Finnish Labour Temple

Last updated

Finnish Labour Temple
Thunder Bay Finnish Labour Temple.JPG
As seen from the intersection of Bay and Algoma
Finnish Labour Temple
General information
Type Hall
Location314 Bay Street
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates 48°25′56″N89°13′48″W / 48.43222°N 89.23000°W / 48.43222; -89.23000
Current tenants The Hoito
Construction started1908
CompletedMarch 1910
Design and construction
Architect(s)C.W. Wheeler
Official nameFinnish Labour Temple National Historic Site of Canada
Designated2011

The Finnish Labour Temple (also known as the Big Finn Hall or Finlandia Club) was a Finnish-Canadian cultural and community centre ("Finn hall") and a local landmark located at 314 Bay Street in the Finnish quarter in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Contents

Built in 1910, the Finnish Labour Temple was at one point one of the largest workers' halls in Canada in addition to being the centre of Finnish cultural and political life in Northwestern Ontario. The hall housed the historic Hoito Restaurant, a museum, and featured a large stage, dance floor, and hall as well as meeting rooms for various groups. The Finnish Labour Temple served as one of the main locations of the Bay Street Film Festival. [1]

Construction

The construction of the Finnish Labour Temple was initiated by two organizations, the Finnish-American Workers' League Imatra #9 and the "Uusi Yritys" or New Attempt Temperance Society , who formed the Finnish Building Company. The lot for the hall had been purchased by socialist local in June 1907 and blueprints for the hall had already been prepared in early December 1908 by architect C.W. Wheeler. The building opened its doors to the public in March 1910, holding three consecutive days of opening ceremonies.

The inscription on the top of the building reads "Labor Omnia Vincet," meaning "labour conquers all."

Early Labour Temple activity, 19101914

The Finnish Labour Temple in 1910 Finnish Labour Temple, 1910.jpg
The Finnish Labour Temple in 1910

Already in 1910, the hall was referred to as the "Port Arthur Finnish Socialist's Local Temple" as the socialist local had become the majority share holder in the hall and was connected to the Port Arthur Branch of the Socialist Party of Canada. The Temperance Society had basically become a committee of the socialist local. By December 1910, however, foreign language locals of the Socialist Party had been expelled from the party. In 1911, a new organization called the Finnish Socialist Organization of Canada had been formed, which then became affiliated to the Social Democratic Party of Canada. [2]

In January 1910, during the first annual meeting of the Finnish Building Company, the membership voted to rent the downstairs of the hall to the Finnish Publishing Company, who occupied the basement until the summer of 1912 when it moved to its own building next door. Of note, was the first Finnish-Canadian newspaper Työkansa (The Working People), which was published by the Finnish Publishing Company. Between 1910 and 1914, the basement of the hall also housed several co-operative restaurants and a billiards room.

On September 12–17, 1910, the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada held its annual convention at the Finnish Labour Temple complementing the "industry, thrift and co-operative spirit" of the Finnish community in the commemorative booklet given to convention delegates. [3]

The First World War and the communist/syndicalist split

During the First World War, the foreign-language affiliates of the Social Democratic Party were declared illegal by the Canadian Government. This led to many difficulties as several Finnish-language newspapers were banned and leading organizers were arrested. At this time, many Finnish workers joined the rapidly emerging One Big Union and the regional support group became the majority share holder of the Finnish Building Company.

In 1919, a split occurred at the One Big Union National Convention held at the Finnish Labour Temple. [4] The split was essentially between two different factions; Finnish socialists who believed that the working class needed a political arm, and Finnish syndicalists who felt that social change could best be achieved through economic direct action such as the general strike. As a result, the Finnish socialists were ousted and bought their own building next door at 316 Bay Street or the "Little Finn Hall", and became affiliated with the Communist Finnish Organization of Canada. The Finnish workers who maintained control of the Finnish Labour Temple affiliated to the Industrial Workers of the World after the Winnipeg General Strike and the collapse of the One Big Union. [5] [6]

The Finnish Wobblies1919 to the 1960s

Striking lumber workers outside the Finnish Labour Temple, 1933 Finnish Canadian collection - striking lumber workers outside the Finnish Labour Temple (I0058051).tiff
Striking lumber workers outside the Finnish Labour Temple, 1933

The syndicalist oriented Finns remained affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the auxiliary organization, Canadan Teollisuusunionistinen Kannatusliitto (Canadian Industrial Worker Support Circle or CTKL). This was the group responsible for establishing and operating the Hoito Restaurant as well as establishing a chain of People's Co-operative stores in the region. The Finnish Labour Temple acted as the Canadian IWW administrative offices for several years and housed the Canadian news service headquarters for the Industrialisti , the Finnish-language daily newspaper of the IWW. The Finnish Wobblies were also able to pay off the mortgage on the building.

The IWW competed for the hearts and minds of members with the communist-dominated unions, and held union locals well into the 1940s. With the younger generation rapidly being assimilated into dominant Canadian society, the IWW and CTKL in Northwestern Ontario became friendship and mutual aid societies for an aging membership. In the late 1960s, following the last major wave of Finnish immigration to Canada, a new organization called the Finlandia Club of Port Arthur became the majority shareholder of the hall. The new wave of immigrants were a generation separated from their Finnish-Canadian brethren and had no connection to the social struggles of the past. In addition, the newly arriving immigrants were either apolitical or conservative, associating any left-wing activity with the brutality of Stalinism and the Finnish Winter War. [5] This was despite the fact that the Finnish Wobblies in Canada and the U.S. had actively supported and aided Finland in the war against the Soviet Union and denounced Bolshevism, from a libertarian socialist perspective, since the Kronstadt uprising.

The Finnish Labour Temple today

Front facade FinnishLabourTemple.jpg
Front façade

The Finnish Labour Temple remains a highly visible local landmark and a symbol of the city. The Temple is the last remaining Finnish cultural centre in Canada, and has been designated a National Historic Site of Canada. [7] In 2015 a ceremony was held to install a plaque marking the Finnish Labour Temple as a National Historic site.

The Hoito Restaurant was a very popular eatery for locals and tourists; recently, there has been a marked increase in activity in the hall as a new generation of locals stepped in to revive and breathe new life into this historic building. [4] This includes a mojakka competition; an annual Finnish-Canadian art exhibit during the summer solstice. This, along with more traditional dances, celebrations, and events like St. Urho's Day make the Finnish Labour Temple a distinctive tourist attraction in Thunder Bay. The Finnish Labour Temple was home to The Finlandia Association Of Thunder Bay, previous owner of the building, and other local companies such as The Walleye Magazine and Seek Tours.

In May 2020, because of outstanding debt, the Finlandia Association voted to liquidate its assets, including the hall. [8] A group - The Finlandia Co-operative - was created to raise money to buy the building, [9] but was unsuccessful. [10] In October 2020, the sale of the new building to a private owner was confirmed. [11] The new owner said he wanted to reopen The Hoito Restaurant and convert the rest of the building into "high-end apartments". It had been anticipated that the restaurant would reopen in early summer 2022.

However, during the early evening hours of December 22, 2021, amid on-going renovations, smoke could be seen billowing from the rooftop, and The Hoito restaurant suffered extensive damage when a massive fire burned through the Finnish Labour Temple building above.

By mid-February 2022 the remains of the building destroyed in the fire were completely demolished and removed from the site. The property owner anticipates rebuilding and recreating the former façade of the structure including the iconic cupola. It is also anticipated that the Hoito restaurant would be re-established on the main floor of the new building and not in the basement as it existed previously. [12]

On March 3, 2022 it was announced that the time capsule hidden in the foundation during construction in 1909 was recovered and would be opened at a special ceremony at a later date. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Industrial Workers of the World</span> International labor union

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with industrial unionism, as it is a general union, subdivided between the various industries which employ its members. The philosophy and tactics of the IWW are described as "revolutionary industrial unionism", with ties to socialist, syndicalist, and anarchist labor movements.

Industrial unionism is a trade union organising method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in bargaining and in strike situations. De Leon believed that militarized Industrial unions would be the vehicle of class struggle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One Big Union (concept)</span> Merger of all labor unions

The One Big Union is an idea originating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries amongst trade unionists to unite the interests of workers and offer solutions to all labour problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CHFD-DT</span> Global affiliate in Thunder Bay, Ontario

CHFD-DT is a television station in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, affiliated with the Global Television Network. It is owned by locally based Dougall Media alongside CTV affiliate CKPR-DT. Both stations share studios on Hill and Van Norman Streets in central Thunder Bay, while CHFD-DT's transmitter is located in Shuniah, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CKPR-DT</span> CTV affiliate in Thunder Bay, Ontario

CKPR-DT is a television station in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, affiliated with CTV. It is owned by locally based Dougall Media alongside Global affiliate CHFD-DT. Both stations share studios on Hill and Van Norman Streets in central Thunder Bay, while CKPR-DT's transmitter is located in Shuniah, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dougall Media</span> Canadian media company

Dougall Media is a Canadian media company which has several television, radio and publishing holdings in Northwestern Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hoito</span> Restaurant in Ontario, Canada

The Hoito Restaurant is a Finnish-Canadian restaurant in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada established in 1918 and housed in the bottom floor of the historic Finnish Labour Temple. The Hoito operated continuously on 314 Bay Street, in the historic Bay & Algoma neighbourhood, for more than a century until closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. It was one of the oldest co-operatively owned and operated restaurants in Canada. It had been anticipated that the restaurant would reopen in early summer 2022. However, during the early evening hours of December 22 2021, amid on-going renovations, smoke could be seen billowing from the rooftop, and The Hoito restaurant suffered extensive damage when a massive fire burned through the Finnish Labour Temple building above. The building is now gone, with new construction underway.

Finnish Canadians are Canadian citizens of Finnish ancestry or Finns who emigrated to and reside in Canada. In 2016, 143,645 Canadians claimed Finnish ancestry. Finns started coming to Canada in the early 1880s, and in much larger numbers in the early 20th century and well into the mid-20th century. Finnish immigration to Canada was often a direct result of economic depressions and wars, or in the aftermath of major conflicts like the Finnish Civil War. Canada was often chosen as a final destination because of the similarity in climate and natural conditions, while employment in logging or homesteading attracted landless farmers in the early 20th century. Migratory movements of Finns between Canada and the United States was very common as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialist Party of Oregon</span> Political party in the United States

The Socialist Party of Oregon (SPO) is the name of three closely related organizations — an Oregon state affiliate of the Social Democratic Party of America established in 1897 and continuing into the 1950s, as well as the Oregon state affiliate of the Socialist Party USA from 1992 to 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Workers' International Industrial Union</span> Revolutionary Industrial Union

The Workers' International Industrial Union (WIIU) was a Revolutionary Industrial Union headquartered in Detroit in 1908 by radical trade unionists closely associated with the Socialist Labor Party of America, headed by Daniel DeLeon. The organization was formed when it broke with the main faction of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) over the question of political action.

This is a timeline of labour issues and events in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Industrial Workers of Great Britain</span> Former trade union of the United Kingdom

The Industrial Workers of Great Britain was a group which promoted industrial unionism in the early 20th century.

The Agricultural Workers Organization (AWO), later known as the Agricultural Workers Industrial Union, was an organization of farm workers throughout the United States and Canada formed on April 15, 1915, in Kansas City. It was supported by, and a subsidiary organization of, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Although the IWW had advocated the abolition of the wage system as an ultimate goal since its own formation ten years earlier, the AWO's founding convention sought rather to address immediate needs, and championed a ten-hour work day, premium pay for overtime, a minimum wage, good food and bedding for workers. In 1917 the organization changed names to the Agricultural Workers Industrial Union (AWIU) as part of a broader reorganization of IWW industrial unions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick L. Quinlan</span> Irish-born American trade unionist

Arthur Patrick L. "Pat" Quinlan (1883–1948) was an Irish trade union organizer, journalist, and socialist political activist. Quinlan is best remembered for the part he played as an organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World in the 1913 Paterson silk strike — an event which led to his imprisonment for two years in the New Jersey State Penitentiary.

Finnish Organization of Canada is a Finnish Canadian cultural organization. It was established in 1911 as the Finnish Socialist Organization of Canada. FOC is the oldest nationwide cultural organization for Finns in Canada. It was first connected with Social Democratic Party of Canada and later with Communist Party of Canada. Today FOC is no longer associated with politics. It has fewer than 200 members, who are mostly senior citizens in the areas of Toronto, Vancouver, Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

The following is a timeline of the history of labour organizations in communities in and around Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Listings for incorporated townships which were later amalgamated with the City of Sudbury are noted separately.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1914 Butte, Montana, labor riots</span>

The Butte, Montana labor riots of 1914 were a series of violent clashes between copper miners at Butte, Montana. The opposing factions were the miners dissatisfied with the Western Federation of Miners local at Butte, on the one hand, and those loyal to the union local on the other. The dissident miners formed a new union, and demanded that all miners must join the new union, or be subject to beatings or forced expulsion from the area. Sources disagree whether the dissidents were a majority of the miners, or a militant minority. The leadership of the new union contained many who were members of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.), or agreed with the I.W.W.'s methods and objectives. The result of the dispute between rival unions was that the copper mines of Butte, which had long been a union stronghold for the WFM, became open shop employers, and recognized no union from 1914 until 1934.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Industrial Workers of the World (South Africa)</span> South African trade union

The Industrial Workers of the World (South Africa) or IWW (SA) had a brief but notable history in the 1910s-20s, and is particularly noted for its influence on the syndicalist movement in southern Africa through its promotion of the IWW's principles of industrial unionism, solidarity, and direct action, as well as its role in the creation of organizations such as the Industrial Workers of Africa and the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union.

The Goldfield, Nevada labor troubles of 1906–1907 were a series of strikes and a lockout which pitted gold miners and other laborers, represented by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), against mine owners and businessmen.

William Covington Hall, who also wrote under the pen names Covington Ami and Covami, was an American labor organizer, newspaper editor, writer, and poet. Hall was an active member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and rose to some prominence within the organization. Hall played a major role in the Louisiana-Texas Timber War and the United Fruit Company strike of 1913. He spent most of his life in Louisiana, particularly in New Orleans.

References

  1. Bay Street Film Festival (2007). "Festival Catalogue 2007 Edition" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  2. Thunder Bay Finnish Canadian Historical Society (2007). "Finnish settlement in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada". Archived from the original on 2006-12-22. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  3. Marc Metsaranta, ed. (1989). "Project Bay Street: Activities of Finnish-Canadians in Thunder Bay before 1915 (Thunder Bay: Thunder Bay Finnish-Canadian Historical Society".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. 1 2 Austen, Ian (2015-05-12). "Finnish Pancakes With a Side of Canada's Labor History". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  5. 1 2 "Excerpt from "Archival Sources for the Study of Finnish Canadians"". my.tbaytel.net. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  6. Haworth, Robert H. (2012-07-01). Anarchist Pedagogies: Collective Actions, Theories, and Critical Reflections on Education. PM Press. ISBN   9781604861167.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. "Finnish Labour Temple National Historic Site of Canada".
  8. Diaczuk, Doug (21 May 2020). "Finlandia Association votes to liquidate corporation". tbnewswatch.com. Dougall Media. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  9. Walters, Jeff (26 May 2020). "Finlandia Co-operative of Thunder Bay looks to take over Hoito, Finlandia Hall". cbc.ca. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  10. Rinne, Gary (12 August 2020). "Finlandia Co-op's effort to bid for Finnish Labour Temple falls short". tbnewswatch.com. Dougall Media. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  11. Diaczuk, Doug (25 September 2020). "Finnish Labour Temple to undergo changes with new owner". tbnewswatch.com. Dougall Media. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  12. "Owner begins rebuilding process after Finnish Labour Temple fire". tbnewswatch.com. Dougall Media. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  13. "Finnish Labour Temple time capsule recovered safely". tbnewswatch.com. Dougall Media. 3 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.