants moving to larger urban centers and destination for hinterland populations.
Ravenstein (1885) indicated that migration from rural areas to cities happened predominantly from the country-side in the immediate surroundings of cities, while long distance migration is often directed at the largest cities. The populations of these areas would then be substituted by population from the hinterland of out-migration areas (Ravenstein 1885:199), creating a current of replacement migration. However, the role of small urban settlements like Bolsward remains unclear and understudied. Do people migrate more easily from small towns to cities than people from its rural hinterland? And did the hinterland population of these more remote areas indeed in turn fill the gaps in the population of the dispersion areas? Hägerstrand (1957) studied these dynamics in late 1940s Sweden, focusing on rural areas and small towns in particular using his concept of ‘migration fields’, in which he maps all in- and out-migration of several
municipalities to show the varying orientation of rural migration in the early 1950s.
Migrants from rural parishes were found to migrate towards cities and towns close by and far away but most out-migration is oriented locally (Hägerstrand 1957: 65), while small urban centers tend to have major in-migration from rural areas and out-migration to cities and towns as well. Migration to urban settlements thus happened from towns and directly from the country-side, coinciding with a process of replacement migration in which populations from small towns were replaced by in-migrants from the country-side (Hägerstrand 1957: 54). Hägerstrand focused
14 on a large number of parishes but only in a relatively short time period (1946-1950). This
analysis therefore is not able to show changing patterns in rural and small-town migration over time. This paper tries to enrich these early insights by applying a long-term historical perspective and making a connection to the evolution of these processes over time by using migration
transition theory. Migration transition theories help us to explain the interrelations between broader social transformation and the changing volume, orientation and composition of rural and small-town migrations. This analysis of replacement migration fits well to Bolsward due to the similar character as a small urban center with a mainly rural hinterland and other small urban centers in its close proximity. Besides taking a long-term perspective it also tries to identify the occupational and educational characteristics of people departing from Bolsward and those arriving from the hinterlands.
Furthermore, how does this process of replacement migration relate to the basic observation that migration predominantly happens over short distances? Hägerstrand finds implicit confirmation for basic hypothesis by Ravenstein (1885) and Lee (1966) that most migration takes place over relatively short distances and that long distance migration usually directs itself towards larger cities with quick industrial development. Do these observations also hold in the case of Bolsward or do we see diverging patterns during different phases of development? Central place theory posits that the attractiveness of a city for migrants is determined by the level of services and industry and expects the existence of a hierarchy of urban settlements (Christaller 1933). As Bolsward (8.000 inhabitants1) is a small urban center located within an area in which we find other urban centers varying in size like Sneek (20.000 inhabitants), Harlingen (12.000
inhabitants), and the city of Leeuwarden (80.000 inhabitants) in its immediate surroundings, this paper tries to find out if migration from Bolsward indeed focusses on larger urban settlements like Sneek and Leeuwarden, or rather directly to prime cities such as Amsterdam, and explains how these patterns change over time with broader processes of social transformation .
1 The total population of Bolsward, Sneek, Harlingen and Leeuwarden on January 1st 1960, rounded to thousands,
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3. Methodology
To identify social transformations in an agricultural town, the way in which these affected people life aspiration and how in turn (non-) migration aspirations and capabilities were
influenced we applied several research methods that complement each other. On the macro-level, social transformations were identified mainly by studying secondary literature, demographic data and socio-economic reports, while (auto-)biographical material, interviews on experiences of social change and migration led to insights on social transformations on a micro-level. Interviews were used to get a picture of people perceptions of societal change, people’s life histories, social mobility as well as migration and mobility by asking them about their (non-) migration aspirations and capabilities. In this way the study tried to get a grasp of the way in which social change affected people’s lives and livelihoods. We conducted twenty-six semi-structured interviews to gather data on lived experiences of social change and (non-)migration decisions. This was complemented with three interviews with local historians to get insight in broader history of Bolsward and its population. The interviews were conducted in peoples people’s home and focused on family (migration) history, employment and educational history and opportunities of the respondent and his or her family, religious life, perceptions of social change and migration, hopes and wishes for the future at different points in time and
(im)mobility experiences and aspirations.
Respondents were selected on the basis of several distinguishing characteristics like age, socio-economic position, occupation, educational level, religious or political affiliation, gender and personal migration experiences. The interviewees were found through snow-ball and purposive sampling. Initially respondents were found through the contacts and acquaintances of my thesis supervisor Hein de Haas and his mother, who lives in Bolsward. Furthermore, I approached people with a central place in Bolsward’s society, like clergymen and healthcare professionals, to find respondents. This was particularly useful as it created a relationship of trust between me and my respondents. The relationship of trust between me and my respondents was built by the fact that I am a native Frisian (speaking both Dutch and Frisian) conducting research in a Frisian town and could conduct the interviews in people’s native language (Frisian or Dutch). On the other hand, as Bolsward is a small town and community it was beneficial not to be from there
16 myself. Respondents could therefore talk freely with me about sensitive topics like income, family histories and their sense of belonging in Bolsward. Being both an ‘insider’ and an ‘outsider’ in Bolsward thus proved useful for my fieldwork. The initial respondents I found through these two channels then helped me to find respondents in categories not yet covered or saturated by previous interviews.
In total the sample included a total of twenty-six respondents including 8 intra-provincial in-migrants, 3 inter-provincial in-in-migrants, 4 inter-provincial out-in-migrants, 8 non-in-migrants, 2 international emigrants and 1 international immigrant2. All internal out-migrants to both internal and international destinations in the sample returned to Bolsward . Out-migrants from Bolsward that did not return are not covered by this study, leaving a gap in our qualitative data. This was partly due to the fact that inter-provincial out-migrants were not initially concluded in the set-up of this research project, time-constraint due to the late realization that these interviews would be complementary to an understanding of Bolsward’s migration history and the fact that
respondents often did not remember or know who left Bolsward after the war. However, through detailed accounts on migration behaviour of siblings by our respondents and three return
migrants it is possible to shed some light on this migrant group. Although immigration from abroad was almost non-existent between 1945 and 1970, with the exception of families who were ‘repatriated’ from Indonesia to the Netherlands after the Indonesia achieved independence in 1948. Although in the 1970s a significant community of Turkish migrants would settle in Bolsward from the 1970s, the first Turkish immigrant already arrived in the late 1960s. As most of these early migrants spent the summer months in Turkey or have already deceased we only managed to talk to two Turkish immigrants that arrived in the early seventies.
The interview and (auto-) biographical data were coded and analyzed using ATLAS.ti. A bottom-up coding structure was used. I used a bottom up coding structure. In the first round of coding I stayed close to the interview material by applying detailed codes. The second round of coding lead to a further mapping and subdivision of codes based on the dimensions and
mechanisms of social transformation provided by the MADE-project. To get a picture of
migration trends and demographic transformations, detailed quantitative data was gathered from
17 municipal and national archives, covering basic demographics as population development, birth- and death rates, age-distribution and detailed in- and out-migration statistics. The migration flow data captures inter-municipal, inter- and intra- provincial and international migration. The use of this data remains on a descriptive level, to show demographic change and migration patterns over time.
4. A short Frisian socio-economic and migration history: migration trends and social transformation
In this section the socio-economic history of the Dutch province of Friesland will be connected to its migration patterns between 1860 and 1970. This exercise makes it possible to place our case-study of the small town of Bolsward in larger migration and development trends. It also shows the diversity of both migration and socio-economic dynamics within Friesland and ultimately how small town dynamics are diverging from trends on the regional level. Before treating Frisian migration and social transformation in detail a short overview of development periods will be given.
Period 1 - A period of collapse and recovery between 1878-1920
The first period is characterized rapid decline in birth and death rates and the international agricultural crisis between 1878 and 1900 in which a stark drop in crop prices and subsequent unemployment of land laborers coincided with massive out-migration (11 out-migrants per 1000 inhabitant each year) to western industrial cities in Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland and to the United States. At the turn of the century the Frisian economy recovered due to rapidly increasing crop and milk prices and the development and expansion of agricultural processing industries in both Frisian towns and country-side alike. This process of rapid agro-industrial development within Friesland decreased migration to industrial cities in the western provinces and the United States by half reaching relatively stable levels from 1920-1940.
Period 2 - A period of decline and stagnation between 1920-1945
The second period is characterized by stabilized out-migration, stable birth and death rates indicating stagnation of the demographic transition, decline in agriculture and stagnation in industrial development. The strongly export oriented Frisian agricultural sector faced a period of
18 decline in the 1920s and 1930s due to increasing protectionism from international competitors and growing national production. As a result, bankruptcy of farmers was common and many land laborers became obsolete. The expansion of industrial development stagnated, but at a slower rate than nationally. This meant industrial employment in Friesland did not decrease as quickly as in Dutch industrial cities, although Frisian towns tended to follow the national pattern. Out-migration rates therefore show significant decline and stabilize during this period. Residents of towns and agricultural workers alike could not shift to the industrial sector in other parts of the Netherlands. In turn many former land laborers adjusted to these conditions by setting up small horticulture enterprises while residents of towns turned to all sorts of small retail practices. Period 3 - A period of rapid transformation: 1945-1970
This period is distinctive due to a rapid decline in birth-rates and the culmination of the
demographic transition (birth and death rates reach approximately the same level). This period of Frisian social transformation also marks the quick shift from an agro-industrial economy to a service sector economy and is characterized by agricultural mechanization, industrial and educational expansion, strong economic growth and construction and service sector
development. Rapid agricultural mechanization and the subsequent expulsion of both farmers and agricultural laborers from the sector lead to a peak in out-migration in the late 1940s and 1950s to quickly growing industrial towns in Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland and new overseas destinations like Canada, Australia and New-Zealand. Frisian agro-industrial employment grew quickly during the first decade of this period but declined due to mergers, upscaling and
concentration of factories in several towns and villages. Metal works industry expanded more steadily in terms of employment opportunities and took over as largest Frisian industrial sector in 1965. Complementing this trend, the construction and service sectors developed rapidly and show strong increases in employment opportunities. Taken together this led to a transition in migration dynamics: Friesland shifted from being a net out-migration province to a net in-migration province during the 1960s. An increasing number of people decided to stay in
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4.1 Frisian migration trends between 1860 and 1970
The aim of this section is to show how Frisian migration has evolved over time. First a general overview of migration trends is provided. Secondly, by zooming in on four geographically and economically distinct areas, the diversity of migration patterns within the province is shown. Thirdly, it is argued that Frisian cities and towns experienced a process of slow urbanization. Large cities and towns in Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland were popular destinations for Frisians while Frisian towns and its capital city Leeuwarden mainly attracted migrants from the Frisian country-side and not from other provinces. Lastly, we will describe two peaks in Frisian emigration showing considerable differences in regional patterns due the structure of their (agricultural) economy.
4.1.1 General trends in Frisian out-migration between 1880-1970
Over the first 60 years of the 19th century, Friesland was a net in-migration province. Between 1860 and 1880, a diverging trend is set in and Friesland shifts from being a net in-migration province to a net out-migration province (Frieswijk 1998; ter Heide 1965: 466-471). In the last two decades of the 19th century out-migration from Friesland increases rapidly and is almost seven times higher (see figure 2) than the national average (Frieswijk 1998: 46). During the international agricultural crisis between 1878 and 1900, Friesland even is the leading net out-migration province. The average net out-out-migration rate for the 1880-1900 period is almost 10 out of 1000 people a year. These migrations were directed to large cities in Noord-Holland
(Amsterdam) and Zuid-Holland (Rotterdam and Den Haag) and the United States. Although the rate decreased, it still remained far below the national average in the next two decades. Even during the years of (agricultural) economic revival between 1900 to 1920 out-migration is still considerably below the national average. The years between 1920 and 1930 show an increase of Frisian out-migration and were an exception to a general trend of decreasing out-migration. Contrary to the out-migration peaks of the late 19th century agricultural crisis, during the financial crisis of the 1930s Frisian out-migration rates declined again and net out-migration even reached its lowest point in more than 50 years. An explanation for this counter-intuitive trend can be found in the fact that the crisis of the 1930s hit the usual destination areas (Noord-Holland and Zuid-(Noord-Holland) for Frisians aspiring to migrate more severely than Friesland. Frisians thus increasingly needed to adjust to the harsh economic conditions of the crisis years
20 within their own province.
Figure 23. Net-migration in Friesland and the Netherlands between 1795-1995.
Source: Frieswijk et al. (1998).
The next out-migration peak is between 1945 and 1960, when out-migration rates reached
similar rates as during the 1880-1900 period again. This peak in out-migration between 1945 and 1960 does on the one hand consist of major inter-provincial migration to diversifying industrial areas in Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland. In contrast to major out-migration to large industrial cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam during the agricultural crisis of the last two decades of the 19th century, inter-provincial out-migration was directed more and more to smaller industrial centres in the same provinces. On the other hand, emigration to new overseas destinations like Canada, Australia and New-Zealand saw a strong increase during this period. Contrary to the extended period of net out-migration of the first half of the 20th century, after 1960 Friesland transitions into a net in-migration province for the first time since 1840, both in terms of inter-provincial in-migration and international immigration.
This path through the mobility transitions was not a unique occurrence in the Netherlands. In
3 The line for the Netherlands depicts the average net-migration rate for all Dutch provinces, including both interprovincial and
international emigration. It shows how many people left Friesland per 1000 of the total population and how many on average taken over all Dutch provinces. Intra-provincial migration is not included.
-14,0 -12,0 -10,0 -8,0 -6,0 -4,0 -2,0 0,0 2,0 4,0 6,0 17 95-1815 18 15-1829 18 30-1839 18 40-1849 18 50-1859 18 60-1869 18 70-1879 18 80-1889 18 90-1899 19 00-1909 19 10-1920 19 21-1930 19 31-1940 19 41-1950 19 51-1960 19 61-1970 19 71-1980 19 81-1990 19 91-1995 In tho us ands o f t ot al po pul at io n ( ‰ ) Friesland The Netherlands
21 comparable provinces like Groningen and Zeeland a similar process took place. If we briefly compare the Frisian mobility transition to other Dutch provinces, the Frisian experience of fluctuating but persistent out-migration between 1880 and 1960 is not unique. Several other mainly agricultural provinces, such as Zeeland, Groningen and to a lesser extent Noord-Brabant and Gelderland as well, show similar patterns of high out-migration and a shift to net
in-migration in the late 1960s (Schroor 1998: 219). The volumes, timing and destinations of out-migration differ slightly due to differences in birth rates, death rates, successful urban growth within the province and industrialisation of agrarian production (Schroor 1998: 48).
4.1.2 Frisian out-migration: different areas, different patterns
Zooming in on different geographical areas within Friesland several differences in migration patterns become apparent. These areas are distinct due to their soil types, agricultural activities and their migration patterns. The different areas will be described briefly, before showing variation in the volume of out-migration.
The Frisian clay area (kleibouwstreek) is characterised by arable farming on clay soil and the lack of industrial development. Although labour intensive arable farming (grain, flax, chicory, potatoes) meant a high demand of agricultural worker, labourers in this area were vulnerable to the development of crop prices on the international market because of sudden shifts in price development. Even though some of these labourers owned small plots of land on which they practiced horticulture besides working as agricultural labourers, levels of out-migration, both inter-provincial migration and emigration, were particularly high in this area (see table 1). Industrial development in the clay area fell behind as the main driver of Frisian industrialisation, the dairy-industry, was largely absent in this area. After the war, the employment opportunities in arable farming showed a quick decrease due to mechanisation of harvest. This had not yet affected employment opportunities before, and was an important condition for a new peak in out-migration levels (Van der Woude 1998: 252).
22
Map 1. Friesland’s economic geographical areas and municipalities.
Source: Frieswijk et al. (1998: 28)
The grassland area consist of two parts. The ‘kleiweide’ area and the ‘veenweide’ area, in which the primary agricultural activities were cattle breeding, dairy farming and agro-industry. As the heavy clay in the ‘kleiweide’ area and the clay-topped peat soil in the ‘veenweide’ area cannot be used for intensive arable farming. Dairy farming and to a lesser extent cattle breeding for export were the main economic activities in the 19th century. In these areas Frisian agro-industry developed primarily from the turn of the century. As these areas were affected less by the agricultural crisis (see section 4.1.3), agro-industry developed and wages of agricultural workers were relatively high, out-migration is lower in these parts of Friesland up to the Second
23 World War (van der Woude 1998: 254). Although less workers are needed at dairy farms, post-war mechanisation of agriculture meant labour opportunities decreased quickly in this area as well.
The peat area consists of sand soil and was the area in which large areas of peat were located. Peat winning had a long tradition in this part of Friesland, going back to the 16th century. In the second half of the 19th century, large peat companies quickly increased production (Gerding 1970). Workers in these areas were among the poorest in Friesland and were hit hard when peat production plummeted in at the end of the 19th century due the introduction of coal. When peat production had stagnated the developments of industrial centres and the development of small scale agriculture in former peat areas partly took over the employment losses of the peat production, but nevertheless resulted in pauperization of peat labourers (Schroor 1998: 56-58). Contrary to what we would expect from push/pull assumptions, the Frisian peat area shows relatively low out-migration and higher population growth (Schroor 1998: 56). Perhaps people did not have the financial means and therefore lacked the capability to migrate. After the second world war this area continues to be the exception in general high out-migration patterns and population growth. This can be explained by the fact that the Dutch government designated several industrial core areas within the area (Heerenveen and Drachten) due to high
unemployment which led to a boost in development of existing metal works industries and consequently in employment opportunities.
The Frisian capital city Leeuwarden has been Friesland main centre of industry, trade and consumption. In the nineteenth century the bulk of Frisian industry (textile, chicory, paper) and main markets for the trade in cheese, butter and cattle were locate here. Over the entire period before the Second World War Leeuwarden, the provincial capital, seems to be the slightly positive exception with only marginal losses due to urbanization, industrial growth and stable wage levels (Frieswijk et al. 1998). Even though Leeuwarden had high unemployment rates during the 1930s crisis years, it continued to attract rural Frisians seeking employment (Frieswijk & van der Meer 1998). As Table 1 shows, Leeuwarden had general migration losses up to 1990. However, when we add the municipality of Leeuwarderadeel, which is closely integrated with the city, to the migration rates, Leeuwarden shows net-migration up to the 1970s, due to
24 expansion and concentration of dairy and metalworks industry in (the areas directly surrounding) the city.
Table 1. Net-migration in Frisian areas between 1860 and 1995 (rate per 1000 of the population of each area).
Kleibouwstreek Kleiweidestreek Veenweidestreek De Wouden Leeuwarden
1860-1869 -4,7 -4,1 -7,1 -5,5 -3,1 1870-1879 -4,3 -1,5 -1,9 -4,3 4,5 1880-1889 -17 -9,1 -11,2 -9,1 -5 1890-1899 -13,1 -12 -13,9 -11,3 -4,8 1900-1909 -9,1 -10 -10,1 -7,3 1,7 1910-1919 -7,6 -10,5 -9,5 -6,2 2,9 1920-1929 -10,7 -15 -11,9 -11 5,6 1930-1939 -6,8 -8 -8,4 -4,9 6,6 1940-1949 -6,7 -5,9 -7,2 -7,6 -2,7 1950-1959 -16,6 -14,8 -15,3 -5,6 -7,1 1960-1970 -11 -4,9 -8,5 4,1 -4,3 1970-1979 4,8 0,4 5,7 11,4 -5,4 1980-1989 -6 -4,6 0,2 -0,9 -0,1 1990-1995 -3,6 0,1 1,4 0,8 3,9
Source: Frieswijk et al. (1998).
4.1.3 Intra-provincial internal migration: slow urbanization
In general, Friesland experienced a process of slow urbanization as Frisian urbanization was inhibited by out-migration to urban areas in Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland. Taking a historical perspective, it becomes clear that intra-provincial migration (rural-urban and urban-urban) shifted from a primary focus on the capital city Leeuwarden in the pre-war period to more diverse industrial destinations like Heerenveen, Drachten and Sneek in the post-war period. Between 1860 and 1880 Frisian towns grew in absolute terms, but proportionally their share in the total Frisian population showed only a marginal increase (0,4%). On average the population of towns with more than 2500 inhabitants grew slightly between 1880 and 1920 and urban growth was slightly more rapid than population growth at the provincial level. This stands in sharp contrast to the general Dutch urbanization in the same period. The population of Frisians living in towns (>2500 inhabitants) was only 29% in 1910, while nationally this figure had already reached op 50% (Schroor 1998: 50). These two observations also indirectly point us to a
25 process of slow urbanization occurring within the province (Vondeling 1942; Schroor 1998: 50). Mainly Leeuwarden and the small towns of Sneek and Franeker received an influx of (Frisian) internal migrants and are the exception to the general trend (Schroor 50). During this period of high net out-migration, on average, Frisian towns did show high net out-migration as well, which suggests that the Frisian towns where not popular destinations for rural and small-town Frisian between 1880 and 1920. The period between 1920 and 1945 shows a continuation of slow growth for Frisian towns. As Frisian (small-)towns (except Leeuwarden, Sneek and Franeker) experience migration losses during this period, this growth has to be attributed primarily to natural increase. Leeuwarden did, however, go through a process of rapid urbanisation. This was due to net in-migration and natural increase (Vondeling 1942). Only in the post war period between 1945 and 1960 a reversal sets in and all towns except Leeuwarden report net
out-migration. Due to the fact that only net-migration figures are available, it is not possible to show internal migration dynamics. Our case study in Bolsward does, however, suggest that migration towards Frisian towns and its capital primarily originated in the Frisian country-side in all periods and that exchange between towns for employment, education and marriage was a common occurrence. The patterns and changes in these internal migration dynamics will be described and analysed in chapters four and five.
4.1.4 International emigration
Frisian emigration rates show two significant peaks: between 1878 and 1900 and between 1945 and 1961. During these two periods, many Frisians migrated to overseas destinations. In the first period these emigrations were primarily directed towards the United States and the German Ruhr-area (Karel 2015), while in the Post Second World War period Canada, Australia and to a lesser extent New-Zealand and South-Africa became more popular, partly because the United States adopted a stricter immigration regime (Obedijn & Schrover 2008).
A considerable share (approximately 10%) of Frisian out-migrants emigrated between 1878 and 1900. The emigrant population consisted mainly of land labourers that went to the United States (Galema 1996: 52). Emigration occurred in almost all instances (80%) directly from the
municipality in which emigrants were born, suggesting that they were immobile before emigrating overseas, or only circulated within the same municipality which was a common
26 practise among land labourers (Galema 1996:64). This refutes the expectation that migration follows a step-wise pattern in which people move from the country-side to a city first before emigration (Paul 2010; King and Skeldon 2010).
While total out-migration rates are fairly similar amongst a selection of Frisian municipalities, large differences can be observed when focusing on international emigration rates. While in some municipalities emigration averages almost 20% of total out-migration over the period 1880-1910, other municipalities average only 5%. Emigration rates thus show large differences on the local level. The difference between clay and grassland areas are most considerable which can be illustrated in particular by the diverging emigration rates during the agricultural crisis in the municipality of Wonseradeel. This municipality, which is located directly adjacent to Bolsward, can be seen as a micro-cosmos of Frisian economic structure and (e)migration patterns. In the western fertile clay areas (‘De Lytse Bouhoeke’) arable farming was practised, while in the eastern grass areas (peat topped with clay) animal husbandry and dairy production dominated agrarian-economic activity. The effects of the agrarian crisis differed considerably as prices of grain and other crops plummeted, prices of dairy products decreased more gradually. Labourers working on dairy farms that became obsolete in grassland areas could more easily shift to newly established dairy factories, while labourers in arable farming adjusted to small-scale (subsistence) agriculture and (e)migration. On top of that, in grassland areas
home-ownership was more common, which contributed to the lower emigration rates. This resulted in high emigration from the clay areas and considerably lower emigration from the grassland areas. A pattern that is apparent all over Friesland.
As very high percentage of emigrants were part of the class of landless agricultural day labourers originating from the Frisian country-side (Galema 1996). This helps to understand the relatively low emigration rates from Bolsward, as only a small percentage of Bolsward’s residents found employment in agriculture. This seems partly confirmed by the fact that Bolsward’s emigration rate for 1890 was close to zero, which gives some indication that emigration from Bolsward was minimal during the agricultural crisis.
27 Emigration from Friesland between 1900 and 1940 continued but at a greatly reduced pace. The post-war period saw a return to large-scale Frisian emigration, with emigration rates up to 10 per 1000 inhabitants. Contrary to emigration during the agricultural crisis, farmers and land
labourers were only over-represented in migration statistics between 1948 and 1949 (Karel 2015). After that, a diversification in the occupational structure of emigration occurs in the Netherlands which means that the proportion of farmers and land labourers decreased (in absolute figures decline sets in only in 1953) and the amount of skilled labourers and small business owners increased relatively. Unfortunately, Frisian data on this trend is not available. In section 5 we will examine this trend more closely and shed more light on the emigration of Bolsward’s residents without a background in agriculture.
4.2 Economic transformation in Friesland
In this section, the transformation of the Frisian economy from the second half of the 19th century up to the 1920s will be outlined. This period is of particular importance for the macro-level migration trends as during this period the process of agricultural transformation took place. In response to the agrarian crisis, Friesland shifted from a proto-industrial agricultural economy to an agro-industrial system. The agricultural crisis and the concurrent technological change and industrialisation can therefore be seen as a turning point within a more long-term process of social transformation and migration in Friesland. This process seems to find its starting point around 1880 and finds its conclusion around the 1970s when Frisians no longer worked in agriculture but found employment in industry and increasingly in the service-sector.
To prevent unnecessary overlap, this section will only focus on the period up to the 1920s as in section 4 the economic transformations and changing migration patterns of Bolsward between the 1930s and 1970s will be described in the light of general Frisian trends.
4.2.1 Friesland: an agricultural province with delayed industrialisation
In the 19th century, the Frisian economy was largely dependent on agricultural production that mainly took place in the clay area and the grasslands area, covering the northern and western parts of the province. Besides agriculture, Friesland profited from the presence of peat, an
28 the end of the 19th century. Up to the 20th century, agricultural produce was marketed mainly by using a dense network of waterways. This meant Friesland was ‘strongly economically
integrated’ (Van der Wouden 1998: 64) and had direct travel connections to Groningen and Amsterdam. Friesland also had important sea trade connections with England, Germany (Prussia), Scandinavia and the Baltics for the export of agricultural produce and pottery. Friesland thus had an open economy with strong international connections (Frieswijk et al 1998:85). During the industrial revolution in England, the Frisian economy blossomed. Butter and other agricultural goods were exported on a large scale to Great-Britain, to cater for the increasing food demand in fast growing industrial cities. Although the 19th century was a period in which agriculture blossomed up to the agricultural crisis, Twerda (1968) argues that farmers prospered while farm workers received poor pay (Galema 1996:38). Although unemployment was low, inequality between farmers and labourers grew during this period. The province continued to dependent on agriculture over the 19th century, which is reflected by the fact that between 1849 and 1909 the total of the male labour force working in agriculture only decreased from 53% to 48%, while industrial employment4 was stable at 28% and even decreased in the second part of the 19th century and slowly increased at the turn of the century. This sharply contrasts with the general pattern of decline in agricultural employment on the national level where the percentage declines from 40% in 1849 to 30% in 1909 (CBS 2001). The Netherlands has been characterized as a late industrialiser compared to Great Britain and Germany, as industrialisation only picked up in the Netherlands from the end of the 19th century (Wintle 2000). Frisian industrialisation, however, was even slower and stagnated over the 19th century. This shows that industrial development never really took off in Friesland until the late 1890s. This was due to a slow shift to the use of new energy sources and machinery and a relatively profitable agriculture (van der Woude 1998:86). National industrial employment had already reached a much higher level of 34%, a level that Friesland would never reach in the remainder of the 20th century.
Besides the agricultural rural areas, the Frisian towns and the cities were centres of trade, which had a standing tradition of small impoverished self-employed traders (a situation that would
4 These figures includes the construction industry and home industry. The proportional distribution cannot be
specified. Lukkes (1964) provides figures on industry excluding construction and home industry and reports that 3.5% of the Frisian labor force worked in industry in 1889, 7% in 1909 and 12% in 1950.
29 continue approximately until the 1950s). Also artisans, small export companies and department stores set-up by Catholic German migrants could be found here (van der Woude 1998:89). The cities were also the place where marginalised day labourers lived. These labourers took the jobs they could find, often as freight carriers or seasonal agricultural work. During the agricultural crisis towns like Bolsward and Sneek, increasingly became important as support centres of the agricultural economy. Agro-industry and other small industries were set up there to process milk and crops and produce agricultural machinery, while shipyards supported trade of agricultural produce.
In sum, Friesland had a blossoming agricultural economy and experienced stagnated industrial development until the agricultural crisis.
4.2.2 The agricultural crisis as driver of out-migration and economic transformation During the agricultural crisis, the agricultural industry became increasingly important, showing a shift from on-farm production of cheese and butter (proto-industrial) to centralised dairy
factories and an agro-industrial system. The explanation for this shift can be found in the international agricultural crisis.
The effects of the international agricultural crisis (1878-1900) were devastating for the Frisian society and lead to agricultural unemployment, bankruptcy of farmers and henceforth high levels of out-migration. One of the reasons for the severe consequences of the agricultural crisis in Friesland can be found in the open character of the Frisian economy. International competition and economic policy of trade partners proved to be the Achilles heel of Friesland. International crops prices dropped from 1878 and soon after that prices of milk and butter also declined at a fast, but slightly slower pace (Kalma 1968). This was due to international competition by the United states in grain (and other crops) exports and Danish competition in butter and dairy production. Also, protectionist measures by Great Britain lead to systematic over-production and loss of access to an important part of the international market. The consequences of the crisis were felt in the entire province. However, the development of dairy factories in the 1880s and 1890s had an alleviatory effect on the situation of grassland farmers due to easier market access provided by these factories. This meant the clay areas (arable farming) were hit earlier than the grassland areas (dairy farming). Clay areas relied more heavily on labourers, as agriculture is
30 more labour intensive then dairy farming. This meant more workers lost their jobs in these areas and had bigger incentives to leave. The consequences of the agricultural crisis thus affected clay areas more severely and helps explain why out-migration rates were higher.
Furthermore, Huizinga (1998) reports that the Frisian agriculture sector was hit disproportionally hard due to absenteeism and tenant farming (Huizinga 1998:166). Land prices were historically high in Friesland and a minority of 39% farmers owned their farm and the land they cultivated in 1890, a situation that remained similar at least until the 1960s. The majority rented from absentee landlords and a smaller share rented from societal organizations and churches. Labourers
sometimes rented a small plot of land from tenant farmers without much guarantee of stable continuation of the contracts. Absentee landlord saw their land as speculation objects and raised prices every new rent cycle of 5 or 7 years, which made tenant farming more insecure (more protection was provided by the Tenant Law in 1937), especially combined with the decreasing crop prices. This complex structure of agricultural organization combined with the agricultural crisis also resulted in an impoverished class of land labourers as farmers shifted the
consequences of lower prices for produce and tenant tariffs to them.
The agricultural crisis most importantly encouraged innovation, mechanisation, the adoption of new crops and changes in agricultural processing. Wheat production was replaced with potato production on a large scale and industrialisation of dairy processing increasing replaced on-farm processing. Dairy processing took place increasingly in dairy factories using steam engines and on-farm production disappeared almost entirely by the turn of the century. Industrialisation of agricultural processing did not happen exclusively in the Frisian towns, but were located in the country-side of the grasslands and peat areas as well.
In sum, between 1878 and 1900, the patterns of land and farm ownership, unemployment during the crisis and industrialisation are the background for major out-migration (both internally and internationally) from all Frisian areas. Workers either moved to the industrial sector in Friesland or to cities in Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland, where industrialisation arrived earlier and advanced at a higher pace. Also emigration towards the United States to work in agriculture or to Germany to work at dairy farms, canals and mines, was prominent in this period (Galema
31 1996:56-57; Schroor 1998: 43).
During the period between 1900 and 1920 agricultural production, crop and milk prices reached historical highs, export areas were widened and wages rose although rising wages did not mean necessarily that land and day labourers were well off, as living costs increased simultaneously. The dairy factories that were established all over the grassland area (both in towns and villages) played an important part in the recovery of Frisian agriculture as they improved quality of products, increased volume and were a new source of employment (Galema 1996: 41; Kalma 1968). Private dairy factories and co-operative dairy factories, through which farmers realised collective market access, played a major role in the competitive possibilities of small farmers and therefor contributed to the flourishing of the entire agro-industrial complex (Van der Woude 1998: 80). In the 1920s these dairy factories already showed decreased growth and further technological development, which helps explain the increasing out-migration rates in this period. The period of stagnation and decline culminated in the 1930s when a new international economic crisis hit the Dutch and Frisian economy and unemployment increased rapidly. Contrary to the common assumption that impoverishment and lack of opportunity leads to more migration this period shows decreased out-migration from Friesland. A possible explanation can be found in decreased capabilities to move, both in term of employment opportunities elsewhere and financial means to migrate.
5. Bolsward’s changing migration patterns: replacement migration and social transformation
Now the general Frisian migration and social histories have been examined, Bolsward will be placed within the general trends described in chapter 3. This chapter will describe the social and economic characteristics of Bolsward and its migration patterns first, before explaining those trends by using a social transformation perspective. This section consists of three parts. Firstly, as in the previous section, a brief overview of migration and social transformation will be given using the same periods of analysis. Secondly, Bolsward’s demographic and migration trends from 1880 to 1970 will be described. Thirdly, this paper zooms in on the case-study period (1945-1970) and uses a social transformation perspective to explain changing migration trends after the war.
32
Period 1 1880-1920
This period is characterized by the agricultural crisis and the onset of the development of agro-industry in Bolsward. Concurrently, a process of replacement migration took place as both out-migration and in-out-migration were high during this period. Residents from Bolsward migrated primarily to other Frisian towns and to large cities in Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland before the turn of the century, while between 1900 and 1920 people increasingly left Bolsward for intra-provincial destinations as agriculture recovered and dairy-industry expanded in both towns and in the country-side destinations within Friesland.
Period 2 1920-1945
During this period there was overall stagnation in industry and agriculture and the economic crisis of the 1930s led to impoverishment of the population. Out-migration rates increased in the 1920s but decreased quickly in the 1930s. Especially out-migration to Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland decreased quickly as labour opportunities in industrial centres diminished. As a result, many impoverished inhabitants stayed put and resorted to small-scale retailing. In-migration to Bolsward also rapidly declined during this period and the flow of inhabitants of the rural hinterland stopped as labour opportunities could not be found in Bolsward.
Period 3 1945-1970
The third period is characterized by a second wave of industrial development, agricultural mechanisation, educational expansion, the conclusion of the demographic transition, major population growth and a shift from net out-migration to net in-migration. In the years after the war, slow economic recovery and uncertainty about future economic and political developments lead to a peak in inter-provincial out-migration and emigration, while inhabitants of Bolsward’s hinterlands partly compensated for migration losses. During the 1960s, out-migration decreased and Bolsward became a net in-migration town (although out-migration remained high) as industry blossomed and the service sector expanded rapidly and commuting became more common.
5.1 Bolsward’s demographic and migration trends between 1880-1970
