The Finnish Socialist Federation (Suomalainen Sosialistijärjestö) was founded in Hibbing, Minn., in 1906. At its peak, from 1912 to 1914, it had an average membership of 13,000 and was the largest foreign-language federation in the Socialist Party of the United States. The Federation was organized into three districts: the Western, Midwestern, and Eastern. Each had its own newspaper, The Toveri, Työmies and Raivaaja, respectively.
The Federation underwent ideological splits in 1914 and 1920. The former occurred over the issue of industrial unionism; about 39 Midwestern chapters with 3,500 members were expelled or withdrew. The Federation split in 1920 over the question of affiliation with the Third International. The left wing, mostly from the West and Midwest, separated from the Socialist Party and remained independent until 1922 when it affiliated with the Workers Party of America.
In 1927 the Finnish chapters of the Workers Party were reorganized into the Finnish Workers Federation. The right wing from the 1920 split founded the Finnish Federation of the Socialist Party of the United States (later the Finnish American League for Democracy).
Minutes of the Eastern District Committee (Fitchburg, Mass.) (1913-1920) and the National Executive Committee (Chicago, Ill.) (1915-1925) of the Finnish Socialist Federation.
Also available on 2 microfilm reels.
Also available on 2 microfilm reels.
Inventory available.
Related material is contained in IHRC collections for numerous Finnish Socialist local chapters.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.