Interregional Migration and Industrialization: Identities of Workers from Cluj/Kolozsvár and Jiu/Zsil-Valley Urban Communities (1896-1939)

Focusing on two case studies, Cluj - the traditional economic centre of the region - and the Jiu Valley - a rapidly developing mining region, this study deals with the identity of industrial workers in Transylvanian society in the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century (up to 1939). The author has chosen items such as birthplace, religious affiliation and ethnic makeup/and when possible native language in order to determine the workers' identity. The essay differentiates between the new group of industrial workers and more traditional artisans and craftsmen, when exploring the dynamics of the labor market and the fork force. The study focuses on major demographic processes of immigration into towns from other counties and the surrounding rural area. The essay tries to assess the effects of economic development and political changes on the dynamics of this group.

Key words: industrialization, modernization, immigration, identity