Philip Henry Askeli (March 24, 1886 – March 13, 1962) was a

Finnish American Finnish Americans ( fi, amerikansuomalaiset, ) comprise Americans with ancestral roots from Finland or Finnish people who immigrated to and reside in the United States. The Finnish-American population numbers a little bit more than 650,000. Man ...

draftsman A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman or drafting technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for ...

, labor activist and

therapist Therapist is a person who offers any kinds of therapy A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indi ...

. Askeli was born on the island of

Hailuoto Hailuoto (; sv, Karlö) is a Finnish island in the northern Baltic Sea and a municipality in Northern Ostrobothnia region. The population of Hailuoto is (), which make it the smallest municipality in Northern Ostrobothnia and the former Oulu P ...

North Ostrobothnia North Ostrobothnia ( fi, Pohjois-Pohjanmaa; sv, Norra Österbotten) is a region of Finland. It borders the Finnish regions of Lapland, Kainuu, North Savo, Central Finland and Central Ostrobothnia, as well as the Russian Republic of Karelia. ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

; his parents were John (Juho) Askeli Jr. (1861–1934) and Kaisa Stiina (née Kallsten; 1848–1923) from Hailuoto. He attended elementary school and moved to the United States in 1900. He studied at the Lockwood School of Art in Kalamazoo, Michigan from 1908 to 1909, the New York College of Art and Design from 1915 to 1916, and the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Academy of Art in 1918. From 1916 to 1917 he worked for the '' Duluth News Tribune''. Askeli joined the labor movement at a young age. He worked as a journalist for '' Toveri'' from 1912 to 1915, as secretary general of the Finnish Socialist Federation of America from 1917 to 1922, and as a journalist for ''

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 ...

'' from 1924 to 1927 (and was the paper's editor until 1925). From 1922 to 1923, Askeli worked in

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (russian: Петрозаводск, p=pʲɪtrəzɐˈvotsk; Karelian, Vepsian and fi, Petroskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population ...

, Karelia and from 1927 to 1929 he headed the education department of the Co-operative Trading Association in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. In the 1920s, Askeli belonged to the

Communist Party of the United States 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 ...

, from which he was expelled along with its opposition in 1928. He was later a member of the social democratic Finnish American League for Democracy. After his political career, Askeli worked as a

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patien ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

, and Hyannis, and he owned a clinic in

West Yarmouth, Massachusetts West Yarmouth is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Yarmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,012 at the 2010 census. Geography West Yarmouth is located in the southwest quarter of the town o ...

. He received his doctorate in

natural medicine Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of pseudoscientific practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturop ...

from

Taylor University Taylor University is a private, interdenominational, evangelical Christian university in Upland, Indiana. Founded in 1846, it is one of the oldest evangelical Christian universities in the country. The university is named after Bishop Willia ...

in Chattanooga in 1939. He also wrote works related to the field. Askeli died in Hyannis, Massachusetts at age 76.''Albuquerque Journal'' (November 16, 1962), p. 107.

Literal work

* ''Kaskuja 1''. Astoria: s.n., 1915. (in Finnish) * ''Syökäämme oikein: johdatus ravintotieteeseen''. Fitchburg: Raivaaja kustannusyhtiö, 1933. (in Finnish) * ''Yksi päivä kuluttajan elämässä: kolmiosainen osuustoiminnallinen kuvaelma''. Fitchburg: Raivaaja Pub. Co, 1936. (in Finnish) * ''How to know yourself; ninety days to good health''. Philadelphia: Dorrance, 1960.

References

External links

James P. Cannon: ''Cannon Replies to Henry Askeli'' (8 August 1925)
at ''Marxists.org''
Henry Askeli (1886 - 1962)
at ''Ancient Faces'' 1886 births 1962 deaths American communists American journalists Finnish emigrants to the United States (1809–1917) Naturopathy People from Hailuoto {{US-journalist-19thC-stub