In 1903 the American Finnish Workers Publishing Company began publishing Amerikan Suomalainen Työmies (The American Finnish Worker) in Worcester, MA. Ten months later, in 1904, the paper moved to Hancock, MI, the epicenter of Finns in the United States. Here in Hancock it was published by the Työmies Publishing Company simply under the name Työmies (The Worker).
In their first issue, then editor Victor Kosonen put forward the mission statement for the paper:
“The American Finnish Työmies shall be the voice of the Finnish working people in America. It will devote what strength it may have to become the most ardent promoter of the spiritual and physical endeavors of the Finnish working people. As much as possible we will foster all progressive endeavors for the happiness and success of our people.”
From the beginning Työmies was a Marxist publication, demanding “human dignity and justice for the oppressed peoples,” and being an advocate of radical labor action and organizing in the region and throughout the country. The first issue printed in Hancock featured the election platform of Socialist Party presidential candidate Eugene Debs. In 1906 several dozen local Finnish socialist organizations combined together to form the Finnish Socialist Federation, the first language federation of the Socialist Party of America (SPA), making Työmies an official organ of the SPA. During the 1913-1914 Copper Strike Työmies distributed official updates on the state of the strike to workers and debunked misinformation being propagated by the copper bosses.
For ten tears Työmies was the preeminent Finnish language socialist publication in the United States. Työmies Publishing Company published a short running English newspaper in 1908 under the name The Wage Slave as well as several annual Finnish language magazines. In 1914, due to a variety of internal and external pressures, the Työmies Publishing Company moved to Superior, WI where it would continue to distribute Työmies until 1950 when it merged with the Communist Party USA Finnish language newspaper Eteenpäin (Forward) and distributed as Työmies-Eteenpäin until 1998.
The Keweenaw Socialists Quarterly seeks to continue the legacy of radical leftist publishing in the Copper Country by distributing this publication advocating for the liberation of working people in the Keweenaw and throughout the world. We echo the sentiments of Victor Kosonen in the mission statement of Työmies:
“Only the working people themselves can improve their miserable conditions. We hope for enthusiastic support from working people not only as readers of our paper but also as its correspondents. Since this paper is to be the working people’s own paper, it naturally follows that in writing to us they will freely express their uninhibited ‘opinions’ without concern for the oppressive politics of our capitalist society.”We encourage feedback from our readership at [email protected].