Sähköpostiini kolahti tänään ilmoitus Dan Wyman Booksin uudesta luettelosta: Catalog 97 For Sauna and Socialism – Scarce and unusual finnish-american imprints of the 20th century.
Luettelossa on kaikkiaan 666 nimikettä, lähinnä ns. pienpainatteita, lentokirjasiksi niitä kaiketi voisi kutsua. Suurimmalta osin ne on julkaistu erilaisten työväenjärjestöjen tai -organisaatioiden toimesta. Voi olla että osa niistä löytyy myös suomalaisista arkistoista (Kansan Arkisto, Työväen Arkisto) tai Kansalliskirjaston kokoelmista. Monipuolista ja laajaa siirtolaisten julkaisutoiminta näyttää ainakin olleen. Laitan tähän myös osan luettelon esittelystä, jossa kuvailllaan julkaisutoiminnan joitakin osia:
In the 1890s, Finnish immigrants in Boston and New York formed the first workingmen’s benevolent associations, the Saima Aid Society and the Imatra Society, dedicated to educational and fraternal needs Explicitly socialist propaganda among the Finns dates back to 1899, when a number of independent local organizations emerged, primarily in the Eastern and Midwestern states. Only a fraction of these Finnish clubs were in any way connected with the organized socialist political movement. In 1899, an expelled socialist student from Helsinki, Antero F. Tanner, established a socialist club in Rockport, Massachusetts. From this, Tanner moved into publishing, launching a Finnish-language newspaper which declared its intention to speak for the poor and exploited at the beginning of 1900. A total of 24 weekly issues were published before Tanner’s newspaper was forced to cease publication due to lack of funds. Tanner thereafter went on a national organizing tour in 1901, as did his colleague, Martin Hendrickson. One of the places that Hendrickson pioneered was in the Finnish communities of Minnesota, where the first socialist club, “Jousi” (“Crossbow”), was established in Hancock, Michigan
In 1903, a satirical, pro-socialist journal called Uusi Meikäläinen (“New Fellow-Countryman”) was published in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, by a recent arrival, Urho A. Makinen. Makinen joined with another new Finnish emigré, Antti Tarmo, and others and purchased a small press in Worcester where the American Finnish Workers Publishing Co. was formed. On July 8, 1903, the board of this company began the publication of a workingclass newspaper in the Finnish language, Amerikan Suomalainen Työmies (“American Finnish Worker”). This would emerge as Työmies, the leading Finnish-language newspaper in America. The publication began to appear on July 20, 1903, as a four page weekly. The first editor of the publication was Victor Kosonen who editorialized in the first issue of the publication the fundamental role the paper would play in support of “human dignity and justice for the oppressed peoples.” In May 1904, the board decided to move the newspaper to the largest Finnish community in the Midwest — Hancock, Michigan.[5] Työmies’ first Michigan-produced issue appeared on August 16, 1904, and included the election platform of Socialist Party Presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs.
Luettelo kokonaisuudessaan löytyy osoitteesta http://www.danwymanbooks.com/finnish1/finnish-books.htm
