Raivaaja

Raivaaja (English: The Pioneer) was an English- and Finnish-language newspaper published from 1905 to 2009 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, by Raivaaja Publishing Company. It was last edited by Marita Cauthen since 1984. Today the not-for-profit Raivaaja Foundation still runs a website and an online bookstore.

History

Raivaaja newspaper and the Raivaaja Publishing Company, originally called Suomalainen Sosialistinen Kustannusliike (Finnish Socialist Publishing Company), were founded in January 1905 by Finnish newspaperman and socialist Taavi Tainio, who stayed in the United States for two years in 1904–1906. Raivaaja was first associated with the Finnish Socialist Federation and since September 1940 with the Finnish American League for Democracy.

In its early years, Raivaaja was a radical newspaper loyal to the Socialist Party of America. It was the newspaper of the Finnish Socialist Federation's eastern district. The other papers were Työmies in the middle district, and Toveri in the west. During the World War I the War Department agents searched Raivaaja's officies because of its radical and anti-war ideas. In the early 1920s Raivaaja moved to a moderate social democratic position during the factional war of the Finnish Socialist Federation. The paper peaked with a circulation of 10,000 in 1927 before a long downward slide. The list of editors include major names of Finnish American labor movement such as Moses Hahl, Santeri Nuorteva, Aku Päiviö, Frans Josef Syrjälä and Oskari Tokoi.