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A Seventh Man

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A powerful and unconventional polemic from the writer John Berger and collaborators, notably the gifted photographer Jean Mohr. Published in the mid-1970s, this book is an analysis of the life of migrant workers in Europe. Composed of unusual and often insightful text and Mohr's striking photos, The Seventh Man is a striking indictment of the exploitation of migrant workers in prosperous western Europe. While published 30 years ago, much of what Berger et al describe continues today, and not just in Europe. Much of what is described is true for Latin American and Chinese migrants in the USA. The essential point is that the humanity of migrant workers is devalued by an exploitative system that treats them as interchangeable labor inputs in a consumerist market economy. Berger et al detail and show graphically how this happens.
All of what Berger et al. display is arguable correct, however, the limited snapshot of this book leaves an imcomplete picture. Berger et al describe a fundamentally colonial process of exploitation, and of course, this contains a good deal of truth. Looking back over the last 30 years, however, one has to modify some of Berger et al's points. The remittances generated by migrant workers did play a role in developing a more modern economy in nations like Spain and some of these migrants, like the Finns and Yugoslavs in Sweden, were able to establish permanent homes in their emigrant nations and assimilate. It clear from a large body of work that large scale emigration, of which the migrant worker phenomenon is a part, is a major way to improve the standard of living of many. This is not to argue that this system is just or that it couldn't be done better.

Berger's vitriolic stance against voracious Capitalism reaches its eloquent apogee in,'The Seventh Man'. He's never hidden his disaffection for the system that brutalises its underclasses. His decisive career move to live the latter half of his life in a French peasant village, is an indication of his sympathies. He tells of the plight of emigrant workers from un-developed countries (often the colonised)in developed, western Europe in the 70s. The story has only increased in relevance and intensity at this moment of the millenium. The spate of racism, religious vilification, violence and terrorism are direct expressions of these issues. Berger recorded them here at the advent of so-called'free-trade', global economics. The episode of the small-town abattoir worker,pp 132-134 is as harrowing a tale as one could tell. Such sets of impressions as Berger provides, the gossip of factory itinerants, intersperse the drift of statistics that cruel towards the Three Calculations,pp 137 to 147 which cost their sacrificial labour. Jean Mohr's photography is soberingly powerful. Of all his collaborations with the writer, 'The Seventh Man' surely marks his legacy. Koudelka's work on gypsy's was published about this time. Segaldo's majestic paen to proletarian labours would follow in the 90s. These were singular, photographic portfolios. With 'The Seventh Man', the juxtaposition works rhythmically to eleviate the horrors of the text with the spaciousness on images, pleasuring the eye. But the pain and disillusion is everywhere. The promise of visual pleasures swiftly elide to dismay. What a document!