''Industrialisti'' was a
Finnish-language
Finnish ( endonym: or ) is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland (the other being Swedi ...
newspaper published from
Duluth, Minnesota
, settlement_type = City
, nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior, Wisconsin, Superior), Zenith City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top: Downtown Dul ...
, United States. Founded in 1914 under the name ''Sosialisti'', the newspaper was politically linked to the
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...
. It was published daily, but was converted into a fortnightly in its later years.
[Vaughn, Stephen. ]
Encyclopedia of American Journalism
'. New York: Routledge, 2008. p. 251[Holmquist, June Drenning. ]
They Chose Minnesota: A Survey of the State's Ethnic Groups
'. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988. p. 310
History
''Sosialisti'' had emerged in the back-drop of the 1913 copper and ore-dock strike. The 1913 strike had caused division amongst the Finnish socialists in Minnesota. They were now divided between a 'political' wing who wanted to focus on electoral struggles (through the
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
) and those who favoured
direct action
Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...
. The split culminated at the annual conference of the socialist Työmies Publishing Company in the summer of 1914. At the conference, a heterogeneous coalition of political radicals and pro-direct action/pro-IWW unionists broke away and set up the publishing company behind ''Sosialisti''.
[Hudelson, Richard, and Carl Ross. ]
By the Ore Docks: A Working People's History of Duluth
'. Minneapolis, Minn. .a. Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2006. pp. 65-66
In 1916 the name of the newspaper was changed to ''Teollisuustyöläinen''. In 1917 a lawsuit was levelled against the newspaper. It would re-appear under the new name ''Industrialisti''.
[Ross, Carl. ]
Radicalism in Minnesota, 1900-1960: A Survey of Selected Sources
'. St. Paul, Minn: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1994. p. 72 By this time, the paper was completely under the control of the IWW faction.
The newspaper was strongly opposed to the U.S. participation in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. For example, the first issue of the refounded ''Industrialisti'' in March 1917 carried a strong anti-war message.
Leo Laukki
Leo or Léo may refer to:
Acronyms
* Law enforcement officer
* Law enforcement organisation
* ''Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky
* Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity
Arts an ...
was the ''Industrialisti'' editor at the time.
At the time of its foundation, ''Sosialisti'' had a circulation of around 4,000.
[Holmio, Armas Kustaa Ensio, and Ellen M. Ryynanen. ]
History of the Finns in Michigan
'. Great Lakes books. Detroit, Mich: Wayne State Univ. Press, 2001. pp. 296-297 As of 1919 ''Industrialisti'' had around 10,000 subscribers.
The newspaper had a sizeable readership across the border in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
.
[Saarinen, Oiva W. ]
Between a Rock and a Hard Place A Historical Geography of the Finns in the Sudbury Area
'. Waterloo, Ont: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1999. p. 121
''Industrialisti'' was published by a publishing cooperative, the Workers' Publishing Company (which also published Finnish-language IWW literature). It began as Socialist Publishing Company in 1914. After the 1917 lawsuit, it re-appeared as the Workers' Socialist Publishing Company, changing its name to Workers' Publishing Company in 1954.
''Industrialisti'' was shut down in 1975.
When it was closed down, it was one of the last non-English publications of the IWW.
External links
References
{{Authority control
Publications established in 1914
Publications disestablished in 1975
Finnish-American culture in Minnesota
Finnish-language newspapers
Defunct newspapers published in Minnesota
Industrial Workers of the World publications
Mass media in Duluth, Minnesota
Socialist newspapers published in the United States
1914 establishments in Minnesota
1975 disestablishments in Minnesota