Planifier la politique migratoire de l'après-guerre: les perspectives du «traité de travail» en France et en Italie (1915-1919)

This article deals with the origins of the Franco–Italian Labor Treaty, signed in Rome on September 30, 1919, which was the first agreement aimed at regulating both recruitment and placement issues and social rights issues. This essay does not seek to focus on the drafting and negotiation phase. Rather, its purpose is to analyze the birth of the very idea of the Labor Treaty, focusing on the public debate. Thus, the article would like to think about the construction, during the First World War, of French and Italian migration policy for the post-war period, taking into account both published and unpublished sources and underlining the importance of the Great War. The definition of a real migration policy, indeed, depended on the wartime centrality gained by the states, with regard to migration flow control and labor market management. As far as the goals of the two national contexts are concerned, different priorities were at play. On the one hand, in Italy the need to valorize emigration was stressed. Thus, the Labor Treaty had to guarantee Italian migrants’ social rights (social insurance, assistance, wages, working conditions) in order to improve their status and avoid their naturalization. On the other hand, in France manpower shortages and demographic needs were stressed. Thus, the Labor Treaty had to guarantee durable and official recruitment channels, in order to ensure reconstruction operations and increase productivity.