"People of a special mould"?

International conference on comparative communist biography and prosopography Manchester, 6th - 8th April 2001

Tauno Saarela: Oppressed worker versus communist hero - characters in the Finnish communist magazines in the 1920s

Finnish communism and its literary magazines
The oppressed worker
The villains
Labour movement as a hero
Lonesome heroes
Class struggle and love
Tradition and new ideas
Notes

The communist movement was supposed to create new people with new values, attitudes and manners. Guidelines for these new people were given in the instructions on the tasks of a party member (1) but also by presenting models for members and supporters. Such models were, for instance, Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg and V.I. Lenin who were praised for having been energetic, unyielding and inspiring. The identification with them was, however, not easy - Lenin was regarded as a genius and infallible which was probably not expected from every communist. (2)

More ordinary models were produced by fiction and its characters although in the 1920s literature was not particularly committed in furthering the creation of communist heroes. The earlier socialist literature had, however, presented models to be adopted, such as Pavel Vlasov in Maxim Gorky's Mother, Ernest Everhard and Martin Eden in Jack London's works. The Russian civil war heroes by Alexander Fadeev and Dmitri Furmanov and Gleb Chumalov in Fjodor Gladkov's Cement describing the era of the reconstruction were also inspiring characters.

All these heroes went through a process of development - "through suffering and humiliation, through struggle, through ordeals, through weaknesses experienced, understood and conquered" - and surmounted obstacles before them. They didn't, however, dedicate themselves to the communist cause as entirely as Nikolai Ostrovsky's Pavel Korchagin was to do in the 1930s. They were also in other respects more complicated characters.(3)

Those books and their heroes created a model for writing short stories about workers and communists as did also the traditions of the working-class literature in every country.(4) In this paper I study what kind of working-class characters were presented in the Finnish communist literary magazines in the 1920s.

Finnish communism and its literary magazines

Finnish communism was born in two countries, in Soviet Russia and in Finland. The leaders of an abortive revolution escaped to Soviet Russia in spring 1918 and founded the Finnish Communist Party (from 1920 onwards the Communist Party of Finland) in August. The party was captivated by the hope of immediate world revolution and yielded itself to new ideas of communism. It was forbidden in Finland and its central organs were outside the country up to the autumn 1944. The party, however, cooperated with various organs and persons in Finland.

In Finland Finnish communism was formed around the Socialist Workers' Party which was founded in the spring 1920 and banned in August 1923. After that Finnish communism in Finland was organized in various electoral, political and cultural organizations until they were banned during the summer 1930.

Finnish communism was a mixture of new communist ideas and traditions of Finnish labour movement. At the ideological level both those in Soviet Russia/the Soviet Union and those in Finland were willing to accept new communist ideas, but in daily politics - under the threat of prisonment and dissolution of their organizations and trying to win the support of workers and peasants - those in Finland rather followed the traditions. For the party leaders in Petrograd or Moscow this gave cause for constant demands of ideological orthodoxy. Discontinuity of speech and activities was characteristic for Finnish communism.(5)

Literary magazines were not a communist invention in the Finnish labour movement - such a weekly had come out in Helsinki in 1902-1906. In the 1920s the enthusiasm for literary magazines was, however, much greater; the Finnish communist youth published two litarary weeklies - Liekki came out in Helsinki in 1923-1930 and Revontulet in Oulu in 1926-1930. Besides them the pictorial magazine Itä ja Länsi and the spring and Christmas periodicals Rynnäkköön and Nuoren Työläisen Joulu as also the handwritten papers of the youth associations published fiction.

The communist youth founded literary magazines for many reasons. As early as 1916-1917 there had been discussion among the youth about creating an own organ for workers' literary needs. Because of the Civil War and its aftermath the realization of this discussion was adjourned until 1923. The magazines were also founded to bring money for the daily newspapers. The main reason for their publishing was, however, the challenge presented to the labour movement by the commercial popular culture with its popular fiction, magazines and film. The literary magazines of the communist youth were intended to prevent the young workers from committing themselves to "cheap and bad entertainment" and to keep them in the sphere of the movement's influence.

The magazines published texts of those authors who were of labour origins, wrote of workers' life or presented sympathy for them or their movement. Such writers were, for example, Russians Maxim Gorky and Lev Tolstoi, Americans Jack London and Upton Sinclair, Frenchmen Anatole France and Henri Barbusse, and Danish Martin Andersen Nexö. The famous short story writers Anton Tsekhov, Guy de Maupassant and Mark Twain were popular, too. New Soviet fiction was also introduced on the pages of the magazines which didn't particularly favour any pro-communist writers as the example of Mikhail Zoshchenko indicates.

Foreign writers were not the only ones to contribute to the magazines, Finnish young communists wrote also plenty of short stories. Among the authors were those young writers who already had 'established themselves' by publishing a book or two, the editors of the magazines, but also many unknown writers. The magazines also organized writing contests in order to get stories. In most of the cases the writers had only an elementary education behind them. That is why they were not very eager to theorize about literature and its tasks but to write short stories which were supposed to tell how the workers lived and fought in the maelstrom of life.(6)

The oppressed worker

Inspiring communist characters were almost entirely missing in the short stories published in the magazines - the first numbers were rather full of stories describing hard lives of workers. Especially the agricultural work was portrayd as toiling which didn't make the life better. The work in the factories with long and fatiguing workdays, tight discipline and occasional accidents causing deaths of the workers was not better. Even the logging characterized by the Finnish literature with romantic features were revealed as work under hard conditions.(7) Under these circumstances the workers didn't feel any professional pride of their work.

The short stories told also of other hardships of the workers - because of unemployment and poverty young working women ended in the streets as prostitutes, families were ejected from their homes, the elderly and orphans were neglected, innocent people were imprisoned.(8) The hardships were not presented in order to let the workers overcome them but rather broke down under them - the characters could die, end up as beggars, drunkards or strike-breakers.(9) Even the glimpses of a brighter future could be destroyed - escaping political refugee was shot at the border, a young worker studying singing dies at the break of his success.(10))

This kind of stories of workers' sufferings were typical in the literary tradition of the Finnish labour movement which was very strongly influenced by realism and naturalist determinism. Typical for the early Finnish realism was the passivity of the characters, their negative and pessimistic feelings - in some stories the only solution was death. These aspects were readily accepted in the labour movement at the turn of the 20th century.(11) The hard experiences after the Civil War in 1918 and the continuous political discrimination in the 1920s could strengthen negative tones in the stories.

According to this tradition it was believed that the dark colours of the stories would not only increase the knowledge of the injustice of the existing society but also touch readers' emotions and strengthen their hatred towards it; the hardships were supposed to toughen people.

This kind of stories were published in the magazines all the decade despite the outspoken aim that the stories should broaden the world view of the readers and strengthen their will for action.(12) It was, however, only in the autumn 1928 that the stories of sufferings were actually criticized in Liekki. It was accepted that these stories portrayed the real life of the working people but also reduced it as they didn't tell anything about workers' brave attitude towards the life. The critic recommended, that the darkness of the stories should be enlightened by the great future of the working class.(13)

In the summer 1929 Ludvig Kosonen, who as the only person tried to explain the value of literature in the struggle of the workers, said that the stories of the workers' sufferings belonged to the earlier period when the working class was weak and unorganised and tried to attain to the equal status with the bourgeoisie. But in the 1920s the working class tried to reach the domination in the society. The task of the prolatarian art was to kindle the emotions for the great cause and destination of the working class. Besides the misery the stories should, therefore, tell about "the magnificent heroism, the infallible belief to the future and indomitable fighting moral" of the working class - the art should be a standard-bearer of the future.(14)

Kosonen himself didn't, however, at that time present any characters who would have filled these demands but rather described unheroic members of the working class. He even thought that the ideal persons didn't exist yet.(15) - It was only in the early 1930s when Kosonen had escaped to the Soviet Union that he published a book which told about the youth movement in Helsinki as it should have been.(16)

The villains

The stories of workers' sufferings didn't present a positive hero but rather expressed criticism towards the existing society and introduced its "villains". The employers were often described as unmoral and unscrupulous persons, who, for instance, in the moment of working accidents were worried only of the interruption of the production.(17) Factory owners and their sons, foremen, farm owners and also priests were depicted as seducing, even raping, young working women.(18) The villains included also the authorities; a judge could sentence a woman he had seduced in prison for child-murder,(19) a succesful and respected undertaker could reveal as a bootlegger,(20) a saw mill owner was planning to burn his timberyard and to stage the strikers as victims.(21) And the rivalling youth associations were connected with drinking, fighting and in general undecent life.(22)

The stories of the injustice of the society were often fictitious but sometimes they came quite close to actual incidents. After the ban of the Socialist Youth Association and the arrest of dozens of its members in the end of 1925 Liekki published a story where a 17-year old boy, after a long time in custody, is accused of preparation of high treason and sentenced in prison for one and a half years. According to the story the only crime of the young man was that he wanted to study in the labour organization after the long working day.(23)

Moral disapproval was not the only way to react against the injustice. The violation of the workers' civil rights produced stories mocking the institutions - courts of justice and political police - and persons behind these offences as also their ways of thinking.

Armas Äikiä, the future member of the Terijoki government and the leading Stalinist in the aesthetic discussions in the Finnish communist movement after the Second World War, placed his story in "Benitoland" where 300 young workers are arrested because the newspapers have written about their plans of a bomb strike. The boxes brought as evidence and supposed to contain dynamite show up as ski wax. The youngsters are, however, sentenced for prison because they have betrayed the state "by claiming that ski wax is dynamite and thus mislead the political police and the court and ridiculed them which is the same as preparation for the revolution".(24)

The stories ridiculing the political police, "okhrana", as it was called according to its Russian predecessor, were also common. It was usual to tell how its actions were based on rumours and misunderstandings. In one of the stories the detectives of the "okhrana" hear in the Helsinki labour hall someone talking about getting arms for the next Saturday. That day the detectives form a cordon around the labour hall but find out that they had heard the members of a theatre-group talking about their next play.(25)

This kind of stories were written in order to question the legitimacy of the authorities and the whole existing society. Although they urged the working youth to same kind of mockery, they seldom presented actual joking characters.

Labour movement as a hero

There were no individual heroes in the early stories, the hero was rather the whole labour movement. Thus there were many stories about young working men or women who were saved from ruining their lives by joining a labour youth association.(26) Accordingly, the labour movement was in some stories portrayed as a place of solidarity which served as a counterbalance to the gloomy working life - the workers could study, have social evenings and make trips without having to confront the outer world.(27) In this respect the stories didn't follow the instructions of the communist movement which demanded that their organizations should be based on activities, they should not be places where people only spend their time together.

Although the labour movement was portrayed as important, it was heroism in a modest quantity. The stories in the magazines described the strength of the labour movement very seldom, the heroic tones were much more present in the poems. In the early years the stories portrayed even the strikes in pessimistic tones - the strikes failed and the workers could become strikebreakers.(28) There were, however, sometimes glimpses of conscious activities; the children of the striking workers could, for instance, throw stones at strikebreakers.(29) The determination and the success of the striking workers became, however, more evident in the latter half of the decade (30)- perhaps as a reflection of large strikes in the country.(31)

The collective appeal of the labour movement became also more common in the last years of the decade. A group of young workers spending their weekends in an island could, for example, get the young men of a nearby village to change their attitude towards the working youth and to join the ranks of the movement.(32)

The stories were, however, not particularly written in order to encourage organizational work although it was regarded as very important in the communist movement. So, there were no stories by those living in Finland about creating an organization in the working place. Only a few articles coming from the Soviet Union and America told about workers who founded cells in the factories.(33)

Lonesome heroes

The literal tradition of the Finnish labour movement was not entirely void of positive inspiring heroes. Some writers had in the 1910s presented characters whose model was Spartacus, the rebellious Roman slave.(34) In the 1920s they were not usual although half documentary, half fictional stories of the courageous fighting in the Civil War up to the last bullet could be seen as a continuation of these characters.(35)

The heroes were, however, rather placed in other parts of the world; the young Finnish writers made up adventure stories about Russian revolutionaries and rebels in Latin America.(36) These stories were written in another style, copying perhaps those numerous adventure stories published in the magazines and originating from America, Britain, Germany, Sweden, and the Soviet Union. These stories were very common in the magazines although they were blamed in the same magazines as trash.(37)

The most colourful of these stories took place in a fictional Latin American state Nicazuela where poor vaqueros, farm labourers and the workers of a few cities rise in rebellion. That is so surprising that the president of the country dies of astonishment. The rebellion is, however, suppressed by a general who creates his dictatorship and puts the rebels in prison camps.

In this phase of the story the hero, a Finnish seaman and ex-Red-guardist enters the stage. He escapes from a prison camp with a native friend of his, posing himself as an American he moves to the capital of the country where he spreads the rumour that the dictator of the country has disappeared. In the end of the story the Finn is sitting in the office of the prime minister asking him to grant an amnesty to all political prisoners. His demands are supported by the announcement that the dictator is his prisoner and the explosions sounding all around the city. The demands are of course accepted.(38)

This story presented a hero who was capable of solving problems without any difficulties and also getting others to follow him. It is, however, doubtful whether the text was written in order to inspire readers to same kind of deeds - it was too unreal for that. This story was rather intended to make fun of a common mould of popular fiction in the young nation state Finland. According to that mould the Finns were extraordinary all over the world.(39)

This kind of "heroic determination" and "brave action" from some individual men was criticized in the magazines.(40) They, however, had influence on the stories which took place on Finnish soil and whose themes had connections with the Finnish labour movement. Liekki, for instance, published in March 1927 a story where an employer of a lumbering site hires a notorious fighter and bootlegger to prevent the organizational work of a trade union agitator. This becomes nothing because the agitator is a former boxer and wrestler, and he knocks out the disturber and continues his speech - organization is hundred-per-cent.(41)

In a story published in the first album of the Union of the Proletarian Writers in 1929 the workers are ready to become more inspired by the example of the hero. The story describes a young communist working in a saw mill. During the lunch hours and spare time he participates eagerly in the discussions and begins to win support. One morning he doesn't come to work, and someone knows that he has been arrested by the okhrana. This piece of news makes the workers stop their work, leave the saw mill and march to the labour hall singing the International.(42)

The promise of an active movement inspired by an individual communist was not always as evident. A young worker dedicating himself to the class struggle could also be problematic as a model. In a story published in Liekki in summer 1928 a young man looked for by the police comes to the youth meeting in the labour hall because it is his turn to give a lecture. In his speech he argues for the vanguard which is prepared for the revolution and can lead masses into it. When the police arrives to the hall, he doesn't try to escape but explains to others that the prison is a school for revolutionaries.(43)

The story was a good example of how the Finnish communists had difficulties in solving the problem of being a true communist and maintaining the movement's and personal possibilities for action.

Class struggle and love

Although love stories of the popular fiction were in the Finnish communist movement regarded as trash, especially Revontulet published them dozens in translations.(44) Even the young communists wrote stories which told of the relations between young working men and women. In the early years of Liekki the stories tried to convince the reader that "the working girl of one's dreams" would be found "in the army of the fighters".(45) In other words, it was possible to unite love, family life and activities in the labour movement if the aspirations of the two people involved were alike. Participation in the class struggle was usually regarded as a condition for living together. These stories didn't reflect great passion but rather preached for the comradeship and against jealousy and possessiveness.(46)

This notion of the possibility to unite love and activity in the movement was not shared by all writers. Some of them created characters - usually young men - who decided to give up their beloved in order to dedicate their lives for the revolutionary work. These persons also assured that the fight for the socialist ideas was more important than home and family.(47) This kind of stories become more common in the last years of the decade and might have anticipated the Puritan heroes of the Soviet literature for whom the private was nothing in comparison with the public.

In the Finnish stories the happiness of love and family - as all good things - was in a way tied in the realization of socialism which was supposed to solve all problems. Maybe Ludvig Kosonen also believed in it, although his ideas of solving the contradiction between the seriousness of class struggle and carelessness and cheerfulness of love were not optimistic.(48)

The stories of love were very 'class-conscious' as they didn't allow young workers cross the class boundaries for the love's sake; love between a girl and a boy coming from different classes was possible only very seldom.(49) During the end of the decade the possibilities in this respect could grow a little. At least the party belonging to the labour movement tried to convince the other party of the importance to commit him- or herself to the movement.(50) On the other hand the attempts to engage oneself with a boy or a girl with nonproletarian background were - even in the love life - seen as a deviation from the right line of the class struggle.(51)

As the love affairs or marriages crossing the class boundaries were not usual in Finland in the 1920s, this kind of stories were not written in order to prevent them. The stories rather reflected a more general wish not to let the labour movement be tainted by the bourgeois society. They could also challenge the concept offered by the love stories in other magazines; according to them it was possible that a rich man fell in love with a poor girl and married her.(52)

Tradition and new ideas

The short stories written by young Finnish communists in the 1920s ran rather along the tradition than new communist ideas. That was seen in the gloomy depictions of oppressed workers and in the moralizing tones towards the injustice of the society. It was also along the traditional way to portray the whole labour movement rather than an individual worker as a hero.

The criticism towards the stories of workers' sufferings taking place in 1928-1929 and the instructions to write of the great heroism and fighting moral of the workers was a reflection of the change in the policy of the international communist movement although there had been same kind of discussion in the Finnish labour movement as early as 1910.(53)

The criticism didn't actually change the character of the stories but it may have added the number of stories telling about the strength and positive achievements of the labour movement. The lonesome heroes, who during the second half of the decade became more common, got their inspiration from the tradition of the Finnish working-class literature but also from the adventure stories of the popular fiction and the Soviet communist literature. Soviet models could perhaps gain more ground during the two last years but a communist hero dedicating himself to the cause, overcoming obstacles and inspiring others to do the same was not usual. Most evident the communist inspiration was in the stories of young men giving up their private lives.

The Soviet stories of dedicated heroes paid attention above all to the development of the main character leaving the circumstances as secondary matters. The Finnish labour movement had accustomed to the opposite and was also in the 1920s of the opinion that in a country where workers were not in power it was necessary to challenge the legitimacy of the authorities and the whole regime. The members of Finnish communism in Finland gave that a preference although the Finnish communists in the Soviet Union urged them to give more weight to the communist movement itself. The attempt to turn the communists in Finland from critics and mockers to preachers was, however, not successful in the 1920s.

Notes

1. The Communist International 1919-1943. Documents. Selected and edited by Jane Degras. Volume I 1919-1922. (London: Oxford University Press, 1956) pp. 259-265.

2. On the characterizations, see e.g. 'Liebknecht-Lenin', Itä ja Länsi 15 January 1925; 'Kultainen kirje', Liekki 21 May 1926; 'Lenin, vallankumouksellinen nero', Työväenjärjestöjen Tiedonantaja 24 January 1927.          

3. Geoffrey Hosking, Beyond Socialist Realism. Soviet fiction since Ivan Denisovich (London: Granada Publishing Limited, 1980) p. 15; on the heroes in Soviet literature, see also Peter W. Mathewson, Jr., The Positive Hero in Russian Literature (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975) pp. 167-168, 179-251; Vera S. Dunham, In Stalin's Time. Middleclass Values in Soviet Fiction (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979 (1976) pp. 59-65.                                     

4. Of the above mentioned books the works of Gorky, London and Gladkov were translated into Finnish.

5. On the beginning of Finnish communism, Tauno Saarela, Suomalaisen kommunismin synty 1918-1923 (Tampere: KSL, 1996).

6. On the communist literary magazines, Tauno Saarela, 'Postilla vai Nyyrikki? Suomalainen kommunismi ja lehdet 1920-luvulla', in Palstojen takaa. Edited by Jouko Joentausta (Helsinki: Yleinen lehtimiesliitto, 1997) pp. 14-15; see also 'Taipaleelle', Liekki 28 september 1923; on the earlier magazines, Aimo Roininen, Kirja liikkeessä. Kirjallisuus instituutiona vanhassa työväenliikkeessä (1895-1918) (Vammala: SKS, 1993) pp. 110-115.

7. See e.g. Tatu Väätäinen, 'Raatajan palkka', Liekki 5 and 12 September 1924; Antero Virta, 'tehtaan tyttö', Liekki 24 October 1924; Vesa, 'Koneiden uhri', Revontulet 14 October 1927; Azlag Jarga (Emil Pyttynen), '"Kuropatki"', Liekki 8 and 15 August 1924; 'Yli voimien', Revontulet 18 November 1927; on logging in the Finnish literature, Jyrki Pöysä, Jätkän synty. Tutkimus sosiaalisen kategorian muotoutumisesta suomalaisessa kulttuurissa ja itäsuomalaisessa metsätyöperinteessä (Vammala: SKS, 1997) pp. 96-98.

8. See e.g. Anna Suonio, 'Katutyttö', Liekki 14 October 1927; 'Häätö', Liekki 25 August 1925; Kirsti Violenti, 'Saajanlahden huutolaispoika', Liekki 16 November 1923; Simson, 'Pikkurenki', Liekki 25 July 1924; Alex Orjatsalo, 'Raatajan palkka', Liekki 11 January 1924; Veli, 'Uhraaja', Liekki 6 June 1924; Pohjanpoika, Elämän armoton todellisuus, Liekki 9 April 1926.

9. Kaarlo Valli, 'Käsipuolen tarina', Liekki 29 July 1927; Ossi Ahtola, 'Rahaa, rahaa - leipää, leipää', Liekki 21 March 1924; Lauri Kanto, 'Luisuvalla tiellä', Liekki 9 October 1925.

10. Veli, 'Eräs joulu', Liekki 21 December 1923; Lauri L., 'Laulajan tarina', Liekki 15 February 1924.

11. On the working-class literature in Finland, Raoul Palmgren, Työläiskirjallisuus (Proletaarikirjallisuus). Kirjallisuus- ja aatehistoriallinen käsiteselvittely (Porvoo: WSOY, 1965) pp. 165-166; on Finnish realism, Päivi Lappalainen, 'Epäkohdat esiin - Realistit maailmaa parantamassa', in Järkiuskosta vaistojen kapinaan. Suomen kirjallisuushistoria 2. Toimittanut Lea Rojola (Helsinki: SKS, 1999) pp. 11-12.

12. See e.g. Yrjö M-la, 'Mitä ja miten on Liekkiin kirjoitettava?', Liekki 23 May 1924.

13. Jeppe, 'Petiittinikkarin toilauksia', Liekki 16 November 1928; 'Mitä lehdestämme sanotaan', Liekki 4 January 1929.

14. Ludvig Kosonen, 'Proletaarisesta ja porvarillisesta taiteesta', Liekki 2 August 1929.

15. Ludvig Kosonen, 'Ajopuita elämän virrassa', Revontulet 14, 21 and 28 June, 5, 12 and 19 July 1929.

16. Ludvig Kosonen, Lippulaulu. Kuvaus Suomen kommunistisen nuorisoaktiivin elämästä vuodelta 1929 (Leningrad: Kirja, 1932).

17. See e.g. E. Salometsä, ' Siellä missä kynttilät eivät loistaneet', Liekki 21 December 1928.

18. See e.g. Veli, 'Pimeiltä poluilta', Liekki 26 October 1923; Tikka, 'Iltamatyttö', Liekki 28 March 1924; Antero Virta, 'Eeva', Liekki 24 October 1924; Hely Haihtuva, 'Lautatarhan tyttö', Liekki 30 January 1925.

19. See e.g. Vennu, 'Murhaaja tuomarina', Liekki 14 November 1924; Anni Koffert, 'Kenen syy?', Liekki 27 March 1925.

20. 'Aaron Kepulin liikeyritys', Liekki 15 February 1929.

21. Veli Luokka, 'Suunnitelma', Liekki 21 December 1928 and 4 January 1929.

22. See e.g., Tikka, 'Iltamatyttö', Liekki 28 March 1924; Työläissisko, 'Oikealla tiellä', Liekki 4 April 1924; Usko Varma, 'Suojelija', Liekki 5 December 1924.

23. Lauri Kanto, '"Yhteiskunnalle vaarallinen"', Liekki 4 February 1927; on the Socialist Youth Association, Nestori Parkkari, Nuoret taistelun tiellä. Suomen vallankumouksellinen nuorisoliike 1900-1944 (Kuopio: Kansankulttuuri, 1970) pp. 132-136.

24. M.R.Y. (Armas Äikiä), 'Pommi- ja dynamiittiliitto', Liekki 24 June 1926; see also Maailmanrannan ylioppilas (Armas Äikiä), 'Suuri salaliitto', Itä ja Länsi 30 November 1925.

25. Pekka Päävahti (Ludvig Kosonen), Suurenmoinen paljastus kommunistien aseellisesta toiminnasta, Liekki 10 May 1929; see also Kaarlo Valli, 'Ladatun helvetinkoneen hirveä salaisuus', Liekki 1, 8 and 15 March 1929.

26. Tikka, 'Iltamatyttö', Liekki 28 March 1924; Tikka, 'Veeran viha', Liekki 6 June 1924; Inga, 'Nuoren taistelijan kokemus', Liekki 29 August 1924; -o, 'Lailan särkyneet unelmat', Liekki 10 July 1925.

27. See e.g. Hellä Kotijärvi, 'Elämän ulapalla', Liekki 7, 14, 21 and 28 March, 4, 11, 18 and 25 April 1924; Maiju, 'Hotellin tiskityttö', Liekki 25 February 1927; Iikka Kare (Otto Oinonen), 'Erään tytön muistikirjasta', Liekki 30 September, 7, 14, 21 and 28 October, 4., 11., 18 and 25 November, 2, 9 and 16 December 1927.

28. Ossi Ahtola, 'Rahaa, rahaa - leipää, leipää', Liekki 21 March 1924; Maailmanrannan ylioppilas (Armas Äikiä), Työmies Rissasen loppu, Liekki 21 August 1925.

29. A. Eronen, 'Työlakko', Liekki 11 September 1925.

30. Kaarlo Valli, 'Leipää - oikeutta', Liekki 30 September 1927; A.E., 'Taistelu leivästä', Liekki 10 February 1928; Taistelijatar, 'Kaksi tunnelmaa', Liekki 19 October 1928, A. O-lo, 'Joko - tahi', Liekki 3 May 1929.

31. Pirjo Ala-Kapee-Marjaana Valkonen, Yhdessä elämä turvalliseksi. SAK:laisen ammattiyhdistysliikkeen kehitys vuoteen 1930 (Helsinki: SAK, 1982) pp. 718-729.

32. Iikka Kare (Otto Oinonen), 'Kumpusaaren kesävieraat', Liekki 20 July 1928.

33. Kalle Rissanen, 'Solu', Liekki 17 and 24 September, 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 October, 5, 12 and 19 November 1926.

34. Palmgren, op. cit. p. 151.

35. See e.g. Kaarlo Valli, 'Viimeiset laukaukset', Liekki 3 September 1926; Kaarlo Valli, 'Yksi monista', Liekki 22 July 1927.

36. See e.g. K. K-o, 'Yhdennellätoista hetkellä', Liekki 25 April 1924; Are L-n, 'Kotitarkastus', Revontulet 10 September 1926; Aatto Lahtio, 'Takaa-ajettuna', Revontulet 8 October 1926; Risto Karu, 'Marusja', Revontulet 23 September 1927; Maailmanrannan ylioppilas (Armas Äikiä), 'San Juan alkuasukaskommunisti', Liekki 21 January 1927.

37. See e.g. Henriks D:son (Kyösti Kivi), 'Työläisluokan nuoriso ja laiskuriluokan ajanvietekirjallisuus', Liekki 5 June 1925.

38. K. Brown-Wolf (Kyösti Kivi), 'Varastettu valtionhoitaja', Liekki 22 and 29 January, 5, 12 and 19 February 1926.

39. On this kind of popular fiction, see e.g. Timo Kukkola, Hornanlinnan perilliset. 70 vuotta suomalaista salapoliisikirjallisuutta (Porvoo: WSOY, 1980) pp. 64, 78-80.

40. 'Kapinaromantiikkaa', Itä ja Länsi 15 October 1924.

41. Azlag Jarga, '"Humu"', Liekki 4 March 1927.

42. Armas Äikiä, 'Apusahuri', in Työläiskynäilijäin ja kuvaajain liitto Yhteisvoiman albumi I (Helsinki: TKL Yhteisvoima, 1929) pp. 29-33.

43. Eino Kataja, Olavi Borglund, Liekki 15 June 1928.

44. See e.g. Mildred Cram, 'Musta silkkinuora', Revontulet 19 and 26 November, 3 December 1926; 'Rakkaustarina Etelämeren saarilta', Revontulet 31 December 1926; Stacy Aumonier, 'Rakkaus vaiko kuningaskunta', Revontulet 6 and 13 May 1927; 'Ruhtinattaren lemmentarina', Revontulet 8 July 1927; 'Filminäyttelijättären rakkaus', Revontulet 10 August 1928.

45. Usko Varma, 'Onnen kukkanen', Liekki 22 December 1924.

46. Veli, 'Voimakkaita tunteita', Liekki 15 February 1924; I.N., 'Saavuttamisen arvoinen ystävyys', Liekki 20 February 1925; Tikka, 'Toveruus ja rakkaus', Liekki 6 March 1925; Anna Suonio, '"Anna minun olla toverisi"', Liekki 2 March 1928.

47. Iita Nuotio, 'Kukkivien tuomien alla', Liekki Midsummer 1925; Kyynelten lemmikki, 'Mökin Johanna', Liekki 30 April 1926; Marit Matkakoski, 'Tyttö potkukelkassa', Revontulet 4 November 1927.

48. Ludvig Kosonen, 'Ajopuita elämän virrassa', Revontulet 14, 21 and 28 June, 5, 12 and 19 July 1928.

49. See e.g. Azlag Jarga, 'Kaksi ihmistä', Liekki 2 and 9 May 1924; Ida Hagert, 'Aatteen vuoksi', Liekki 15 August 1924; Hemmi Aro, 'Oman luokkansa lapsia', Liekki 10 October 1924; Aarne Linnansaari, Nukkuva kaupunki, Revontulet 16 April 1926.

50. See e.g. Anna Suonio, 'Paulan taistelu', Liekki 22 July 1928; E.L. Suksi, 'Sosialistipuhuja', Liekki 24 May 1929.

51. Iikka Kare, 'Takaisin maankamaralle', Liekki 22 and 29 June, 3 July and 3 August 1928; Taistelijatar, 'Uskollinen vakaumukselleen', Liekki 31 August 1928; Risto Karu, '"Muista kuka olet!"', Liekki 19 October 1928.

52. On the love stories, Ulla Eloranta, '"Villiorvokkien huuma". Naistenviihde populaarikulttuurin kentässä', in Aika on aikaa ... Tutkielma poploresta. Toimittanut Seppo Knuuttila (Helsinki: Gaudeamus, 1975) pp. 166-168.

53. On the earlier discussion, Aimo Roininen, 'Työväenliike tuo työläiset kirjallisuuden kentille', in Järkiuskosta, op.cit. p. 101.