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Imatra Society
The Imatra Society was a society of Finnish immigrants located in Brooklyn, New York. The society was founded by John A. Koski, a building engineer. A preliminary meeting was held on December 6, 1890, and was followed by the founding meeting held on December 14, 1890. The purpose of the society was "to develop the economical and social state of the Finnish people in America". Also relief was part of the activity from the beginning.
At the beginning the society operated as a workers' association with the name of Workers' Association Imatra. and it was the first workers´ association the Finns established in America. The Finnish immigrants were workers and thus the name for the society became The Finnish American Workers´ Association Imatra. Despite its name, the society was not based on marxian ideology, but instead there has been seen features of the labor movement led by Viktor von Wright, which sought to promote the cultural activity of the working people and raise their level of education and prevent them from joining socialist associations. Women participated in the activities from the beginning. As a first act in the business the society established its own brass band. In addition a chorus and a play club were formed.
In October 1892 the chairman Koski informed the meeting of the society with the following: "A failure of crops has taken place in our native country Finland and a famine is imminent there, so it should be our duty, as we are in these better circumstances, to begin a kind of relief for the hunger." This statement was unanimously approved.
The establishment of the Imatra Society had a major impact on American Finns. As a result, Finnish workers´ associations were established in other locations too. Imatra Society began to build a large network of Finnish workers´ associations covering all the North America. In February 1903 the society founded the Imatra League which was a Finnish American workers' union consisting of about 40 subdivisions across the United States and Canada. The total membership in the league was approximately 2,000 members. The workers´ associations in the Imatra Union were known by numbers. The original Imatra association in Brooklyn was Imatra 1.
The Union was destroyed by the upcoming socialism that had come into fashion. The socialist agitators who came from Finland began to spread their socialist doctrines to these local workers´ association so that the associations separated from the Imatra Union and joined American Socialist Party. The break up of the Union was a major loss for the Finnish Americans, since they lost their own and unified Finnish cultural community covering the whole North America. The league published its own newspaper called Työväen Album (the worker's album). The Imatra League was abolished in February 1917.The Imatra Society (Imatra 1) did not accept socialism and therefore it remained alone, but it continued its activities as a local Finnish American society.
After separating from the Imatra Union the socialists were centered their activities in politics, but later when Finnish people became less interested in socialism, the socialists changed their activities and started to engage in Finnish cultural activities, the same what Imatra Society did.
On June 10, 1906, Imatra Society began to publish its own newspaper, the New Yorkin Uutiset.The paper was abolished in 1992.
In 1906 Imatra Society consisted of the following units: a Speaker Club, a Play Club, a Women's Club, a Brass Band, an Entertainment Committee, a Library, and a Reading-room.
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Imatra Society
The Imatra Society was a society of Finnish immigrants located in Brooklyn, New York. The society was founded by John A. Koski, a building engineer. A preliminary meeting was held on December 6, 1890, and was followed by the founding meeting held on December 14, 1890. The purpose of the society was "to develop the economical and social state of the Finnish people in America". Also relief was part of the activity from the beginning.
At the beginning the society operated as a workers' association with the name of Workers' Association Imatra. and it was the first workers´ association the Finns established in America. The Finnish immigrants were workers and thus the name for the society became The Finnish American Workers´ Association Imatra. Despite its name, the society was not based on marxian ideology, but instead there has been seen features of the labor movement led by Viktor von Wright, which sought to promote the cultural activity of the working people and raise their level of education and prevent them from joining socialist associations. Women participated in the activities from the beginning. As a first act in the business the society established its own brass band. In addition a chorus and a play club were formed.
In October 1892 the chairman Koski informed the meeting of the society with the following: "A failure of crops has taken place in our native country Finland and a famine is imminent there, so it should be our duty, as we are in these better circumstances, to begin a kind of relief for the hunger." This statement was unanimously approved.
The establishment of the Imatra Society had a major impact on American Finns. As a result, Finnish workers´ associations were established in other locations too. Imatra Society began to build a large network of Finnish workers´ associations covering all the North America. In February 1903 the society founded the Imatra League which was a Finnish American workers' union consisting of about 40 subdivisions across the United States and Canada. The total membership in the league was approximately 2,000 members. The workers´ associations in the Imatra Union were known by numbers. The original Imatra association in Brooklyn was Imatra 1.
The Union was destroyed by the upcoming socialism that had come into fashion. The socialist agitators who came from Finland began to spread their socialist doctrines to these local workers´ association so that the associations separated from the Imatra Union and joined American Socialist Party. The break up of the Union was a major loss for the Finnish Americans, since they lost their own and unified Finnish cultural community covering the whole North America. The league published its own newspaper called Työväen Album (the worker's album). The Imatra League was abolished in February 1917.The Imatra Society (Imatra 1) did not accept socialism and therefore it remained alone, but it continued its activities as a local Finnish American society.
After separating from the Imatra Union the socialists were centered their activities in politics, but later when Finnish people became less interested in socialism, the socialists changed their activities and started to engage in Finnish cultural activities, the same what Imatra Society did.
On June 10, 1906, Imatra Society began to publish its own newspaper, the New Yorkin Uutiset.The paper was abolished in 1992.
In 1906 Imatra Society consisted of the following units: a Speaker Club, a Play Club, a Women's Club, a Brass Band, an Entertainment Committee, a Library, and a Reading-room.