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dues. The 1912 convention of the FSF voted to reduce this subsidy to 50 cents per member per year, at the same time adding its opinion that the school's curriculum should be tailored to the needs of future socialist and trade union activists rather than to a general course of study. The school also charged a tuition of its students, which included room and board. Students in the 1912-13 academic year paid $ 20 per month for tuition, room, and board, an amount which was hiked to $ 22 for the 1913-14 term of study.
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17:
160:(FSF) became actively involved buying stock at the behest of board member Alex Halonen. By the fall of 1907 majority control of the stock of the Finnish People's College was firmly ensconced in Socialist hands. The Socialists then made use of their majority ownership to assert control over the composition of the school's board of directors.
91:
Finnish immigrants to the United States during the first years of the 20th
Century tended to be a literate community, with 97% of those arriving between 1899 ad 1907 knowing how to read and write. Education was a valued part of Finnish immigrant life and the desire for institutions of higher learning
175:
The
Finnish Socialist Federation agreed to take on Work People's College as its own institution at the group's 1908 convention. For the next several years ever member of the Federation paid an additional tax of $ 1.00 per year for support of the school in addition to their regular payment of monthly
171:
assumed leadership in 1908. The new labor school was launched with just 8 students during the initial year, with the student body growing in the 1910-11 academic year at over 100 students. The class of 1912-13 was 136 students, of whom 33 were women. To this was added another group of students who
236:
Beginning in the summer of 2012, the Twin Cities
General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World in partnership with IWWs from around the country restarted the Work People's College, hosting a 5-day retreat bringing together nearly 100 rank and file organizers from around North
138:
needs of the community. Money was raised to fund the school's purchase of a three-story building through the sale of shares of stock. A board of directors controlled the operations of the institution, which included both anti-socialist clerics and pro-socialist lay members of the church. In an
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Work People's
College taught its students a mandatory preparatory program including economics, politics, history, and "socialist program and tactics." Students could then continue with more specialized coursework, including courses in bookkeeping, basic mathematics, and the Finnish and English
146:
The students of the
Finnish People's College and Theological Seminary resisted the school's educational regime, which imposed mandatory prayer while forbidding discussion of social issues. This led to a strike of the student body in the Fall of 1904, with all but two students walking out of a
155:
With enrollment tailing off, the board of directors initially considered closing the school but found financial rescue through the sale of stock in the institution at the rate of $ 1.00 per share. Frustrated by the lack of advanced secular education in their own language, the
134:, a rural area just southwest of Duluth, a few months after its establishment. It changed its name to the Finnish People's College and Theological Seminary in January 1904, a name change which reflected the institution's desire to serve both general educational and
614:
Douglas Ollila, Jr., "From
Socialism to Industrial Unionism (IWW): Social Factors in the Emergence of Left-labor Radicalism Among Finnish Workers on the Mesabi, 1911-19," in Michael Karni, et al. (eds.),
92:
in their own language extended across generational and ideological boundaries. As early as 1900 there were discussions about establishing a school that would provide a liberal alternative to
70:
In 2012 the Twin Cities branch of the
Industrial Workers of the World relaunched Work People's College on a limited basis as a summer training camp for the group's activists and organizers.
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mandatory prayer meeting in protest. The director of the school, E.W. Saranen, subsequently resigned his post as a result of the students' action.
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A severe ideological split divided the
Finnish Socialist movement during the middle years of the 1910s, with one part of the FSF staying with the
167:(Workers' College), most commonly albeit clumsily rendered into English as Work People's College. K.L. Haataja served as director and instructor.
629:
Douglas Ollila, Jr., "The Work People's
College: Immigrant Education for Adjustment and Solidarity," in Michael Karni and Douglas Ollila (eds.),
123:, with a goodly number of these working in the mining and timber industries or on the docks of Duluth, a major port on the southernmost tip of
664:
636:
Saku Pinta, "Educate, Organize, Emancipate!: The Work People’s
College and The Industrial Workers of the World," in Robert H. Howarth (ed.),
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728:
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One building of the former Work People's College still stands at 402 S. 88th Ave. West in Duluth and houses eleven apartments.
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religion to its students. Finnish immigrants in this period constituted nearly 40 percent of the population of Northern
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As a reflection of the institution's shift to secular labor education a new name was chosen for the institution —
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Work People's College was a resident labor college, housing its students on-site. Other similar schools included
20:
Work People's College as it appeared in 1913. Note the parallel American and red flags flying over the building.
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languages. Others continued on the academic path to become socialist orators and party functionaries, studying
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during the 1914-1915 factional battle that split the Finnish Federation. The school ceased operation in 1941.
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713:
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564:"Workers' Education as Counter Hegemony: The Educational Process at Work People's College, 1907-1941,"
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251:
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Challenge Accepted: A Finnish Immigrant Response to Industrial America in Michigan's Copper Country.
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36:
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intense economic and political environment, marked by labor strikes and the emergence of the
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28:
16:
638:
Anarchist Pedagogies: Collective Actions, Theories, and Critical Reflections on Education.
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214:
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left wing of the Finnish labor movement and the institution came into the orbit of the
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289:
266:
124:
531:
192:
108:
60:
609:
The Emergence of Radical Industrial Unionism in the Finnish Socialist Movement.
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225:
There were roughly 30 students during the final year of operation in 1940-41.
143:
among the immigrant community, these factions vied for control of the school.
679:
666:
600:
Auvo Kostiainen, "Work People's College: An American Immigrant Institution,"
120:
617:
The Finnish Experience in the Western Great Lakes Region: New Perspectives.
557:
Education for Struggle: The American Labor Colleges of the 1920s and 1930s.
421:
Education for Struggle: The American Labor Colleges of the 1920s and 1930s.
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Immigrant Socialists in the United States: The Case of Finns and the Left.
393:
Immigrant Socialists in the United States: The Case of Finns and the Left.
624:
A Time of Glory: Finnish-American Radical Industrial Unionism, 1914-1917.
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in September 1903. The school was launched with a view to teaching the
395:
Rutherford, NJ: Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 1984; pg. 107.
103:
Work People's College was preceded by a "folk" high school of the
15:
655:
611:
Turku, Finland: Institute of General History Publication, 1975.
651:
59:. School administrators and faculty were sympathetic to the
198:. Work People's College was retained by the later faction.
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and another more radical offshoot casting its lot with the
597:
Rutherford, NJ: Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 1984.
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participated in coursework through postal correspondence.
576:
E.E. Cummins, "Workers' Education in the United States,"
513:
E.E. Cummins, "Workers' Education in the United States,"
590:
East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2010.
423:
Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1990; pg. 63.
626:
Turku, Finland: Institute of History Publication, 1977.
528:"Re: Workmen's Educational Association - San Francisco"
479:
George Sirola, "The Finnish Working People's College,"
43:governed by the worker's movement) established in
559:Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1990.
619:Turku, Finland: Institute for Migration, 1975.
105:Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
704:Universities and colleges established in 1907
580:vol. 14, no. 4 (May 1936), pp. 597–605.
8:
719:Industrial Workers of the World in Minnesota
656:Immigration History Research Center Archives
509:
507:
387:
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383:
604:vol. 5, issue 1-4 (1980), pp. 295–309.
184:theoretical works in English and Finnish.
130:The Finnish Lutheran high school moved to
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327:(formerly Highlander Folk School) (1932)
483:vol. 14, no. 2 (Aug. 1913), pp. 102-103.
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325:Highlander Research and Education Center
307:(1921)* New York Workers School (1923):
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734:Finnish-American culture in Minnesota
368:Los Angeles People's Education Center
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633:Superior, WI: Työmies Society, 1977.
87:Work People's College Class of 1913.
709:1941 disestablishments in Minnesota
517:vol. 14, no. 4 (May 1936), pg. 598.
317:Jefferson School of Social Science
14:
550:Cited sources and further reading
337:Southern Appalachian Labor School
739:1907 establishments in Minnesota
602:Scandinavian Journal of History,
658:at the University of Minnesota.
481:International Socialist Review,
331:Commonwealth College (Arkansas)
196:Industrial Workers of the World
65:Industrial Workers of the World
724:Education in Duluth, Minnesota
1:
345:San Francisco Workers' School
296:Rand School of Social Science
640:Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2012.
301:Work People's College (1907)
158:Finnish Socialist Federation
141:Finnish Socialist Federation
53:Finnish Socialist Federation
755:
241:Notable faculty and alumni
189:Socialist Party of America
94:Suomi College and Seminary
57:Socialist Party of America
729:Finnish-American history
374:Citations and references
562:Richard J. Altenbaugh,
555:Richard J. Altenbaugh,
499:Education for Struggle,
447:Education for Struggle,
434:Education for Struggle,
419:Richard J. Altenbaugh,
351:California Labor School
305:Brookwood Labor College
203:Brookwood Labor College
284:Highlander Folk School
88:
32:
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652:Work People's College
622:Douglas Ollila, Jr.,
607:Douglas Ollila, Jr.,
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74:Institutional history
25:Work People's College
19:
654:is available at the
650:Finding aid for the
631:For the Common Good.
573:Syracuse University.
363:Continuing education
357:Labor School) (1942)
252:Amelia Milka Sablich
211:Commonwealth College
107:that was founded in
680:46.7024°N 92.2088°W
676: /
47:, then a suburb of
45:Smithville (Duluth)
569:2006-05-03 at the
311:New Workers School
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685:46.7024; -92.2088
207:Katonah, New York
98:Hancock, Michigan
51:, in 1907 by the
49:Duluth, Minnesota
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35:) was a radical
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533:. 26 July 2000
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333:(1923-1940)
257:Yrjö Sirola
221:Termination
193:syndicalist
109:Minneapolis
61:syndicalist
698:Categories
671:92°12′32″W
668:46°42′09″N
537:7 February
355:Tom Mooney
353:(formerly
247:Leo Laukki
169:Leo Laukki
136:seminarian
132:Smithville
79:Forerunner
237:America.
121:Minnesota
582:In JSTOR
567:Archived
278:See also
117:Lutheran
501:pg. 64.
449:pg. 61.
436:pg. 60.
347:(1934)
182:Marxist
55:of the
29:Finnish
319:(1944)
313:(1929)
298:(1906)
232:Legacy
539:2016
209:and
115:and
213:of
205:at
96:of
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27:(
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