Review of Finns in Michigan from the Michigan Historical Review

This review was done this September by Guntis Smidchens, a member of the Scandinavian Studies Department at the University of Washington. The review was published in the Fall 2009 issue of the Michigan Historical Review.

The review:

Gary Kaunonen. Finns in Michigan; Book review

Smidchens, Guntis

Gary Kaunonen. Finns in Michigan. "Discovering the Peoples of Michigan" series. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2009. Pp. 123. Appendices. For further reference. Index. Notes. Photographs. Paper, $12.95.

The Finns of Michigan gained a prominent place in American ethnic scholarship when Michigan State University historian Richard M. Dorson wrote a chapter about them in his classic, Bloodstoppers and Bearwalkers: Folk Traditions of the Upper Peninsula (1952). More than a half-century later, the tradition of Finnish ethnic studies is ably carried on by Gary Kaunonen, archivist at Finlandia University's Finnish American Historical Archives in Hancock, Michigan. Kaunonen avoids the stereotypical account of immigrant accomplishments and contributions to America, offering instead a work "inclusive of the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of the Finnish experience in Michigan" (p. 1)."Ugly" refers to the ideological rift that ran deep, splitting the immigrants from one relatively small European country into violently opposed camps. Kaunonen gives an unbiased account of all political factions (p. 59), succeeding where others such as Armas Holmio fall short (p. 35).

The research behind this book is exceptionally rich and well done.Kaunonen consulted published secondary sources and newspapers in both English and Finnish, and he also makes use of oral histories. The latter sources are essential because so few written documents describe, for example, the logging operations where many Finns worked (p. 32). Women's experiences, too, are not easy to reconstruct (pp. 40-41, 44-45, 69-71, 73-75).

Finnish immigration to Michigan concentrated heavily in the Upper Peninsula; workers were drawn by opportunities offered by copper mines and the timber industry. Finns first came to Hancock around 1864, arriving from Norway's spent mines. Large-scale immigration from Finland proper began in the mid-1880s and peaked around the turn of the twentieth century. Although they arrived as industrial workers, many Finns purchased land and established subsistence farms. Even today in several Upper Peninsula localities, up to one-half of the population can claim Finnish ancestry (p. 8). Among the first Finnish organizations were religious congregations. Finns constructed churches and then split into warring denominations. Secular temperance societies built Finn Halls to host nonreligious activities such as lectures, concerts, dances, and sports; they often housed libraries as well. These social and recreational societies gradually gave way to organized labor groups. The Michigan Copper Strike of 19131914 was one of the events that helped fragment Finns into deeply divided ideological factions.

Strange sociocultural practices such as sauna and the "Finglish" language, along with rumors of drunken knife fights and a preference for communist ideas often marked Finns as stereotypical outsiders and savages. "We do not want Finlanders," the manager of a copper mine once wrote to the commissioner of immigration at Ellis Island (p. 18). But Finns also left a positive mark on American culture when they organized Michigan's first successful consumers' cooperatives, which grew to include large numbers of non-Finns. These cooperatives began to disappear only recently, replaced by supermarkets (pp. 80-83).

In summary, Kaunonen's Finns in Michigan adds a valuable case study of one very diverse ethnic group to the history of American ethnic communities and their cultures. This brief review cannot do justice to his colorful, rigorously researched book.

Guntis Smidchens
Department of Scandinavian Studies
University of Washington, Seattle
December 17, 2009

Update on Projects and Challenge Accepted

Busy, busy, busy...as with most folks this time of year, things are hectic. I'll detail two of the projects that I am involved with below, but first an update on Challenge Accepted: it has appeared on the Michigan State Press author pages and this is a link to that site: http://msupress.msu.edu/authorbio.php?authorID=2654. The book is also available from amazon.com (among other sellers) at: http://www.amazon.com/Challenge-Accepted-Immigrant-Industrial-Michigans/dp/0870138731/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260997332&sr=1-2. The book will come out sooner from Michigan State University Press, but the release date on amazon is May 1, "Vapaus" very fitting for a book about the cultural and labor history of a working class group.

Now, to two projects I have been lucky enough to become associated with:

1) Writing the forward to a Journal of Finnish Studies edition regarding Finnish American labor history and folklore. This edition of the Journal of Finnish Studies promises to be a really interesting (as the all are), inter-disciplinary look at Finnish Americans and working class culture in the labor movement. The article authors for this edition are experts in this field, and I'm really excited to be associated with the work. Articles are being contributed by Dr. James P. Leary, a professor of folklore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who has a number of classic (and really humorous) books about folklore in the Upper Midwest. Also, two PhD students in the Madison folklore program are contributing articles, Hilary Virtanen and Tim Frandy. Both, really good folklorists who have roots in the UP and northern Wisconsin.

Last, but not least, a friend and labor historian from Aberdeen, Washington, Aaron Goings, is contributing an article. Aaron just finished his PhD dissertation on the social and labor history of the Grays Harbor, Washington, area, all 500 pages of it! Finns factor greatly in his research and writing, so hopefully his dissertation gets published soon, and his article for this edition of the Journal examines aspects of the Finnish American labor movement in this region.

I already kind of have the hook for the forward, which is that the articles in the edition all center on the creation of working class literacy...beyond something like teaching immigrants the basics of reading and writing, to an expanded literacy of what it meant to be class conscious. This is what the Industrial Workers of the World or "Wobbly" songs and culture were in essence doing, and something that the authors of the articles really bring forth in their research and writing. I think the issue promises to be an outstanding edition of the Journal of Finnish Studies, which is edited by Dr. Beth Virtanen, who is a visiting scholar at Finlandia University.

2) This project is an article for a book of articles relating to ethnicity in the Upper Peninsula and is being edited by Hilary Virtanen (see above). I am writing an article on the importance of Finn Halls in the Upper Peninsula, and have decided to concentrate on labor halls in Marquette, Negaunee, Rock (or Maple Ridge), and Hancock. Through this process I have had the chance to visit the archives at Northern Michigan University in Marquette and have found that they have a great collection of materials regarding the Rock Workers' and Co-op Hall. Equally exciting, the archivist there, Marcus Robbins, knows that it is a great collection and is looking into ways to make the material more accessible to the public. This truly unique collection from Rock has a great home at Northern!

Another Finns in Michigan Review...From Finland No Less

Click on the images to enlarge and read the review, top is first page of the review, bottom second

Above is another review of Finns in Michigan sent to me by the good folks at Michigan State University Press. This review was done by Dr. Mika Roinila, a professor at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana. A kind of cool thing about this review is that it was done for the Finnish quarterly Siirtolaisuus/Migration, which is published by The Institute of Migration located in Turku, Finland. Dr. Roinila did a great job on the review. He wrote about some things he liked in the book, and also gave a good critique of what he would have liked to see more of in the book. As an author, I really enjoy reading a good, well thought out and well-written critique because I recognize there is always room to grow as a historian and writer. Critiques are a good chance to learn if you will allow yourself to listen.

Michigan State University Press Catalogue Entry

Striker's gathering outside the Western Federation of Miners headquarters in Calumet, 1913

Challenge Accepted is about ready to hit the presses. This week I received the text for the Michigan State University Press catalogue entry...it reads as follows:

A fresh view of Michigan’s Copper Country through the eyes of Finnish immigrants

Challenge Accepted
A Finnish Immigrant Response to Industrial America in Michigan’s Copper Country
Gary Kaunonen

Michigan’s Copper Country, once one of the world’s major copper-producing regions, is located on the Upper Peninsula, in the northern reaches of the state. There were active copper mines in the area for 150 years, from 1845 until 1995. Many of the mine workers in this region were immigrants to the United States. Like workers in other low-paying and hazardous occupations in the early twentieth century, mineworkers in Copper Country attempted to unionize, in order to obtain better working conditions, wages, and hours.

The Michigan miners were unsuccessful in their struggles with mine owners, which came to a climax in the 1913–14 Copper Country Strike. This nine-month battle between workers represented by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) and the three major mining companies in the region took a particularly nasty turn on Christmas Eve, 1913, at a party for strikers and their families organized by the WFM. As many as 500 people were in the Italian Benevolent Society hall in Calumet, Michigan, when someone reportedly shouted “fire.” There was no fire, but 73 to 79 people, over 60 of them children, died in the stampede for the exit.

Against this dramatic backdrop, Gary Kaunonen tells the story of Finnish immigrants to Copper Country, who arrived during the late 19th and early 20th centuries with little understanding of the American copper mining industry. By examining the written record and material culture of Finnish immigrant proletarians—analyzing buildings, cultural institutions, and publications of the socialist-unionist media—Kaunonen adds a new depth to our understanding of the time and place, the events and a people.

/author/Gary Kaunonen earned his Master’s in Industrial History and Archaeology from Michigan Technological University and is currently in MTU’s Ph.D. program in Rhetoric and Technical Communication. Both of his grandfathers worked in the mines of the Mesabi Iron Range in northeastern Minnesota and, before becoming an academic, Kaunonen, himself, charged blast furnaces and operated a bull-ladle in an iron foundry. He is the author of Finns in Michigan (MSU Press).

Challenge Accepted Cover

A while back I got a chance to preview the cover for Challenge Accepted and it is spot-on. The person who did the cover really captured the essence of the book. The designer used a sort of strike poster template and added an image I sent to Michigan State University Press. The image is from a Työmies publication that has not seen the daylight in probably 90 or more years. The labor cartoon depicts the awakening of mineworkers in the Copper Country.

The really unique aspect of this cartoon, drawn by Konstu Sallinen, is that it shows this "mental" awakening by depicting a physical event that portrays a mineworker standing up to shake the very foundations of the Copper Country's ground. This action, by the purposefully enlarged laborer, sends the copper bosses running. The theme of proletarian awakening and revolt is one that was sounded frequently by Finnish immigrant socialist-unionists and one that the book explores in-depth.

Challenge Accepted Synopsis and Chapter List

The Työmies Publishing Company printed the English language newspaper the Wage Slave in an attempt to join and influence the American socialist movement

A 500-or-so-word synopsis of Challenge Accepted:

Generally, Finnish immigrants entered Michigan’s Copper Country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries with little understanding of the American industrial setting. Their experiences with Copper Country industry and society led some of these immigrants to formulate a proactive response via direct action against the hegemony of Copper Country monopoly capital. Challenge Accepted explores the Finnish immigrants’ clash with the Copper Country industrial setting by examining the written record and material culture of Finnish immigrant proletarians through analysis of buildings, cultural institutions, and publication of socialist-unionist media.

This collective response by Finnish immigrant proletarians was in essence an answer to an unspoken challenge issued by the Copper Country’s mining oligarchy to Finnish immigrants, beguiling them to struggle for the betterment of their lives in America. Finnish immigrant proletarians accepted this tacit challenge from the mining companies facing great odds. Resistance to this challenge came fast and furious from the mining companies and at times, even from within their own organizations as the movement struggled with equality within its ranks, creating a focused direction, recognizing a guiding ideology, and utilizing agreed upon strategy and tactics.

Finnish immigrant proletarians wagered the success of their organizational efforts by agitating for and participating in the bitter, sometimes bloody 1913-14 Copper Country Strike. This 9-month struggle between organized labor (Western Federation of Miners) and the mining companies created great fits of passion and sorrow. No event created more anguish than the tragic events at Italian Hall. Challenge Accepted examines the events of the 1913-14 Strike and Italian Hall using often-overlooked proletarian Finnish immigrant sources.

Challenge Accepted concludes that the most noteworthy accomplishment of the Finnish immigrant socialist-unionists in the Copper Country was that as a largely unskilled group of immigrant laborers, newspaper employees, and “hobo” socialists, they had a very considerable impact on the history of a place dominated by powerful mining companies and the men who ran those companies. Finnish immigrant socialist-unionists in Hancock grew a small upstart cultural organization, with a small upstart publishing company, into a force that could contend with the power of monopoly capital in the Copper Country.

This was truly remarkable, a challenge accepted by Finnish immigrant socialist-unionists to have a say in their own working conditions in a place dominated by a mining oligarchy; but embedded in this study of ethnic political-labor history is also a story of division and decline that ultimately and terminally fractured a truly proletarian movement dedicated to working-class solidarity. This demise is significant when recounting the capabilities and vulnerabilities of the American labor movement in the early twentieth century.

Chapter List:

Introduction

Chapter 1. Finnish Immigration and Settlement in a Hancock, Michigan, Neighborhood
Chapter 2. Finnish Immigrant Cultural Organizations and the “Finn Hall”
Chapter 3. Finnish Immigrant Socialist-Unionists in Hancock
Chapter 4. The Early Existence of the Työmies Publishing Company, 1904–1909
Chapter 5. The Työmies Publishing Company Reaches Maturity, 1910–1913
Chapter 6. The 1913–14 Copper Country Strike
Chapter 7. Gun Hounds, Scabs, and Tragedy
Conclusion
Epilogue
Appendix 1. Työmies Publishing Company Staff and Contributors, 1909
Appendix 2. Työmies Publishing Company Interior Use of Space
Appendix 3. Copper Territory Strikers’ March Song, 1913
Appendix 4. Työmies Publishing Company’s Composite List of Italian Hall Deceased, 1913

Finns in Michigan Hits #3 on Amazon's Hot New Releases and Two Reviews

Review of Finns in Michigan by Pam Brunfelt from the Finnish American Reporter (click on the image to enlarge)
Review (left hand side of page) of Finns in Michigan from Michigan History magazine (click on the image to enlarge)

Finns in Michigan has hit #3 on Amazon.com's Hot New Releases for Michigan. The book has been in the Top 10 of that category for over 12 weeks. I want to thank those who have purchased the book and have really enjoyed the feedback I have been getting regarding the book and its topics.

Speaking of feedback, two reviews of the book have come out. The first is in the July issue of the Finnish American Reporter. Pam Brunfelt (professor of history at Vermillion Community College and a great historian to boot) wrote the review and did a really good job of capturing the essence of the book. The second review came out in the May/June issue of Michigan History magazine. In that review, they use a quote from the book.

I am pretty happy that the book has been well received, but even more excited that Finnish American history and the working folks who made that history are getting some well-deserved press. You can click on the images to enlarge the articles.