George Halonen (born Yrjö Halonen, 15 December 1891 – 12 May 1954) was a Finnish–American journalist and

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

organizer. Halonen was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1912, Halonen emigrated to North America where he worked for the Finnish–Canadian newspaper ' in

Port Arthur, Ontario Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Superior. In January 1970, it amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay. Port Arthur had been the district seat of ...

from 1912 to 1913 and for '' Raivaaja'' in Fitchburg, Massachusetts from 1914 to 1919. Halonen was active in the Finnish Socialist Federation and became one of the leading Finnish American communists. In the early 1920s, Halonen moved to

Superior, Wisconsin , native_name_lang = oj , nickname = , total_type = , motto = , image_skyline = Tower Avenue.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Downtown Superior , ima ...

. Halonen was the editor of ''

Työmies ''Työmies'' (The Worker) was a politically radical Finnish-language newspaper published primarily out of Hancock, Michigan, and Superior, Wisconsin. Launched as a weekly in July 1903, the paper later went to daily frequency and was issued und ...

'' and since 1924 he worked as a division manager for the Co-operative Central Exchange. Halonen also ran the representative office of the Karelian ASSR. In 1929 Halonen was expelled from the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

as he favored an independent cooperative organization instead of centralizing. In 1942, Halonen moved to California. He took lessons at the

University of Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

and cataloged Finnish material in the

Hoover Institution Library and Archives The Hoover Institution Library and Archives is a research center and archival repository located at Stanford University, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. Built around a collection amassed by Stanford graduate Herbert Hoover prio ...

of Palo Alto. Halonen died in Superior, Wisconsin. George Halonen's brother was the Finnish American journalist

Arne Halonen Arne Halonen (9 November 189814 April 1986) was a Finnish journalist and university teacher. He was active in the Finnish–American socialist movement and worked in the University of Minnesota. Halonen is also known for his 1928 book '' Suomen lu ...

Works

*''English-Finnish dictionary'', 1924 *''Why co-operation: consumer's co-operative movement in U.S.A.'', 1928

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halonen, George 1891 births 1954 deaths American people of Finnish descent Finnish journalists American cooperative organizers Members of the Communist Party USA