Vapaa Sana, March 28, 1942

              'yUdi &di %tä&Muatf editio MiAkm
FinnUh
NewpPr
The
Canada
Udf
Lang
ta
f
" VAI)AA ANA P—
Nwpapr
ThaOaly
ocratic
Caaada
Fiaauh
i
N038 - 1M2 TORONTO ONTARIO — SATURDAY MARCH 28 VOLUME XI
un ohservatlon of the life
ti nf Finnish immigrantt
durttg the past decade the notable
fact 1 Uat thelr early communlty
meresi were based on the Ideali
and convlctlons of the Finns rho leit
taeir catlve land decade ago Thus
the old Finnish corrimnnlty enterprises
%tn a sort of temperance uu yuuus
_- - tai-riu- h work from vrhlch
of Internal strife the
ofter a period
odallst movement as born Thls
novement recelved its gulding prin-cipl- e
from men ho left Finland
tefore or after the so-calle- d Bobrikoff
reriod a period of severe liuskan
Czarits terrorism In Finland) and
these men are stlll known as the old
jmard among the communist eieraeni
hir mimbers ere increased
n-- v iiHi uar refueees ana
LJ I luun — -
others ho emlgrated at that time
Onseucntly the Finmsn urgamza-tlo- n
of Canada the only organlzed
Finnish communlty enterprlse leaned
nuch to the extreme Vhen the Uus-sia- n
revolutlon took place and the
Bolsheviks selzed power lt resulied
v -- tortinn nf social democratlc ia mc itj"" — -
princlples by Canadian Flnns and of
the pendulum swinging 10 rauitai
bolshevism The swing to the lefl
vias helped by propaganda from Hus-- i
-- kih ihon wa dlrected asaln&t
the soclallst orklng class movement
ith the avoed purpose oi seizing
tbe entlre movement and maklng It
subsenlent to International commun- -
im As far as the Canadian rinns
ere concerned thls pollcy on comp--
letely
A Period of "Great Hate" Among
The Flnns
After the Finnish ctvll ar the
of Flnns in Canada became
tnbearable In many vvays The Flu- -
tish Organlzatlon ?ave Its full sup- -
tort to the Canadian Communist
jarty They even ent so far aj to
rienr niembershlp to anyone in the
fcald organlzatlon unless he became
member- - of the Comunlst party
rherefore durlng the years of 1920
ro 1935—6 the Flnns and the Ukrai- -
fcians comprlsed accordlng to their
cn statistlcs 9 S pros of the entlie
nembership of the Communist party
Flnns poured Into Canada In large
bumbers especially In years tollolns
he World War The newcomer ere
karefully noted and examlned by the
Finnish Orsanlzatlon Investlgadou
fcommittees ere set up In Finnish
tommunlties hlch In many respects
ere an lllegal court of Justlce here
erery lmmlgranfs record hether
he a nresent or not was thoroughly
Investigated The necomer recelved
fummons to appear before the "court
hereupon he as examlned as to
kis polltlcal afflllation even the Uis- -
Rorr of hls parent and their polltlcal
ullesriance In Finland waa probed If
Rhe catalogue on slns (polltlcal) aa
Cot unduly serlous he as acceplable
M a member in the Finnsh Organlza
Ilon and the Communist party but
f the opposlte was the case a comp- -
lete renunclatlon and a request for
kbsolution from the committee was
pemanded before he was accepted as
taember on probatlon
Thus manr Flnns who had no
Cesire of Jolnlng elther the Finnish
Drganizatlon or the Communist party
e--e compelled to do so agalnst their
fcsll by threats of maklng life dlffl- -
klt 'jr them in a stranse land Those
i dldn't heed the demands to re- -
v tzi upport communUm werc
h c jted and branded as "butch- -
n imd 'whlte cuards" een though
Iher had had nothlng to do "rlth
'cr in the old country A great
mut i these uho were persecuted
ere demorrats hv nrinciple but
Ihey ere branded Uh the maric
cf "aln only because they refused to
(app-- n communism
Reigion was also the object ot
rc-Titlo- n Finnish communlsts vere
ri ientlr hostlle to rellgion and the
ftolsh Phnrphp nnlptlr carnrlnK on
hMr work and the new congregatlons
tb trocess nf orranlzatlon as lm
-- giation increasd emerlenced thclr
kiUks tanglbly Dlvlne serTices
re dlstnrberi1- - hnrrh-eop- r were
lireattned and membtrs and clergy 'n xcre slandered personally and
y in the newsDaner apaus Il
r & fcretaste of the klnd ot "relljc--
i "-eed-om"
that would prevau
Fre bolsheTism galned power in
Mt-- da
T s ♦"rae ot -- great hate became
mpreM In the mlnd$ of
3 c-- c ally thoe who vrere th
GIFTS BY
1 —
ilM) I -- ~~
r i li m'-~---- - -- - --~
Finnish Canadians donated a year and a half ago two ambulance unitt
to the Canadian Red Cross Both ambulanees were donated by the reader
of Vapaa Sana one by lt reader in Sudbury and the
district another by readers in other parts of the Dominion In additlon
vlctims of persecutlon PersecuUon
was not only verbal attack but took
fornis even of physlcal vlolence j
Desplte ali these efforts the Fin- -' nlsh Organlzatlon and the CommunUt j party could not lncrease thelr mem- -
bershlp as would have been expected
lu vlew of the Increaslng Finnish lm- -
migratlon Kventually thelr numuer
became so great that thelr lnvestlga-tlo- n
became an overwheIming tak to
the communlsts and coercion was
abandoned for a vlgorous campalgn
ot communist propaganda
Dlssenslon in Communist Ranka
Previously we have indicated that
by coercion many who were not com-munlsts
vvere compelled to join the
Finnish They became
o numerous that evldences ot dis-unit- y
began to appear A tlrst stcp
taken by veteran communlsts wa tae
expulsion of rebelllous membcrs
Vhen the Comumntst party was
ordered to control the entlre organiza-tlo- n
lt was the slgnal for open reoit
in many Finnish centers
In the fall of 1929 resentmcnt
agalnst communist supretne authority
reached a cllmax and the dlssenlers
got control of the communist organ
Vapaus publlshed tn Sudbury and the
Finnish was almost dl-vorc- ed
from the Communist party
Leadlng the dlssenters were the chlef
edltor of Vapaus n Tenhunen mem-ber- s
of the executive committee JA
Ahlqvist J Latva J Virta and many
ohtres Including the Vapaus board i
of dlrectors Edltors In sympathy -- Uh
the communist caue Neil Vaara and '
Sula and the former secretary of the
executUe committee Hill ere forced
out The executive committee how- -
ever made a tacirai error inej
declded that the Canadian Communist
party had unjustly dealt ith the Fin
nish Organlzatlon and a member of
the executive committee J iaiva
was therefore sent to Mosco to
make an appeal for Justlce to the
Communist Internationale Whlle he
as there the battle raged among
the Flnns for the dlsposal of com-munist
authority from the Finnish
Organlzatlon But a mlracle happened
Vhen J Iatva returned he ent on
a speaklng tour preachlng reconcllla-tlo- n
between the Communist party
and the FinnUh Organlzatlon He Uad
nnt eeured "iustlce" from Moscow
but rather the dlssenter had been
converted Into a loyal communist
Also the majority of the executive
committee were oon converted 7hh
change was chiefly due to the fact
that Moscow sent to Canada the '
leader of Flnland8 nderground Corn-munl- tt
Movement Kullervo Manner
and the wlfe of OA KuuMnen seciet-ar- v
ot the Communist Internationale
o settie the dispute They
the remaliilna flres of dissenion
CANADIAN FINNS TO THE CANADIAN RED CROSS
M
{uMiHHIiHHHHBIHHttMHMlaHH
surrounding
A Stormy Decade
Organlzatlon
organlzatlon
extlngulsh-e- d
In th# exerutlve committee and
compellel the "slnners" (polltlcal) to
make a publlc apology and to state
thelr "confesslon of falth" In the
newspaper Vapaus from whlch the
dissentlng edltors in the meantime
had been thrown overboard especlal-l- y
Tenhunen
But the Mo?cow Communist
dldn't et conslder the
sltuatlon as settled but sent another
communist agent Niilo Virtanen
allas Nyman to act as the chlef edltor
of Vapaus He had been an actlvo
communist agent in Shanghai and
came here dlrectly via Moscow Un
remalned edltor for more than a year
Thus ended the dispute iii the Fin-nish
and the commun-lsts
completely domlnated lt As a
result hundreds of Finns lthdrew
or were xpelled from Its ranks
More Liberal Trends
lt Is felt by many that the Lirth
of Vapaa Sana In 1932 as the out-com- e
of the tactlonal dlsputes in
communist ranks Oenerally speak
lng thls is not true We have indicat-- '
ed that many ere compelled' to Join
to thls there are scores of Finnish Women's Sevvlng Clreles across the
unfy vvorklng for the Canadian Red Cross Also Vapaa
Sana readera constantly a-ra-nge
coffee-partle- s dances etc for the Canadian
Red Cr0 donatl„8 many tnouMndt ef dollar worth of comterti t th
Canadian soldlers sailors and airmen
In The History of
Canadian Finns
Liberal Trends Gain Momentum
Inter-nationale
Organlzatlon
energetleally
More
the Finnish Organlzatlon ho were
not communlsts and ho naturally
would sooner or later attempt to dl-re- et
matters accordlng to thelr con-vlctlo- ns
The question as not uf a
factlon Ithin the organlzatlon but
rather one of democracy and dkta-torshl- p
If the dlssenters' moement
hlch started In 1929 had been uc-cesf- ul
the en su lag years ould have
developed lt into a strong democratlc
organlzatlon hlch ould be nctlve
to thls day
Although in many respects the
dlssenslon seemed to be the real cause
of the blrth of Vapaa Sana slnce the
founders ere men ho had partlclp-ate- d
In the dispute such Is no the
case The ground had been also pre-pare- d
for Just such a newspaper
among those Flnns ho ere outside
of the FlnnlRh Organlzatlon There
was a great need belng felt for a
liberal newspaper hence the estab-Hshme- nt
of Vapaa Sana as a naturaJ
development The democratlc forces
could no longer be sllenced by terror--
lsm and lt as the spontaneous
Inltiative expresslon of the immlg -
rants' frame of mlnd and a protest
agalnst arrogant treatment of those
Finns In Our Fight For Democracy
Lleuttnint Alreraftman
Arne Kaukinen CADC RCAF Reino Kaukinen RCAF
Brothers In Armed Forces Ueutenant Aarne Kaukinen CAOC RCAF
and Aircraftsman Reino Kaukinen RCAF are from Tantallon Sak Of
the many loyal Finnish familiet among the readera of Vapaa Sana whose
sons are tn the active tcrviee Information haa come to us concerning two
famiiiea who are very worthy of Declal mention Mr and Mrs Poikkimäki
vvho reside at Beaver Lake have five sons of thelr family of eight children
H te Canadian armea fortet and Mr and Mr Hugo Yackman of
Sudbury (II three n have enlitted to defend democracy A war news
iten at hand Informt us that among the Canadian var pritonera at leatt
three Finns vvere taptured at Hong Kong and one at Singapore In the
battle of Hong Kong vvere Leo Anttila and Einar Hetsten from Kcnogaml
Que and Kalle Lampi
ho difforcd Ith the communlsts
that gave blrth to our papcr
lt Is Interestlng to note liat
prejudlces Vapaa Sana met among
non-comtnunlg- ts At that Ilme there
appeared In Finland a forceful and
powerful movement knon ns the Ii-pu- a
movement It galned suppoit Ith
a certaln sectlon of Finns here chiefly
because of Its vlolent anti-communl- st
attitude and slnce they had been
victlmlsed by communlits It was
thought that here as an opportunlty
for revenge They viced the Vapaa
Sana Ith the same Incredulity us
the communlsts They like the com-munlsts
ould not countenance tol-ran- ce
but started Ith the Finnish
Civil Var as the basis of ali their
thlnklng dlvldlng the Flnns into
Vhltes" and "Iteds" and ouldn"t
recognlze any other vlew They like
the communlsts felt that the ounds
Incurred In the civll ar should cver
be kept raw and that strife should be
contlnued on that basis They like
the communlsts thought lt natural
and rteht that It should be contlnued
even here In Canada Nothlng should
have been forgotten nothlng forglven
They dld everythlng posstble to
rnuff out the Ufo of the struggling
newspaper lt Is well to n-memb-er
that these extremtsts and the corn- -
! munlsts constltuted only a mlnorlty
although they ero the more voluble
It can be stated Ith falr certalnty
that about SO pros of the Mnns dld
' not blon? to elther group Uut thelr
opposition as so poerful that Va-paa
Sanan could make progress only
step by stcp Subscrlbers had to b
s-cu- red by pcrslstent effort by cul-tur- al
means as the paper had few
nprcentatIvt's and no sp-ake- rs
Uut Vapaa Sana cxtended Its In-flu- en
-- e falthfully desplte opprtltlon
In trjlng to heal the opn oumls
and progress as made as the ypara
ent by Many lost thelr prejudlces
(not only toards our papr but also
towards those hom they had torni-erl- y
consldered enemles In other
ords more liberal trends In polltlcs
galned headay and at present ex-treml- sts
have llttle Influence among
us
The Purpose of Vapaa Sana
For ten years Vapaa Sana has
trled to brlng amlty among Canadian
Flnns and it is signiflcant that it
( has succeeded beyond ali expecta- -
'tlons Many held the belief that it
' as an new tactlonal newspaper but
) the years have explodM that vlew
lt has b"ome the organ of the 'ana- -
dlan Finns hcse lilef purpase ha
ifen and 111 le to susUtn democracy
and expound the demo:raUc ay of
life At the same time l has been the
organ of pple of scant means Flnns
earn thelr daily bread hete by ardJous
toll and naturally thelr view of life
has been the leadlnj pollcy of thls
paper
Frequently Vapaa Sana has been
crltlclscd for not taktng a more radi-c- al
and deflnlte stand In local Issuei
but later developments have alay
probed that after ali the best and
Isest course as taken H has not
lent ltself to local squabbles but
rather alloed them to settie them-selve- s
locally Thls is especially true
In Issues here no deflnlte declslons
concerning Flnns hate been InvoUed
Democracy In ali Its forms has been
flrmly upheld both In forelgn and do-mes- tlc
problems From thls It haa
nrver deviated No totalltarlan doct-rlne- s
liether Itnolvlng national or
international questlons or problems
of communlty enterprlse have eter
recelved nny suppirt or sympjthy
from Vapaa Sana It has accepted
social democracy llternlly endeuor-ln- g
to klmlle the falth In Its readers
that reineilies can be found for our
social Hls and that life can be made
more sooure and Independent througli
a democratlc sjstem of goternmcnt
Inasmuch as our splrltual fretlom
and livellhood aie concerned
The Signlflcance of a Foreign
Language Nevvspaper
lt is often argued that a 3inall
forelsn language newspaer hatevcr
Its pollcy m ay 'be Is not Important
any w ny Soine Canadians conslder
them as deterring the qulck assimlla-tio- u
nf linnilgrants
In a country like Canada liero
scores of racial grotips make up the
populatlon such an opinion Is cutliely
erroneous If no sudi ncwspapers
ere publlsluMl tho ii-- v Canadians
uho do not uuderstand Knglish fnlly
ould be entlrely Ignornnt of natio-nal
publlc affnlrs and they ould bo
rasy targets for the sorrot enemy
propaganda Vltliout thelr on lan-gua- g
papors they ould be strangers
to Canada until the day of thclr
death hereas now Ith thelr ald
they are as eli inforined as tnelr
Hnglish upeakin? nelRhtxirs Wtthout
their on pros s they ould ronstltuto
a threut to Canada in Ilme of peace
or ar The supresslon of the foreign
language press ould In ltself create
cninlty nnd susplclon hlch ould
not be lessened by the fact that many
national groups have been declared
to be enemy allens When added to
thls Is the delilierately practled
enemy propaganda among the unlearn-cx- i
Immlgrants one can eastly reallzo
hat situatlon the government ould
be faclng
AVo gratefully note the democratlc
pollcy adoptcd by our government in
respnet to ali the forelgn born but
especially tn regard to the people
technlcally enemy allens For example
Vapaa Sana has had more Intlucice
among the Flnns than a host of
policemen could have had lt has
aqualnted the Flnns Ith national
publlc affalrs In thls country and
fostered respect In them for our de-mocratlc
tnstltutlons Conseniiently
the great majority of Flnns today are
more falthful to democratlc Ideals
and tnstltutlons than many of the so
callod natlve clttzcns cg the Cana-dian
French
Thls has boen our task and It iias
not b-- n a more parlfylng pollcy It
doflnltely has been the keeplng of
Finnish Canadian correctly Informed
of the no s and tho progross ot our
national life A Finn Is by nature a
radlcal but it Is rong to assumo
that It means that he Is elther a nazl
or communist or a supporter ot any
other form of dlctatorshlp There are
a few exteptlons of course A Finn Is
a radlcal but he Is a radlcal for democ-racy
The Finnish poople have nevcr
illlngly submitted to autocracy
hence by nature they resent dlctatois
YVhen a Canadian Finn thlnks ot the
present traglc pllght ot hls fatherland
bis greatest conctrn Is that hls pecple
may remaln alays free He Is Jealous
of her freedom Vhether the oppres-so- r
be nazl or any other ho seeks
to enslaie and explolt the Finnish
people he Is the avowed enemy ot the
Canadian Flnns Hls attitude does
not alter In thls matter hetner
Canada or any other country Is In
question He ould nover consent to
allow Canada to submlt to fovlgn
conquest or oppression The volun-tär- y
tnlistment In the Canadian
armed forces of probably thousands
tf Flnns natlve and forelen bern to
' defend our country and empliV 1
ample f roof ot thls
(Contlnued en page 2)