TOM McEWEN
(WITH NOTES FROM
GEORGE MUTTA)

To celebrate the 50th an-
niversary of their Community
Center, best known to Van-
couver working people as the
Clinton Hall at 2605 East
Pender Street, hundreds of
Finnish-Canadians will gather
there on May 10-11-12th.

Visitors from the Interior,
Vancouver Island, Alberta
and “‘south-of-the-border” will
join in the three-day festivi-
ties to pay tribute to the Fin-
nish immigrant pioneers who
built the Clinton Hall, and to
those whose consistent ef-
forts, hard work and sacrifice,
have maintained this hall for
half a century as an educa-
tional, cultural, athletic and
recreational center for Fin-
nish Canadians and others.

The thoughts of many old-
timers will undoubtedly go
back to the early days of this
century when, as immigrants

Clinton Hall marks
fiftieth. anniversary

in this new adopted home-
land, they set about organiz-
inp. the Finnish-Canadian
community, not only to pre-
serve the rich cultural tradi-
tions of their native land, but
to enrich the working class
culture and struggle in their
new homeland.

Remembered too will be
many of those grand Finnish-
Canadian pioneers who have
crossed the Great Divide,
whose tireless work, vision
and example in their Finnish
Community and in the wider
circles of Canadian Labor,
have added a brilliant lustre
to all the Clinton Hall sym-
bolizes in workingclass strug-
gle.

It could be said that the
story begins back in the
month of November in the
year 1910, with the formation
of the. first Finnish branch
of the old Socialist Party of
Canada. In the Finnish lang-

CLINTON HALL in the mid-40's, being re-opened after the

war.

uage this branch was known
as ‘“‘Raivaaga’’ which means
“one who opens the path-
way”, a fitting name to 4a
great pioneering movement.

One year later a committee
of three was set up to explore
the possibilities and draft
plans for a campaign to build
a center for the activities of
a rapidly - growing Finnish
community. The success of
their efforts is recorded in
the completion of the Clinton
Hall and its official opening
on May Day of 1913.

e@

There were no government
or other ‘“‘grants’’ in the build-
ing of the Clinton Hall. The
record show a_ construction
cost of $15,644, with a debt
of some $4,063 still to go, all
raised by dollars and dimes
from Finnish-Canadian work-
ers, themselves doing most of
the construction at $3.00 per
day under the supervision of

* veteran Kalle Waitti.

In the ebb and flow of
struggle over the years the
task of keeping this historic
centre open hasn’t always
been easy. During World
War I with the Social Demo-
cratic Party of Canada de-
Clared ‘illegal’, times were
hard for the upkeep of the
Centre because progressive
activities were prescribed by
the powers-that-be. Neverthe-
less the doors were kept open
by the “Raivaaja” group to

_ “open the pathway” to change
"and progress.

Following the war this
group joined the One Big Un-
ion (OBU) in 1919, and later

formed the Finnish Organiza- .

tion of Canada in 1926.
Among its members were also
the pioneers who formed the
first Workers Party.

&

Throughout the - “Hungry.
Thirties” the Clinton Hall
served as a hostel ‘and meet-
ing place for hundreds of des-
titute unemployed. workers
who drifted back and forth
across the country, hounded
and persecuted by the author-
ities who had every excuse
and “cure” for unemployment
__ except work and wages.

Again during Worla War
II this historic centre was
closed to all workingcelass ac-
tivities, and for a period of
four years or more the pro-
gressive Finnish - Canadian
community was deprived of
the use of their hall by .“‘court
order”. When it was. finally’
restored more financial effort
and sacrifices to the tune of
$10,000 had to be scraped up
to put it in condition to serve
its community.

The story of the 50 years of
this historic centre is the
story of a Finnish-Canadian
immigrant people who have
not only enriched the cultural
fabric of Canada by their dis-
tinct contribution, but whose
men and women pioneers be-,
came the stalwart pillars of:
some of Canada’s biggest

‘trade unions,

promptly do so.

$4,000

in so far...
$14,000 more to go!

In the past week, the Financial Drive was swelled by receipt of $1350-—
sent in by our readers and clubs all over the province. This represents a good
acceleration in the tempo of the drive, BUT IS NOT QUITE GOOD ENOUGH.

In another week, we will be at the half way mark in the campaign to
keep the PT presses running. All clubs should take stock of where they stand
in relation to this stage. All those who have not yet contributed should

Now is the time to speak to your friends, work mates and relatives—
to get that donation and spur the drive on.
Watch the PT next week for further results.

Press Drive Quotas

GREATER VANCOUVER

Club Quota in Club Quota in
Correspon 300 94.00
Bill Bennett 625 98-00 Tom McEwen’s Col f
Advance $ 350 28.00 : pe ati
roadway 770 343.00 VANCOUVER ISLAN
Ory Dock 250 15.00 Alberni $ 350 38.50
rank Rogers 350 50.00 Campbell River 150 13.00
Georgia 150 40.00 Cumberland 200 30.00
Kingsway 660 121.76 Cowichan 325 110.00
Niilo Makela 150 ‘1.00 Nanaimo 400 208.70
Olgin 450 131.00 _ Parksville 75 38.25
Point Grey 330 137.00 _ Victoria 400 43.00
anc. Eas 430 459.00 i 8.00
South Vane. 600 122.25 age 0.2
. | _ DEWDNEY
Victory Square 440 149.00 Haney-Map Rg. $ 325 30.00
West End 300 54.75 Mission 150 35.00
‘North Burnaby 800 370.37
Edmonds 440. 61.50
City Mise. 1,350 200.00 Notch Hill 150 ye
City Unpledged 1,2301230.00 Vernon 200 150.0
City Total $11,500 2641.28 oe
LANGLEY
PROVINCE GENERAL Ft. Langley $ 275,143.50
Ladner 150 11.00
Nelson _ 50 4 New West. 400 162.00
Fernie-Michel $75 —— South Surrey 275 254.00
Powell River 200 10.00 Surrey 500 34.10
Prince Rupert 109 -—— Prov. Unpledged 475 ——
Sointula —- 100 —— Prov. Totals $ 6,500 1512.20
Steveston 150 40.15 City Totals $11,500. 2641.28
Trail-Rossland 300 27.00 Grand Totals $18,000 4153.48
e

In the organization of Can-
ada’s vast lumber industry,
stretching from Northern and
Western Ontario to the camps
in British Columbia, Finnish-
Canadian immigrants played
a pioneering role. Similarly
in the hard-rock mining and
other industries.

And throughout British Co-
lumbia, as in other Canadian
provinces and centres, the
“Finn Hall’ has become an
institution, symbolic of a
people whose contribution to
the progress, peace and well-
being of their adopted land is
perhaps equalled, but not sur-
passed. Well may Finnish-
Canadians be proud of their
pioneers, those who have
passed on, and those who look
back on those 50 years of
achieyement with the confi-
dence born of a great resolve.
Names like Henne Bell, N.
Makela of Sointula, Gus Sund-
quist of Toronto and others
are written deep in the scroll
of Canadian labor struggles.

Drawing by Anthony. Heal :
May 10, 1903—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 11

Oe