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"We condemn all unpatriotic speeches and actions and the carrying of the red banner in public places, for such occurrences inflame a revolutionary spirit deep into the ranks of the masses and put them into opposition to the government, and through such actions we will lose the trust of the American people and the respect toward the more serious majority of Finns." Other meetings were held in more and more communities in Minnesota and Michigan. During the strikes on `Copper Island' of Upper Michigan in 191314, an 'Anti-Socialist League' actually developed, and the pattern was followed in Minnesota, with a similar organization established at least in Ely. However, not all who opposed the socialists were prepared to approve actions such as the new league proposed. The Päivälehti of Duluth, for example, published a statement on 28 October 1914, that "one ought to consider seriously if it is right that the father of a big family or even a single man working for his own living, who has a different concept of the economy and political issues than we have, should lose his job for a long winter and face starvation simply because some good Finn, believing in the resolutions of his league, has gone like a stool pigeon to some employer and demanded that a man be denied work. Is that fraternal action?" With appeals like this, the Anti-Socialist League did not expand further in Minnesota, but individuals reserved their right to express their opinions of the socialists nevertheless, as did one writer who signed himself "A. R." and whose letter the Päivälehti published in July 1911: "It is an old truth that whom the gods wish to destroy they strike down with blindness, but it seems that at the present time a group of Finnish immigrants here has been struck with this blindness, too, so that it neither sees nor comprehends what is fitting for peaceful existence, which is demanded of us as a nationality group and as individuals, if we are to preserve our honor and our position as individuals and citizens of this country alongside other nationality groups, and if we are to advance with them to greater enlightenment, which is the necessary instrument in our battle for existence." He considered it ridiculous that the socialists came forward, "a mere handful among all our Finns here, in the midst of a nation of a hundred million people, and imagined themselves to be in such a decisive position that they could change conditions and steer the policies and the whole economic philosophy of this country into new paths and to create here a new order."


Naturalization and the Loyalty Movement: The danger of outbreak of war in 1914 brought forth two kinds of action in Duluth.

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