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Fonds · 1911 - 1981

Records of the Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö [Finnish Organization of Canada], Vapaus Publishing Company (responsible for publishing Vapaus and Liekki and other publications), Suomalais-Canadalaisen Amatoori Urheiluliiton [Finnish-Canadian Amateur Sports Federation], co-operatives, and more.

Includes meeting minutes, reports, financial statements, and correspondence related to the operations and administration of these organizations. Also includes a variety of document and pamphlets related to socialism, communism, and the peace movement in Canada and worldwide.

The Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö (CSJ; Finnish Organization of Canada) is the oldest nationwide Finnish cultural organization in Canada. For over a century the CSJ has been one of the main organizations for Finnish immigrants in Canada with left-wing sympathies and, in particular, those with close ties to the Communist Party of Canada. Through the early to mid 1920s, Finnish-Canadians furnished over half the membership of the Communist Party and some, like A.T. Hill (born Armas Topias Mäkinen), became leading figures in the Party. Beyond support for leftist political causes, the cooperative and labour union movements, many local CSJ branches in both rural and urban centres established halls – some 70 of which were built over the years in communities across Canada – that hosted a range of social and cultural activities including dances, theatre, athletics, music, and lectures. The CSJ is also known for its publishing activities, notably the Vapaus (Liberty) newspaper.

The CSJ underwent several changes in its formative years related to both national and international developments. Founded in October 1911 as the Canadan Suomalainen Sosialisti Järjestö (CSSJ; Finnish Socialist Organization of Canada), the organization served as the Finnish-language affiliate of the Canadian Socialist Federation which soon after transformed into the Social Democratic Party of Canada (SDP). By 1914, the CSSJ had grown to 64 local branches and boasted a majority of the SDP membership with over 3,000 members. One year later the organization added two more local branches but membership had dropped to 1,867 members thanks, in part, to a more restrictive atmosphere due to Canada’s involvement in the First World War and an organizational split that saw the expulsion or resignation of supporters of the Industrial Workers of the World from the CSSJ.

In September 1918, the Canadian federal government passed Order-in-Council PC 2381 and PC 2384 which listed Finnish, along with Russian and Ukrainian, as ”enemy languages” and outlawed the CSSJ along with thirteen other organizations. The CSSJ successfully appealed the ban in December 1918 but dropped ”Socialist” from its name. The organization operated under the name Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö until December 1919. The SDP, however, did not recover from the outlawing of its foreign-language sections, leaving the CSJ without a political home. Stepping into this organizational vacuum was the One Big Union of Canada (OBU), founded in June 1919. The CSJ briefly threw its support behind this new labour union initiative, functioning as an independent ”propaganda organization of the OBU” until internal debates surrounding the structure of the Lumber Workers Industrial Union affiliate and the OBU decision not to join to the Moscow-headquartered Comintern led to its withdrawal shortly thereafter. In 1924, CSSJ activists including A.T. Hill helped to found the Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada (LWIUC).

Inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution that toppled the Tsarist Russian Empire in November 1917, and following the founding of the Communist Party of Canada (CPC) as an underground organization in May 1921, the CSSJ rapidly became an integral part of the nascent Communist movement in Canada. Reflecting this change, in 1922 the organization was renamed the Canadan Työläispuolueen Suomalainen Sosialistilärjestö (FS/WPC; Finnish Socialist Section of the Workers’ Party of Canada) – the Workers’ Party of Canada being the legal front organization of the CPC. In 1923, Finnish-Canadian Communists formed a separate cultural organization, the Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö (CSJ; Finnish Organization of Canada Inc.), to serve as a kind of ”holding company” ensuring that the organization’s considerable properties and assets would be safe from confiscation by the government or capture from rival left-wing groups. With the legalization of the CPC in 1924, the FS/WPC became the Canadan Kommunistipuolueen Suomalainen Järjestö (FS/CP; Finnish section of the Communist Party of Canada). Between 1922 and 1925, membership in the CSJ through its various transitions also doubled as membership in the Communist Party. This arrangement ended in 1925 when the FS/CP was disbanded following the ”bolshevization” directives of the Comintern. These directives demanded that separate ethnic organizations in North America be dissolved in favour of more disciplined and centralized party cells. It was hoped that this reorganization would help attract new members outside of the various Finnish, Ukrainian, and Jewish ethnic enclaves that had furnished the bulk of the CPC dues paying membership in Canada. From this point onwards, the CSJ officially functioned as a cultural organization but maintained a close, albeit sometimes strained, association with the CPC. The 1930s represent the peak of the CSJ size and influence, occuring during the Third Period and Popular Front eras of the international Communist movement. During this period CSJ union organizers assisted in the creation of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union – a unit of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of the American Federation of Labor, successor to the LWIUC – and the reemergence of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers in Sudbury and Kirkland Lake. CSJ activists also helped to recruit volunteers for the International Brigades that fought against nationalist and fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Finally, in the 1930s some 3,000 CSJ members or sympathizers embarked on the journey from Canada to the Soviet Union to help in the efforts to industrialize the Karelian Autonomous Soviet. Hundreds of Finns in Karelia would later perish in Stalin’s purges.

Despite the CSJ’s active support for the Canadian war effort, the organization was still deemed to be a threat to national security by the federal government and again outlawed in 1940. All FOC properties were seized and closed. The Suomalais Canadalaisten Demokraattien Liitto (SCDL; Finnish-Canadian Democratic League) served as the FOC’s main legal surrogate until the organization was legalized in 1943. The rapid decline of the FOC following this period is apparent from the fact that of the 75 locals in operation in 1936, only 36 remained active in 1950.

Further reading:
Edward W. Laine (edited by Auvo Kostianen), A Century of Strife: The Finnish Organization of Canada, 1901-2001 (Turku: Migration Institute of Finland), 2016.
Arja Pilli, The Finnish-Language Press in Canada, 1901-1939: A Study of Ethnic Journalism (Turku: Institute of Migration), 1982.
William Eklund, Builders of Canada: History of the Finnish Organization of Canada, 1911-1971 (Toronto: Finnish Organization of Canada), 1987.

82-25
ON00120 023-1-.1-1-.82-2 · Item · [1939]
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of members of the 1939 Copper Cliff Junior Baseball team posing for a team photograph. In the front row are, from left to right: Stan Germa, Dunc MacKinnon, Buster Paquette, Neil Birney, Maurice Vaillancourt, Fox Didone, Herk Flynn, Dave Chapman, and Soup Campbell. In the back row are, from left to right: Wilmer Hughes, Doug Gathercole, George Blake, Harold Dunn, Lawrence Wulff, John Vaillancourt, Getch Trezise (aka Bill Trezise), Elio Tramontini, Guy Hashey, and Bert Flynn.

150-34
ON00120 023-1-.1-3-.150-1 · Item · 1941
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of the 1941 Jersey City Champions, the Copper Cliff Minor Midget-Pro Baseball team, posing for a team picture in their championship sweaters. In the back row, left to right, are: Enso Tenilli, [unknown], Gino Vendriman, [unknown], [unknown], Linkin Canapini, [unknown], and Gord Alcott (coach). In the front row, left to right, are: [unknown], Ernie Canapini, Dero Nicoli, [unknown], D. Newell and [unknown].

151-7
ON00120 023-1-.1-3-.151-1 · Item · 1941
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of George Gee (centre), a Coniston baseball club team member, shaking hands with members of the opposing baseball team on the pitch after a baseball game. Unidentified players and spectators can be seen in the background.

151-39
ON00120 023-1-.1-3-.151-2 · Item · 1941
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of a Shift League Broom Ball team posing for a team picture against a chain link fence inside the Palace Rink in Sudbury, Ontario. In the back row are Jack Bradley, far left, and Jack O'Hara, second from the right. In the front row are, from left to right, Jimmy Jones, Aldo Antoneoni, Jim Nemis, Rusty Duberry, Richy Gallagher, [unknown] and [unknown].

279-34
ON00120 023-1-.1-4-.279-22 · Item · April 1942
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of George McCormick, sitting on his porch with Helen McCormick and Marion McCormick, getting his fishing tackle ready for the fishing season.

286-30
ON00120 023-1-.1-4-.286-22 · Item · May 1942
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of a man pouring a bucket of water into a tank of fish at the Sandfield Hatchery in Manitoulin Island, Ontario.

288-4
ON00120 023-1-.1-4-.288-2 · Item · May 25, 1942
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of Norman Hann, playing for the Copper Cliff senior baseball team, running across first base as First Baseman Haddon of the Frood senior baseball team, prepares to catch the ball during a game between the two teams during the Copper Cliff Victoria Day celebrations at the baseball field in Copper Cliff, Ontario.

288-13
ON00120 023-1-.1-4-.288-5 · Item · May 25, 1942
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of an unidentified young woman competing in the high jump event, during Victoria Day celebrations, at Nickel Park in Copper Cliff, Ontario.

288-14
ON00120 023-1-.1-4-.288-6 · Item · May 25, 1942
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of young girls competing in a foot race at Nickel Park in Copper Cliff, Ontario during Victoria Day celebrations. Two unidentified men are meeting the little girls at the finish line.

288-15
ON00120 023-1-.1-4-.288-7 · Item · May 25, 1942
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of an unidentified young boy at bat during a baseball game in Copper Cliff, Ontario during Victoria Day celebrations.

307-18
ON00120 023-1-.1-4-.307-1 · Item · July 1942
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of some of the members of the Nickel Belt All-Star Baseball Team posing for a team photograph. In the front row, from left to right, are: "Ginny" Bertulli (aka Enio Bertulli), catcher; Herb Perigoe, first base; Spike Boal, second base; Harry Haddow, utility infielder and Eddie Dunn, centrefield. In the back row, left to right, are: Joe McDonald, catcher and coach; Joe Lora, utility outfielder; Bill Fine, manager; Normie Hann (aka Norman Hann), shortstop, and Maurice Vaillancourt, pitcher.

345-12
ON00120 023-1-.1-5-.345-5 · Item · January 17, 1943
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of Dick Westheuser, a ski instructor from the Ontario Ski Zone in Toronto, Ontario, about to complete a jump-turn while skiing downhill at the Sudbury Ski Club in Sudbury, Ontario.

345-13
ON00120 023-1-.1-5-.345-6 · Item · January 17, 1943
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of Dick Westheuser, a ski instructor from the Ontario Ski Zone in Toronto, Ontario, teaching a group of skiers at the Sudbury Ski Club in Sudbury, Ontario. Pat Thorpe is in position at the top of the hill and a number of skiers and spectators can be seen in the background.

415-4
ON00120 023-1-.1-6-.415-1 · Item · July 1944
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of softball coach Eddie Peever crouched down on the field with six of his Central Public School players before a game of the Associated Canadian Travellers Primary School Softball League in Sudbury, Ontario. From left to right are Coach Eddie Peever, Louis Fay, Johnny Kovalchuk, Bill Dydich, Cecil Steepe, Wayne Eadie and Billie McDonald.

ON00120 039-2 · Item · March 5, 1966
Part of Creighton Mine Athletic Association

Item is a typed (top page of carbon copy), annotated, two page, seventh revision of the constitution of the Creighton Mine Athletic Association (C.M.A.A.). The constitution is broken into six sections outlining the governing rules of the C.M.A.A.: Name, Object, Membership, Organization & Officers, Election of Officers and Awards. The first constitution was dated on November 1, 1949 and was revised on February 17, 1952; January 31, 1954; February 13, 1956; February 5, 1961; February 4, 1962; February 21, 1965 and March 5, 1966.

ON00120 034-2 · Item · 1932
Part of Eva Cram

Item is a composite photograph of the 1932 Nickel Belt League champions from the Falconbridge Lacrosse Club in Falconbridge, Ontario. Included in the composite are G. Arnold, Secretary-Treasurer; W. Craig, Manager and J. Dickson, executive. Players are F.J. Saunders, coach; G. Henderson, centre; L.A. Blake, left attack; E. Devine, defense; V. McAllister, left attack; L. Lafrance, defense; G. Fife, defense; E. Beattie, goal; L. Tullock, defense; S. Delabbio, goal; J.F. Stacey, defense; R.V. Olivier, defense; D. Blake, right attack; Max Bennett, right attack; W. Roberts, centre, and J. Walatka [J. Wolotko], rover - captain. The composite was produced by Couture Photo - Sudbury in Sudbury, Ontario.

190-30
ON00120 023-1-.1-2-.190-1 · Item · August 1940 (originally created July 1937)
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of four horses with their drivers harness racing while a crowd watches from behind a wooden fence at the Sudbury Riding and Driving Club track, located northeast of Sudbury, Ontario off of Garson Road. A small building has an advertisement for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes on the side of it.

149-13
ON00120 023-1-.1-3-.149-1 · Item · September 29, 1941
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of Coniston, Ontario baseball club team members and fans carrying pitcher Oren Price off the field after Coniston won game six of the senior baseball finals against the Hollinger Bombers at Queen's Athletic Park in Sudbury, Ontario. Team members in the back, from left to right, are: Don Slimmons, Andy Gobbo, Oren Price (who has been lifted onto his teammates shoulders), Snell Blake, Einer Stront and Bert Young. In the middle is Roly McLenahan. Crouched in the front are George Blake and Tommy Price, the team's trainer.

150-35
ON00120 023-1-.1-3-.150-2 · Item · 1941
Part of Sudbury Star

One image of the 1941 Jersey City Champions, the Copper Cliff Minor Midget-Pro Baseball team, posing for a team picture in their championship sweaters. In the back row, left to right, are: Enso Tenilli, [unknown], Gino Vendriman, [unknown], [unknown], Linkin Canapini, [unknown], and Gord Alcott (coach). In the front row, left to right, are: [unknown], Ernie Canapini, Dero Nicoli, [unknown], D. Newell and [unknown].