Vihtori Kosonen (1873–1934) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

journalist, publisher, and

free-thinker Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...

.Kujala, Antti: ”Suomi vallankumouksen punaisena selustana”, s. 131–133 teoksessa ''Lenin ja Suomi – osa I''. Opetusministeriö ja Valtion painatuskeskus, Helsinki 1987. Kosonen first worked as an editor at the ''

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 ...

'' newspaper, which was founded in 1895. In 1898, he was forced to leave

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 ...

due to the anti-socialist policies of the Finnish government under Russian governor

Nikolay Bobrikov Nikolay Ivanovich Bobrikov (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Бо́бриков; in St. Petersburg – June 17, 1904 in Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland) was a Russian general and politician. He was the Governor-General of Finla ...

. He fled to

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, where he became an influential figure in the American–Finnish workers' movement. From 1903, he was the editor of the American ''

'' newspaper. Kosonen decided to return to Finland in 1905. He was involved in the activities of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

, and served as editor of the ''

Kansan Lehti ''Kansan Lehti'' (Finnish: ''People’s Newspaper'') was a social democratic newspaper published in Tampere from 1898 until 1991. The first issue of the paper appeared in December 1898. In the early period it was a handwritten publication and had ...

'' newspaper. During the 1905 Russian revolution, Kosonen organised shelter for refugees from the Baltic region of the Russian Empire, also helped organise the December 1905 Tampere bolshevik conference. In February 1906, he helped Latvian revolutionary

Jānis Čoke Jānis Čoke (24 September 1878 in Idus parish (now Valmiera Municipality), Kreis Wolmar, Governorate of Livonia – 9 June 1910 in Turku, Grand Duchy of Finland) was a Latvian revolutionary who is known for his involvement in the 1906 robbery o ...

, who was later revealed to have taken part in

the robbery "The Robbery" is the third episode of the first season of the NBC sitcom '' Seinfeld''. It aired as the third episode of the season on June 7, 1990. It was written by Matt Goldman, making this the first ''Seinfeld'' episode not written by the s ...

of the Russian State Bank branch 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosonen, Vihtori 1873 births 1934 deaths Finnish socialists Finnish expatriates in the United States