Viikkosanomat, November 27, 1979

              from the leadership of the strike
was a Finnish outfit: the Lum-bcrvorkc- rs
Industrial Union
Local 120 an affiliate of the
IWW Thus ali the major
internal conflicts in the Finnish
community in Port Arthur vvere
expressed through the strike:
the economic conflict bctween
the more prosperous Finns vvho
vvere shopkeepers boarding-hous- e
keepers or small-tim- c
lumber contractors and the
majority vvho held labourers
jobs: the ideological conflict
betvveen the 'White Finns and
the 'Red' Finns vvhich cut
across economic Iines and had
its roots in the 1918 Finnish
civil vvar in vvhich "patriotic
Finns fought Finns vvho had a
vision of a classless society the
longstanding conflict betvveen
religious and socialist Finns
and finally the conflict vvithin
the proletarian camp vvhich vvas
split betvveen the majority vvho
savv themselves part of the
Communist movement and a
minority vvho vvere supporters
oftheIWW
In addition to opposition
vvithin the Finnish enclave the
strikers faced a hostile Anglo-Saxo- n
community The Pid-geo- n
River Timbef Company
an US ovvned company
vvielded a lot of economic
povver It could count on the
support of both the press and the
civic authorities vvhen it had
labour trouble vvith its foreign-bor- n
vvorkers In this particular
strike the local papers both
denied the existence of the
strike' and reported in a de-rogato- ry
fashion on attempts
by unionists to stop strike-breake- rs
from going to the
camps The company efforts
to bring strike breakers from
Winnipeg vvere assisted by the
Ontario Procincial Police
Rosvall and Voutilainen
vvere not professional union
organizers They held union
cards and had probably taken
part in organizing drives in lum--
bercamps but vvhen the strike
broke out they vvere both
working elsevvherc Rosvall vvas
vvorking as a maintenance man
for one of the railvvay compa-nie- s
and Voutilainen vvas
getting ready for a season of
trapping around Onion Lake
They took on the task of
organizing the Mäki camps
chiefly becausc they vvere mem-be- rs
of the Finnish proletarian
community vvhich alvvays gave
strong support to strikes The
Shabaqua strike like many
similar strikes could count on
support from sympathetic far-me- rs
vvho donated food roo-mingho- use
keepers vvho gave
credit to strikers and progressi-v- e
business men vvho made
financial donations In ddition
there vvas institutional support
from the Finnish Organization
locals in the area the Inter-national
Co-operati- ve Stores
the Thunder Bay'Co-operativ- e
Dairy and co-o- p restaurant
'Vigour' at 316 Bay Street
Fundraising for the strikers vvas
done by organizing concerts
and dances in the Finnish
Organization halls and by ap-peali- ng
for funds in the Finnish
lobour paper VAPAUS (Free-dom- )
As far as the Finnish left-vvi- ng
community vvas concern-e- d
ali strikes vvere collective
efforts
Rosvall and Voutilainen
knevv they vvere taking on
difficult task The decision to
expand the strike to Onion Lake
vvas part of an effort to pressure
'Pidgeon Timber into settling
by involving more camps Mäki
employed close to 100 men
Pulling out his men vvould have
increased the number of strikers
significantly Hovvever Mäki
vvho vvas a conservative religi-ous
Finn vvas knovvn to be
strongly anti-uni- on He had
made it knovvn that he vvould
prevent organizers from reach-in- g
his camps by any means
necessary' In addition he hired
mainly 'White Finns vvho vvere
as virulantly anti-uni- on as he
Kunnioituksemme
Metsätyöläisten Union
organiseeraajille
VILJO ROSVALL
JOHN VOUTILAINEN
Jotka antoivat henkensä 50 vuotta sitten
taistelussa Canadan unionismin ja työläisten
oikeuksien puolesta!
UNITED STEELVVORKERS
OF AMERICA
AFL-CIO-CL- C
paikallisten unioiden puolesta Timminsin
ja Porcupinen alueella
Box 940 57 Mountjoy St
Timmins Ontario
vvas
Many uniormembers fear-e- d
a violent conrontation at
Onion Lake In the union
meeting in Port Arthur there
had been taik about dravving lots
on vvho to send to the Mäki
camps Somebody had suggest-e-d
that married men ought to be
excluded Hovvever in the end
Rosvall and Voutilainen vvere
chosen because they seemed
most suitable for the job
Rosvall vvas knovvn as tough
and resilient a somevvhat
flamboyant man vvith leaders-hip
qualities He had eafned his
credentials as a fighter by parti-cipati- ng
on the proletarian siden
in the Finnish civil vvar and by
taking part in local union strugg-le-s
In contrast to him Vouti-lainen
vvas quiet and unassum-in- g
He vvas experienced
vvoodsman though just like
Rosvall and vvhat vvas even
more important he knevv the
Onion Lake area like the back of
his hand He had kept traplines
in the area for several years
Before leäving on Monday
November 18 Rosvall vvas
vvarned by some of his friends
not to go to the Mäki camp It is
too dangerous a task you
should turn it down they had
said Rosvall had joked vvith
them and said that things are
never quite as bad as they look
He left Port Arthur alone and
mct vvith Voutilainen in Tar-mol- a
a small farm community
outside the city vvhere Vouti-lainen
vvas on pickedduty From
November
themselves
rescued)
enthusiasm
-- NOTICE-
192930 197980
50 YEARS OF STRUGGLE
Vapaus Publishing vvill pleased
publish Commemoration issues
from Co-operativ- es So-ciet- ys
and
Tarmola the tvvo unionists
headed tovvards Onion Lake
A vveek vvent by vvithout a
vvord from Rosvall and Vouti-lainen
On Sunday night tvvo
trappers from Onion Lake came
to visit the union office in Port
Arthur They looked vvorried
and asked if there vvere any
news from the two unionists
They had not arrived to the
trappers cabin as had been
The trappers feared
the worst and the union called
an emergency meeting It was
decided to send a delegation of
"brave men' to ask at
the Mäki camp
The party unionists ar-rived
late on Tuesday evening
to the Mäki camps nine days
after Rosvall and Voutilainen
had Mäki vvas
brusk with them and told them
to leavc They persisted how-ev- er
and he finally to
taik to them and reluctantly
allowed them to stay evernight
They did'f learn very much It-v- vas
clear talking to the men
that Rosvall and Voutilainen
had never arrived to the camp
Mäki said that he had seen them
on I9th several
miles from his camp He and
some of his vvorkers vvere
vvarming themselves around a
campfire at the timc taking a
break from hauling supplies He
had told the organizers that his
men vvere satisfied he said and
to stay avvay from his camps
According to Mäki they vvere
tovvards a trappers
cabin across the lake (In a
police intervvievv latcr Mäki
added to the story by saying that
he had invited them to vvarm
at the campfire but
they had refused They vvere
anxious to get to their desti-natio- n
they had said He had
vvarned them about the ice
Mäki told the police explaining
that some his men had
recently fallen through and had
to be In any case the
unionists left the camp con-vinc- ed
that they did not get the
vvhole story They found Mäkis
taik confusing and contradic-tor- y
The search party could find
no trace of Rosvall and Vou-tilainen
and the men returned
to Port Arthur After talking to
them the union officials con-tact- ed
the provincial police re-port- ing
the case and asking
them to investigate The OPP
vvho had battled the union
throughout the strike on the
issue of strike breakers shovved
no for the task
They said that they had not
enough men at the prescnt time
Company be to
Notices in future
Trade Unions Fraternal
individuals
planned
questions
of
disappeared
conscnted
heading
of
The union kept up the pressure
and finally after more than a
wcck had passed the OPP
dispatched an officer to Onion
Lake He returned after ques-tionin- g
Mäki and his men and
submitted a report vvhich con-clude- d
that the organizers had
drowncd accidentally
The union howevcr vvas
convinced by now that the
organizers had been murdered
When the police dropped the
case they scnt their own men
A union search party combed
the Onion Lake area thorough- -
I
ivunnioiiamme i eiaan s
muistoanne
John Voutilainen
Viljo Rosvall
Annoitte puolestamme
Kalleimman lahjan:
ELÄMÄNNE
Co-o- p Book Shop
and
Record Centre
182 S AlgomaSt
Thunder Bay Ont
Z7f&ZZ&-Q£:zS!?~'X- £lJ
ly The search was made more
difficult because there had been
a heavy snovvfall and ali
possible tracks were covered
There was nö sign of Rosvall
and Voutilainen The union
feared that the bodies might
be sccrctly moved and decided
to kcep some men near Onion
Lake ali vyinterto keep on eye
on Mäki and his men Tvvo or
more union reps livcd in a
trappers cabin a mile and a half
from the Mäki camps keeping
vigil month after month
On December 17 1929 the
LWIUC ended the strike a-ga- inst
the Pidgeon River Tim-be- r
Company in Sahbaqua
Despite strenuous efforts the
strike had been lost and the
active strikers were blacklisfed
However the encling of the
strike did Iittle to ease the
tension inside the Finnish
community The debate on
' what could have happened to
Rosvall and Voutilainen kept
the community polarized ali
Winter
When spring came and the
snow began to melt the union
vigil at Onion Lake finally paid
off On April 1 9 1 930 a local
trapper found the body of Vou-tilainen
in a shollovv creek near
the South end of the lake Four'
days later a 40-m- an union
search party found Rosvall His
body was found in the same
creek a quarter of a mile from
his companion With the ass-istan- ce
of the provincial police
the bodies were brought to Port
Arthur
Because of union pressure a
Coronefs inquest vvas conduct-c- d
into the causes of their death
The Voutilainen inquest topk
place first The jury confirmed
the police report of accidental
drowning In order to get a
(Cont next page)
Syvä kunnioituksemme tovereille
Viljo Rosvall
John Voutilainen
jotka antoivat henkensä taistelussa paremman ja
oikeudenmukaisemman Canadan puolesta!
CANADIAN TRIBUNE
Toronto Ontario
t
rji