''Eteenpäin'' (English: ''Forward'') was a

Finnish-language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic language of the Uralic language family, 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, alongside Swedish ...

daily newspaper launched in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1921. The paper was the East Coast organ of Finnish-American members of the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

. The paper moved to

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

in 1922 and to

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in 1931. In 1950 ''Eteenpäin'' was merged with the Communist Party's Midwestern Finnish-language daily, ''

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 ...

'' (''The Worker'') to create ''Työmies-Eteenpäin'', which continued to be published from

Superior, Wisconsin Superior (; ) is a city in Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. The population was 26,751 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located at the western end of Lake Superior in northwestern Wisconsin, the city l ...

into the 1990s.

Publication history

Political background

In the summer of 1919, 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 America ...

(SPA), amidst much acrimony, split into three parts at its 1919 Emergency National Convention. Two new Communist Parties were established, with the moderate Socialist "Regulars" retaining control of the old party name, logo, and assets. In the run-up to this landmark party convention the SPA's governing National Executive Committee had suspended six large foreign language federations for having officially endorsed the Left Wing Manifesto around with the soon-to-be Communist Party dissidents were organizing their forces. This action, coupled with the revocation of the state charters of "left wing" dominated states such as Ohio, Michigan, and Massachusetts, deprived the left wing of its voting majority and assured the Regulars of victory at the convention in Chicago. This heavy-handed action taken against the non-English-speaking section of the Socialist Party came at a severe cost, however. Even though the

Finnish Socialist Federation The Finnish Socialist Federation () was a language federation of the Socialist Party of America which united Finnish language-speaking immigrants in the United States in a national organization designed to conduct propaganda and education for social ...

(SSJ), long regarded as one of the strongest bones in the Socialist Party's body, was not one of those endorsing the Left Wing Manifesto and thus incurring the NEC's wrath, many in the organization were sympathetic to the

revolutionary socialist Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolu ...

pronouncements of the Left Wing Manifesto and were disgusted by the actions of the NEC. At its 6th National Convention, held in

Waukegan, Illinois Waukegan ( ) is a city in Lake County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located north of Chicago, Waukegan is a satellite city within the greater Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, its population was 89,321, makin ...

from December 25, 1920 to January 2, 1921, the Finnish Socialist Federation after much heated debate voted 16-5 to withdraw from the Socialist Party of America and to continue instead its existence as an independent organization. Upon learning of the decision of the Waukegan Convention to separate the Finnish Socialist Federation from the party, Socialist Party Executive Secretary Otto Branstetter immediately set about reorganizing a new Finnish Federation for the Socialist Party, an idea which had much support among the branches of the more moderate Eastern District of the Finnish Socialist Federation. In August 1921 a convention was held in

Fitchburg, Massachusetts Fitchburg is a city in northern Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The third-largest city in the county, its population was 41,946 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Fitchburg State University is located here. History ...

, home of the Eastern District's daily newspaper, ''Raivaaja'' (''The Pioneer'') and a new Finnish Socialist Federation organized.Tim Davenport
"Finnish Federations,"
Early American Marxism website, Corvallis, OR. A large percentage of the Eastern District of the old Finnish Socialist Federation left that organization and joined the reorganized Finnish Socialist Federation affiliated with the SPA, bringing with them their newspaper, ''Raivaaja.'' The independent SSJ still had three regular and well established newspapers — the daily ''Työmies'' (''The Worker''), published in the Upper Midwest, and the weeklies ''Toveri'' (''The Comrade'') and ''Toveritar'' (''The Woman Comrade''), published in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Despite this fact the radical Finnish-Americans of the East still felt they needed a newspaper published at a closer proximity to cover news of local concern and to this end they launched a new publication entitled ''Eteenpäin'' (''Forward'').

Formation

''Eteenpäin'' was launched in

on May 25, 1921 under the editorship of Elis Sulkanen, until recently the editor of ''Toveri.''Dirk Hoerder with Christiane Harzig (eds.), ''The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s: An Annotated Bibliography: Volume 1: Migrants from Northern Europe.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987; pg. 214. In an effort to reduce expenses, the publication moved from New York to

in 1922. There was also a name change of the publisher at this time, with the initial "Bothnia Press Inc." giving way to the "Eteenpäin Co-operative Society." The paper was typically four pages in length and strongly ideological in its coverage of the news. There was some limited Finnish presence in the underground

Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

— a shade over 400 dues-paying members by the end of 1921. This number was quite limited and its expansion difficult, however. In the estimation of Finnish Communist leader John Wiita (best known by the pseudonym "Henry Puro"), may Finnish-Americans were suspicious of illegal revolutionary propaganda activities, which they considered outlandish.Kostiainen, ''The Forging of Finnish-American Communism, 1917-1924,'' pg. 119. ''Eteenpäin'' editor Elis Sulkanen, himself a participant in the underground Communist movement of 1920-1923, similarly noted that most radical Finns had no desire to join the underground organization, instead seeking to participate in a legal organization realistically participating in the actual politics of the United States. It was not until the establishment of the above ground and "legal"

Workers Party of America The Workers Party of America (WPA) was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from December 1921 until the middle of 1929. Background As a legal political party, the Workers Party accepted affiliation from indep ...

(WPA) around New Year's Day of 1922 that Finnish radicals entered the communist movement en masse. The main body of the Finnish Socialist Federation ended its year of independent existence and joined the new WPA as a group at the time of the organization's founding convention, held in New York City. The Finns soon comprised the largest component of the WPA, outnumbering native English speakers and representing 40% of the total party membership by 1923. ''Eteenpäin'' became a part of the WPA at this juncture and it remained a Communist Party publication throughout its nearly three decades of existence.Armas Kustaa Ensio Holmio and Ellen M. Ryynanen,
History of the Finns in Michigan
'' Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2001; pg. 298.

Development

''Eteenpäin'' had a circulation of nearly 7,300 in 1924. By 1930, its press run averaged just shy of 11,000 copies per issue. A number of leading figures in the radical Finnish-American political movement were editors or managers of ''Eteenpäin'' over the years, including original editor Sulkanen (later the author of an encyclopedic history of Finnish-American socialism), William Marttila, Toivo Vuorela, Onni Saari, K.E. Heikkinen, and John Wiita (Henry Puro). In 1931, the publication moved to

, where it was published by a new holding company called "American Finnish Publishers, Inc." The publishers of ''Eteenpäin'' also issued a number of other Finnish-language radical publications over the years, including a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

theoretical magazine ''Viesti'' (''The Message''), a magazine directed at women called ''Työläisnainen'' (''The Working Woman''), and the annuals ''Punainen Kalenteri'' (''Red Calendar''), ''Vappu'' (''May Day''), and ''Työmiehen Joulu'' (''Worker's Christmas'').

Merger and legacy

In 1950, ''Eteenpäin'' was essentially dissolved when it was merged into ''Työmies,'' with the "new" joint publication (called ''Työmies-Eteenpäin'') being published from ''Työmies

offices. This paper continued through 1995, when it was replaced by the English-language publication, ''The Finnish-American Reporter.''"Tyomies Society (Superior, WI), Records: Finding Aid,"
Immigration History Research Center,

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, Minneapolis, MN. ''Eteenpäin'' has been preserved almost in its totality. Microfilm of ''Työmies-Eteenpäin'' (1950–1995) is available from the

Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of ...

at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

References