Finnish Socialist Federation

The Finnish Socialist Federation (Finnish: Amerikan Suomalainen Sosialistijärjestö) was a language federation of the Socialist Party of America which united Finnish language-speaking immigrants in the United States in a national organization designed to conduct propaganda and education for socialism among their community.

In 1936, in response to a factional split in the Socialist Party which saw the party's moderate wing quit en masse to form the Social Democratic Federation of America, the Finnish Socialist Federation similarly departed to reestablish itself as the Finnish American League for Democracy.

Finnish immigration to the United States was linked to two factors: growing repression of Finnish national autonomy in Tsarist Russia and the need for immigrant labor for the rapidly expanding economy of the United States. Immigrant recruiters were dispatched to Europe to entice people to come to America, where available land was comparatively bountiful and the promises for employment rosey. Recruiters were especially active in the Central and Northern European countries. The peak year for Finnish immigration to America was 1902, when 23,152 Finns came to America. The total number of Finns in America by 1920 was estimated at 400,000 — a figure which included the American-born children of immigrants. A primary reason for this immigration spike was the Russian Conscription Law of 1901, which provided for the drafting of Finns into the Tsarist army, to which there was massive popular resistance.

In the 1890s, Finnish immigrants in Boston and New York formed the first workingmen's benevolent associations, the Saima Aid Society and the Imatra Society, dedicated to educational and fraternal needs. Explicitly socialist propaganda among the Finns dates back to 1899, when a number of independent local organizations emerged, primarily in the Eastern and Midwestern states. Only a fraction of these Finnish clubs were in any way connected with the organized socialist political movement. In 1899, an expelled socialist student from Helsinki, Antero F. Tanner, established a socialist club in Rockport, Massachusetts. From this, Tanner moved into publishing, launching a Finnish-language newspaper which declared its intention to speak for the poor and exploited at the beginning of 1900. A total of 24 weekly issues were published before Tanner's newspaper was forced to cease publication due to lack of funds. Tanner thereafter went on a national organizing tour in 1901, as did his colleague, Martin Hendrickson. One of the places that Hendrickson pioneered was in the Finnish communities of Minnesota, where the first socialist club, "Jousi" ("Crossbow"), was established in Hancock, Michigan.

...
Wikipedia