Immigration to the Soviet Union

[International_Solidarity]

I've heard a lot of Capitalist "Intellectuals", such as Milton Friedman, claim that people "voted with their feet" for Capitalism by always fleeing "Socialist" countries. This made me wonder whether there was actually any immigration to the Soviet Union, Cuba, Maoist China, or North Korea (although I personally don't consider these Socialist). I can't find any actual statistical evidence, but does anyone else have more information on this?

[Rugged Collectivist]

I remember hearing once on TV (Probably the history channel) that there was a huge exodus of Americans during the great depression to the Soviet Union. This is the only time I've heard of it but I often wonder if it was true. Does anyone know anything regarding this claim?

[Deity]

There was just a thread a little while ago that had a few stories of NATO soldiers escaping west Germany into East. I don't remember the exact name of it to search though.

[Rugged Collectivist]

I just remembered. There's a documentary called "crossing the line" or something similar about a guy who escaped to North Korea during the war. It also tells the story of 3-4 other guys who did the same. I'm pretty sure it's still on Netflix.

[Nevsky]

Joshua S. Horn was an english doctor who became disillusioned by the society he was living in. He left England and traveled to maoist China in 1954. Dr. Horn thought highly of Mao and socialism. China represented a more just society where he could do his job honestly, in the name of progress and serving the people. You will hardly find information on cases like this nowadays but my father gave an old copy of Horn's book to me, very interesting stuff.

[DarkPast]

An interesting article about Finns who escaped to the USSR during the Great Depression: http://www.genealogia.fi/emi/art/article237e.htm

Surprisingly, Wikipedia has a category page for specific people who immigrated to the USSR: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Immigrants_to_the_Soviet_Union

There were also people who moved from one "communist" country to another, though this was often done to increase their chances of moving to the West (it was much easier to flee over the Hungarian or Yugoslav border).

Also interesting is the fact that at least 46000 American soldiers deserted during the Korean War. However, it seems only a small percentage of them deserted to the Koreans, and most of those either died in captivity or returned shortly after the end of the war. I vaguely remember reading that a few of them ended up in China. Anyway, the point is that this seems to indicate that few soldiers actually desired to move to a "communist" country; most were simply unwilling to fight.

Finally, I've just remembered that in the 80's East Germany started importing a significant number of workers from other "communist" countries, mostly Vietnam. Apparently they were treated poorly and the government discouraged contact between them and the native Germans.

[Tim Cornelis]

So now we have less than a handful of NATO soldiers, a British bloke, and a Korean guy. That's quite a low net migration flow. Anyway, there was, unsurprisingly, lots of communists fleeing into the Soviet Union with the rise of fascism in Europe. Though it didn't end well for many of them (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Lux).

[International_Solidarity]

Anyway, there was, unsurprisingly, lots of communists fleeing into the Soviet Union with the rise of fascism in Europe. Though it didn't end well for many of them (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Lux).:
"Communists from more than 50 countries came for congresses and for training or to work. By the 1930s, Joseph Stalin had come to regard the international character of the hotel with suspicion and its occupants as potential spies. His purges created an atmosphere of fear among the occupants, who were faced with mistrust, denunciations, and nightly arrests. The purges at the hotel peaked between 1936 and 1938. Germans who fled Hitler for safety in the Soviet Union found themselves interrogated, arrested, tortured, and sent to forced labor camps. Most of the 178 leading German communists who were killed in Stalin's purges were residents of Hotel Lux."

Goddamn it Stalin. >.>

[rednordman]

I think people are missing out the middle eastern nations where during the cold war the USSR was seen as a desirable place to live compared to their own nations.

[Nevsky]

Goddamn it Stalin. >.>

There were also Stalin fans among the immigrants. Gustav von Wangenheim for example. Some might know him from the famous silent movie "Nosferatu" (F.W. Murnau, 1922); he migrated to the USSR when the nazis came to power, like many german communist did, and was one of the founding members of the "National Committee for a Free Germany", an anti-nazi resistance organization. He denounced "trotskyists" during the great purge.

[Arlekino]

I remember in my youth in Soviet Times a singer Dean Reed he migrated to East Germany. Soviet TV used his name and his songs and films often quite interesting person and good music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Reed

[Bostana]

I've heard a lot of Capitalist "Intellectuals", such as Milton Friedman, claim that people "voted with their feet" for Capitalism by always fleeing "Socialist" countries.

Say, "There isn't such a thing as a socialist state my dear."


This made me wonder whether there was actually any immigration to the Soviet Union, Cuba, Maoist China, or North Korea (although I personally don't consider these Socialist).
If you don't consider them socialist why does it matter? Just explain to people that none of those countries in any way made an attempt at Marxism. This really does bother me a lot. Because I do explain to people how one coutnry can't be communist and yet they go on preaching that the USSR was an evil Communist Country. God damn are people so un-educated that when anything reasonable comes their way that disagrees with them they shut it out like it never happened

[International_Solidarity]

If you don't consider them socialist why does it matter?

You bring up a good point, and in my actual argument I just stated that none of those countries were Communist/Socialist; however, my main reason for this post was not for the argumentative aspect, it was just that this Capitalist argument made me curious. I had never seen any solid evidence for immigration into or out-of, and I was just wondering whether thee was or not. For the sake of arguing with Capitalists the information is of little value to me. It is more of a query to satisfy my own questions.

[International_Solidarity]

I remember in my youth in Soviet Times a singer Dean Reed he migrated to East Germany. Soviet TV used his name and his songs and films often quite interesting person and good music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Reed

Thank you! These were exactly the kinds of stories I was looking for.

[International_Solidarity]

There were also Stalin fans among the immigrants. Gustav von Wangenheim for example. Some might know him from the famous silent movie "Nosferatu" (F.W. Murnau, 1922); he migrated to the USSR when the nazis came to power, like many german communist did, and was one of the founding members of the "National Committee for a Free Germany", an anti-nazi resistance organization. He denounced "trotskyists" during the great purge.

Yes, I understand that. My main point with the previous comment was how, at Hotel Lux, Stalin had various very pro-Communist immigrants put in Gulags and tortured... according to the source linked to this thread.