Archive of RADICAL FINNISH SOCIALIST FEDERATION of FITCHBURG, MASS. 1914-1922

Includes:

80+ MANUSCRIPT PAGES (and two typed pages) describing STRIKES, CALLS TO ACTION, RED FLAG MARCHES, LABOR PROTESTS, POLICE BRUTALITY, etc. + 4 pages with over 60 SIGNATURES of FINNISH SOCIALIST FEDERATION MEMBERS including OSKARI TOKOI (see his Wikipedia page), and an interesting page from 1933 indicating this written archive may have come from a "time-capsule".

The 80+ manuscript pages (and 2 typed pages) are an important "I was there" look at many of the strikes, rallies, marches, speeches, battles with police, etc, that took place during the Finnish Socialist Federation's most radical era 1914-1922. The authors of these written "reports" are unstated. Many seem to be in the same hand. They are written in English.

The 60 signatures are on 4 pages with a "RAIVAAJA PUBLISHING COMPANY / FITCHBURG, MASS" letterhead, undated but likely c.1930. ("Raivaaja was a Finnish-language newspaper published from 1905 to 2009 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, by Raivaaja Publishing Company. For the first three decades of its existence the publication was closely associated with the Socialist Party of America." - Wikipedia)

Did these handwritten reports come from a Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Finnish Labor Society time capsule??? Maybe. There is a typed page, in Finnish, on "Finnish Labor Society SAIMA" letterhead dated 1933 that precedes the rest of the pages in the binder, which states (translated by Google):

******"That part of the Finnish people, who in the storms of time moved to this city of Fitchburg, during the last decades, would like to preserve for posterity some incidents from their phase-rich journey. As can be seen from the contents of the box, they were Finnish migrants, mostly young men and women who hoped that on this continent they would be able to partake of the warmer sunshine of a happy day than in the country of their birth. However, hard work was a condition of livelihood here as well, and that is why many of them became attached to the labor movement, whose struggles are described in detail in the various reports herein.

The box will be buried in the ground on Thursday evening, May 11, 1933, in a place known as Saima Park. Naturally no one knows when it will be found, but it is supposed to remain in the ground for several generations and after emerging will be solid material from the past for researchers of the Labor cause. In Fitchburg, Massachusetts, May 11, 1933. / Lauri Moilanen / Saima scribe of the Finnish Workers' Association."******

Each of the manuscript pages, the signature pages, and the "time capsule" page, are in plastic sleeves and collected in a three ring binder.

Condition: The signature pages and the "time capsule" page all have rust stains at the top, likely from metal clips or pins. The manuscript pages are all in remarkably good condition, bright, clean and clear. Like they've been archivally stored in a time capsule or something!

About the FINNISH SOCIALIST FEDERATION (from the University of Minnesota Libraries website:

******"The Saima Workers' Society of Fitchburg, Mass. was founded in 1894 as a Finnish workers' organization. In 1905, it joined the Socialist Party, thus making it the oldest Finnish Socialist chapter in the United States. In 1906, it joined the Finnish Socialist Federation, and by 1924-1925 was the largest such chapter in the country, with over five hundred members.*****