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Thomas Hyder

An American Journey:
The “Activist” Lives of Gust Alonen and Carl Paivio

A central theme throughout the history of the United States has been the preservation and expansion of individual civil liberties. Beginning with the Bill of Rights in 1791 and continuing with the addition of further Amendments to the United States Constitution, the federal government, and later state governments, have enacted legislation and issued judicial rulings that strengthened and expanded America’s tradition of preserving individual liberties.
There have been, however, times during America’s history where the nation and its people have succumbed to events, both actual and perceived, to break with the cherished practice of protecting the civil liberties of its people. One such episode, the Red Scare, occurred at the end of the First World War with two of Finland’s native sons, Gust Alonen and Carl Paivio, engulfed in these tumultuous events. Their lives became a part of the very fabric of America’s history in the first half of the twentieth century.

Introduction

The first two decades of the twentieth-century were witness to drastic changes throughout America’s economic, social, cultural, and political fabric. The transformation of a rural/agricultural nation to an urban/industrial society; a nation whose traditional foreign policy of isolationism was interrupted by her involvement in the First World War; and a transformational wave of immigration from southern and eastern Europe all contributed to the turmoil and instability felt by the American people and nation.
During the First World War the government of the United States believed that in order to achieve victory it had to assure unity among the American people for support of the war effort. The national government also felt compelled to promote national security by suppressing dissent. To facilitate the latter, the federal government enacted in 1917 the Espionage Act which was designed to combat spying, sabotage, and obstruction of the war effort. The following year the Congress of the United States reinforced the Espionage Act with the Sabotage Act and Sedition Act. Both of these measures made any public expression of opposition to the war illegal and permitted prosecution of anyone who criticized the president of the United States or government. Frequent targets of the government were often members of the Socialist Party and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW.) Members of these groups were often immigrants and labor activists. The government did not cease targeting these groups and their members once the war ended. The federal government continued its prosecution through the actions of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer and what became known as the Red Scare.
This post-war hysteria by the federal government was supplemented at the state level with numerous states enacting their own legislation to root out sabotage and subversive activities. New York State was no exception, but it was the only state that did not have to pass a new series of laws – they already had state “criminal anarchy” laws on the books since 1902.
The city of Buffalo, New York played host to the Pan-American Exposition in 1901. President William McKinley attended the Exposition in September, and on September 6th he was assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. President McKinley succumbed to his wounds on September 14th; Czolgosz was tried and convicted of his crime on September 23. He was sentenced to death and was executed by electric chair at Auburn Prison on October 29, 1901.
In response to this national tragedy and the rampant fear of anarchist activities in the nation, New York State responded with passage on April 3, 1902 of amendments to Title Thirteen of its penal code. The new amendments defined what the State of New York now recognized as “criminal anarchy”:

Criminal anarchy is the doctrine that organized government should be overthrown by force or violence, or by assassination of the executive head or of any of the executive offi cials of government, or by any unlawful means. The advocacy of such doctrine either by word of mouth or writing is a felony.

The key portion of the law that ultimately permitted its widespread enforcement was in how the State defined “advocacy”. Advocacy included any of the following ways to overthrow government: by word of mouth or writing; by printing, publishing, editing, issuing, selling, distributing any written material; by organizing or becoming a member of a group or an assemblage of two or more persons; by editing any type of publication; or by permitting premises to be used for assemblages.
The obvious intent of the criminal anarchy law was to curtail not only direct and lethal acts of violence by anarchists, but also prevent individuals from advocating the violent overthrow of government.

New York State’s Red Scare

This legislation remained dormant until it was resurrected by the New York State Legislature when it established on March 26, 1919 the Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities. “This committee was given broad authority to investigate individuals and organizations in the state that were suspected of promoting the overthrow of the American government in violation of the criminal anarchy articles of the state’s Penal Code”. (Daniel J. Linke, NYS Archives’ Guide to the records of the Joint Legislative Committee.) This Committee is more commonly referred to as the Lusk Committee, named after its chairman State Senator Clayton Lusk of Cortland, New York.
Although primarily focused in New York City, the committee’s activities also occurred in upstate New York cities such as Buffalo, Rochester, Utica and Cortland – the hometown of the committee chairman Clayton Lusk.
“During its investigation, the committee raided the headquarters of suspected radical organizations to gather evidence that these organizations advocated the overthrow of the government. Among the organizations raided were the Russian Soviet Bureau, the Rand School of Social Science, the left wing section of the Socialist Party, the Industrial Workers of the World (all located in New York City), and 73 branches of the Communist Party. Using search warrants in the raids, the committee seized thousands of documents from these organizations, retaining the originals (or making copies) for examination and, in some cases, for inclusion in its final report. In addition, the committee seized financial records and membership lists and shared them with local district attorneys throughout the state, who, on the basis of the lists, indicted many individuals on criminal anarchy charges. The investigation also involved committee investigators who observed mass meetings held by suspected radical groups and reported to the committee on the makeup of the audience and the content of speeches”. (Daniel J. Linke, NYS Archives’ Guide to the records of the Joint Legislative Committee.)
Of the hundreds of New Yorkers arrested as a result of the Lusk Committee investigations only a handful that were charged were convicted of criminal anarchy. Two native sons of Finland, Carl Paivio and Gust Alonen, became during the second half of 1919 targets of the Lusk Committee investigation.

Arrivals in America

When and how did Carl Paivio and Gust Alonen come to the United States? The answer to this question, with any sense of certitude, has proven to be very elusive and puzzling. I thought the following information documented the arrival of both Alonen and Paivio in the United States in 1913. There are too many markers connecting these documents to others to discount them, but their trial testimony creates additional questions.
The passenger ship manifest for the steamship Olympic that arrived in New York City on June 12, 1913 listed Kaarlo Paivio as a passenger. At the age of 19 he left his home village of Toysa and disembarked at New York’s Ellis Island with $25.00 and Marquette, Michigan as his final destination. Paivio’s contact person in Marquette was his sister Lempi Annala who immigrated to the United States three years earlier on May 2, 1910. Both Carl and Lempi identified their father Joha Annala as their contact person in Toysa. Upon her arrival in the United States, Lempi also had Marquette as her final destination. Identified in the ship’s manifest as a servant she indicated that she was to contact her cousin Alma Pakkali at the Hotel Clifton in Marquette.
I thought that Gus Alonen, like Carl Paivio, left Finland in 1913. Unlike Paivio, however, Alonen sought passage on the Canadian ship Royal Edward for Quebec, Canada. Arriving in Quebec on October 25, 1913 Jose Alonen was identified on a passenger list with other passengers as “in transit to USA”. He was 38 years old upon his arrival and indicated that his final destination was Duluth, Minnesota. No documents have been located to verify how and when Alonen entered the United States from Canada.
Supreme Court Justice Bartow S. Weeks’ sentencing statement, as reported in the New York Times on October 28, 1919, has created doubt about the accuracy of Paivio’s and Alonen’s entry into the Untied States in 1913. Weeks' comments about the legality of their immigration to the United States required further investigation. It became imperative to investigate their trial testimony about how and when they entered the United States. After doing so I felt, as it appears Justice Weeks also did, as if I was trying to work my way through a maze and at the end still had no meaningful answers.
Both Paivio and Alonen testified for themselves at their trial. They were questioned by their attorney Swinburne Hale and Justice Weeks. Carl Paivio testified first:

Direct Examination by Mr. Hale:

Will you tell us your full name?
Carl Paivio
How long have you been in America?
1915, I came.
You came in 1915?
Yes.
How did you come to this country?
Sailor.
Did you come on a sailing vessel?
Yes.
What port did you come to?
Dundee. A Finnish sailing ship.
What port did you come to?
Seattle, Washington.
Where did you go from Seattle, Washington?
To Astoria, Oregon.
Did you have a passport?
I did not have anything as I came as a sailor.

THE COURT: You had no passport?
THE WITNESS: I did not have a passport.

Did you go through the Immigration Bureau at Seattle?
No.

THE COURT: Were you admitted by any United States Government Official into the Country?
THE WITNESS: No one spoke to me personally. I came to land, and I stayed here.

THE COURT: Then he just jumped his ship. Is that what he means?
MR. HALE: I don’t want to say what he means.
THE COURT: Straighten it out. As I understand it, a sailor has to sign up for a cruise.
MR. HALE: Not necessarily, sir.
THE COURT: And the Master of any ship who permits a person, who is not a citizen to escape and come into this country without through the regular channels, is himself guilty of an offense. This is my understanding of it. Otherwise our attempts to control immigration would be absolutely futile.
MR. HALE: That is not my understanding of the law, in 1915. But that may of course be brought out.
I am asking simply how he came.
THE COURT: He came here without any passport, on a sailing ship, and when he got here he left the ship and come into the country.

Where did you engage as a sailor upon that ship?
In Finland.
What port in Finland?
At Kotka.
Did you sign any paper when you became a sailor on that ship?
Yes.
What does the paper say?
It said that I would be employed on that ship as a deckhand.

THE COURT: For a voyage to what place?
THE WITNESS: For cruise of six months.
THE COURT: Where to?
THE WITNESS: To Australia.
THE COURT: When did you leave Finland?
THE WITNESS: In 1913.

What month of 1913?
It was towards the fall of the year. I don’t remember whether it was in October or September.
Did the sailing boat go to Australia?
Yes, sir.
When did you land in Seattle?
In 1915, in the fall also.
How long were you on the sailing boat?
I was this entire time since I left.
Were you paid the wages due to you before you left the boat?
Yes, sir.

THE COURT: Didn’t you sign up again after you got to Australia?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: What did you sign for then? Did you sign for a return voyage to Finland?
THE WITNESS: All I did was to sign to stay on the ship further on its return trip.
THE COURT: The return trip to where?
THE WITNESS: It was coming to America, and I only signed for the return trip.
What do you mean by the return trip?
I mean coming back from the place to which she originally was going.

THE COURT: Returning back where?
THE WITNESS: She came to America, and that is all I know about it.

Did the paper that you signed say you were to go back to Finland?
I did not see anything like that.
When did you fi rst come to New York City?
In December, 1917.
Where did you live when you came in December, 1917?
400 East 145th Street.
Now, tell us where you were born?
Finland
What part of Finland?
Toysa Parish.

Did Carl Paivio, as he testified, travel to Australia in 1912 and then on to the United States in 1915? Available documentation does not substantiate Paivio’s trial testimony.
New South Wales, Australia, Government Unassisted Immigration Passenger Lists, 1826-1922 identifies Karl Paivio as a seaman aboard the four-masted steel barque Fennia. The record indicates that the Fennia arrived in Sydney on May 2, 1912. This information is confirmed by another New South Wales document that indicates the Fennia’s arrival on May 2, 1912 and two other arrival dates July 1, 1901 and October 23, 1913. None of these dates collaborate Paivio’s testimony.
The Sydney Morning Herald of Wednesday May 29, 1912 published a notice about the Fennia:
The Russian four-masted barque Fennia, which is bound for the West Coast, via Newcastle, did an expeditious discharge of her cargo – 1,800,000 feet of Baltic pine and 500 tons of iron, the latter being carried as ballast. She took in 500 tons of coal as ballast, the whole work being done within 14 days.
Is the “West Coast” that of the United States, and did the Fennia in fact depart Australia in 1912 and arrive at an American port on its West Coast? Documents for the states of California, Oregon and Washington show that the Fennia had arrivals in California on June 17, 1905; Oregon on September 29, 1905 and March 1, 1907 and Seattle, Washington on March 13, 1907. No arrival in 1912 or 1913 is indicated, nor is Paivio listed on any passenger document for any of these ports. The 1920 Federal Census is the only one that includes Paivio – that was the year he was in prison. His information in the Census indicates that he arrived in the United States in 1914.

Gust Alonen’s testimony was hardly any less confusing:

Direct Examination by Mr. Hale:

Where were you born, Alonen?
Born in Sweden.
What nationality were your parents?
Finns.
Did you go back to Finland from Sweden?
I don’t remember having ever been in Sweden at that time when I was born, but my mother told me that. I lived in Finland. I was so small when I left Sweden, that I don’t remember, but I lived in Finland as a citizen of Finland.
At what age did you begin to work?
I have done work since ever I was six years old.
What trades have you worked at?
I worked at cabinet making, painter, carpenter, sailor, woodsman, and common laborer sometimes. Many others. Fisherman.
How old are you?
42.
How long have you been in this country?
I don’t know how you count it.

THE COURT: What year did you come?
THE WITNESS: I came the first time in 1894.

How old were you then?
17, I think.
What were you doing then, when you came in 1894?
I went to California. I went to Humbolt County and worked in the woods about four years, and then I took a ship and went to Australia.
When did you come back to America again?
In 1906, I think.

THE COURT: 1906?
THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.

Was that the last time you came to this country?
I took a ship in 1913 and went to Australia again from Oregon, and I came back to San Francisco.
When did you come back to San Francisco that time?
In 1914.
What month in 1914? Do you remember?
I cannot exactly say for sure, but it was May or June, I think.
Where did you live in 1914?
I lived in San Francisco, California.
What did you work at there?
Carpenter.
And where did you go from California, and when?
I think I come in 1915 – 1916 it was, I come to New York.
You came to New York in 1916?
Wait a minute. I have been in so many places, that I cannot figure this all out. I get mixed up.
Let me ask you this. How many states of the union have you worked in?
I worked in only two states. California and New York. Also Oregon.
Since you came to New York in 1916, have you remained here continuously?
Yes.
Your residence has been in New York for the last three years, has it?
Yes
What have you worked at in New York?
Carpenter.
Anything else besides a carpenter?
Dock builder.
Carpenter and dock builder, is that all?
Yes, this time that is all.
In the year 1918 where did you live in New York?
In 1918 I lived in 400 East 145th Street.

Worst than Paivio, no Australian or United States passenger or ship record can be found for Alonen during the time period he describes.
Perhaps the testimony by both Paivio and Alonen is truthful. On the other hand, further testimony by Alonen specifically displays his adamant refusal to answer questions that might implicate others and who would then be charged with “criminal anarchy”.
Alonen was asked by the Court for information about an organizational meeting for the publication Luokkataistelu that he already testified had occurred in Harlem. When asked by the Court, “What address in Harlem?” Alonen answered, “I don’t want to describe anything that will lead to somebody else’s arrest”. When the Court once again asked Alonen, “Will you tell us what street that meeting was held at? Alonen once again replied, “I won’t tell anything that leads to arrests”.
Justice Weeks, to be sure, was perplexed by the testimony of Alonen and Paivio, but the Court appeared to have been satisfied with the information that Alonen and Paivio permanently arrived in New York City and both resided in 1918 at 400 East 145th Street. It was from this point that New York State began to build its case against Paivio and Alonen for conspiring to commit criminal anarchy against the government of the United States of America.

Activism and criminal prosecution

When the United States entered the First World War it created a military conscription, or draft, to provide the manpower that was needed. In 1917 and 1918 over 24 million men registered for the military draft. Gust Samuel Alonen was one of those 24 million. He indicated that he was born on March 21, 1877 and resided at 400 East 145th Street Bronx, New York with his wife Ida Alonen. Alonen was employed as a dock builder by the George Spiering Company of Brooklyn, New York.
No World War I registration, on the other hand, was found for Paivio. He did, however, register as Carl Einar Paivio for the World War II military draft registration as was required by all men born between April 28, 1877 and February 16, 1897. He indicated that he was born on November 23, 1893 in Toysa, Finland and resided at the time of this registration in 1942 at 94 East 123rd Street in New York. He was employed as a “field man” for the International Workers Order located at 80 Fifth Avenue New York. Alonen was not required to register for the World War II draft because he was born before April 1877.
The one thing that is certain for both Paivio and Alonen is that in the years surrounding the First World War they were both members of the International Workers of the World (I.W.W.) A group of Finns, which included Paivio and Alonen, became a splinter group within the I.W.W. They represented a “decentralist” group within the I.W.W. According to the Lusk Committee report to the New York State Legislature in 1920, these Finns “… were anarchists adhering to syndicalist principles but did not believe in any kind of centralized power, centralized organization or centralized government”. The Committee further concluded that even though the “… group was thoroughly anarchistic, it was apparent that they desired to carry on their propaganda under the cover of the I.W.W., and as exponents of the doctrine of decentralism”.
Paivio and Alonen were members of a Finnish I.W.W. local in the Bronx – a borough of New York City. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a feminist radical, I.W.W. member, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the fi rst female head of the American Communist Party remarks in her autobiography “The Rebel Girl: An Autobiography, My First Life (1906–1926)” that this I.W.W. Bronx local was torn apart by an anti-communist feud.

Alonen and Paivio were at the center of this schism. Wanting to promote a more radical philosophy they collaborated in publishing the Finnish language publication “Luokkataistelu” – “The Class Struggle”. Carl Paivio was the editor and Gust Alonen the associate editor.
Again, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn recalls in her autobiography that the I.W.W. Bronx local brought Alonen and Paivio up on charges as “Communists”, “A lengthy document was prepared by their accusers, giving all the ‘evidence’ of their Communist sympathies and attachments. This was turned over to a higher body – a central committee of all I.W.W. locals….”. This was the I.W.W. headquarters at 27 East Fourth Street in Manhattan that on June 21, 1919 became the target of investigation by the Lusk Committee.

During their raid on the I.W.W. headquarters the Lusk Committee uncovered copies of “The Class Struggle”. The article of primary interest to the Committee from the March 1919 issue of “Luokkataistelu”, was entitled “The Activity of the Rioting Masses”, It is the content of this article from which the charges of criminal anarchy were made against Carl Paivio and Gus Alonen. The significant portion of the article used in the indictment was:
“It is part of our duty to ask you individuals and groups of the working class who have remained true to your ideals no longer to ask of you comrades during the strikes and other demonstrations to remain peaceful, because through that time the class which is in power will receive courage to destroy us and to imprison us. Don’t show them any more friendship and do not support this system of theirs with your almighty work, but organize into mobs. Destroy everything which gets in the way of your aspirations and is property of the enemy….
Practically only through mob action can be used the most effective weapon of the working class – sabotage. (Only made obligatory by circumstances of a mob fight.)
To hell with the peaceful teaching of revolution. The only possible rise to power of the working class is bloody, because as long as our enemy is able to raise even one sword a bloodless fight is a day dream”. (New York Times October 10, 1919)
The Lusk Committee investigators needed to employ their best investigative skills to ascribe authorship of the “anarchist” statements to Paivio and Alonen. The investigation led the committee to Emil Kaarna a printer who identified Alonen and Paivio as the men he communicated with about printing “Luokkataistelu”. Alonen was arrested on August 7, 1919 in New York, but Paivio was out of the state. Letters found in Alonen’s possession from Paivio indicated that he was in Detroit, Michigan. As a result, Paivio was arrested by New York and Michigan law enforcement officials in Detroit on August 13, 1919.
The judicial system moved quickly with the trial of Paivio and Alonen starting on October 6, 1919 and ending twenty-three days later. Both men were the first to be convicted in New York State of criminal anarchy, “…based on [the] articles alleged to have been written or offered for publication by the defendants advocating overthrow of government”. (New York Times October 25, 1919)
On October 28, 1919 Supreme Court Justice Bartow S. Weeks sentenced Gust Alonen and Carl Paivio to prison terms of from four to eight years in New York’s Sing Sing Prison. In imposing this sentence Justice Weeks said:
“Before imposing sentences I want to impress upon both of you defendants and also upon your friends and followers, and through them upon the entire country and every one in this country, not only aliens who decline to accept the privileges here, but also upon the unbalanced citizens of this country, whether native born of naturalized, that in the opinion of this country the crime of which you have been convicted is but another form on treason and that the proper and legal punishment for treason is death and that those who violate the statute are fortunate that the punishment is limited to imprisonment. It is just as much treason to issue and promulgate such literature as you men have been found guilty of promulgating as if you had actually organized an army to attack the Government of the United States, because you were only taking in this article the first step. This was not the last step you intended to take. This article counseled the overthrow of Government by force and the use of arms. Some one who I am satisfied was one of your group not only believe in that, but actually prepared themselves to use force by means of arms”. (New York Times October 29, 1919)
The court also called for the deportation of both Paivio and Alonen to Finland when their sentences expired. The court believed that the information that Paivio and Alonen gave the court as to how they came to the United States would assist the authorities and make deportation easier.
Gus Alonen and Carl Paivio were far from the only individuals prosecuted in New York State under the State’s criminal anarchy legislation. Hundreds were indicted but few were convicted and served a prison sentence after conviction. Those who were convicted in New York State became the focus of an effort by the American Communist movement to raise funds for their legal defense. To achieve that end, the American leftist community created in 1920 the National Defense Committee. Their fund raising efforts were highlighted with a poster
“Class War Prisoners in New York State” which included the pictures of Gus Alonen and Carl Paivio.

The journey renewed

Even though Justice Weeks warned both Alonen and Paivio in his sentencing that after their prison term ended they would face deportation; that did not happen. For the next three decades Alonen and Paivio’s lives took separate paths as they both continued, however, to be involved with the American left.
It appears from all accounts that Gus Alonen remained in the northern suburbs, Westchester County, of New York City for the next three decades. At the time of his arrest and imprisonment, Alonen was married to a Finnish immigrant Ida and they had a son Elmer. In the 1920 Federal Census Alonen was listed as an inmate in Auburn prison in upstate New York. He was transferred there from Sing Sing prison to which he was originally assigned by the court. Once Alonen was released from prison in 1923 the family relocated to Westchester County. New York City’s northern suburbs in the 1920’s and 1930’s became a haven for many members of New York’s leftist organizations. Numerous “utopian” communities were established in Westchester including one named Mohegan Colony. “Mohegan Colony was founded in the twenties [1923] as an anarchist community, populated by, as one long time observer of the scene puts it, ‘a bunch of idealists who wanted to get away from crassness and materialism” (Roger M. Williams, American Heritage Magazine, April 1976.) Williams also mentions that’ “… Ben Gitlow, a high [Communist] party official lived at Mohegan”. The members of the Colony established a school based on the principles of the Modern School movement founded by the Spanish anarchist educator Francisco Ferrer.
A first-hand view of the Mohegan Colony is provided by Paul Avrich in his book “Anarchist Voices: An Oral history of Anarchism in America”. Avrich reveals that, “There were six or seven Finns, including Gus Alonen, a builder by trade, who built one of the first houses there and helped in the building of the school. He believed in health foods, sauna baths, and chiropractic”. And so it was when the 1930 Federal Census listed Gus Alonen, Ida and Elmer as residing at 178 Mohegan Colony in the Town of Cortlandt in Westchester County New York. Alonen owned his home, valued at $3,000, and was identified as a carpenter of buildings. Gus Alonen was 50 years of age, Ida 45, and Elmer 10. It appears that Alonen made the deliberate decision for his family to live in a community that provided a supportive environment for the political views and life style he wanted to continue with after his release from prison.
Further evidence for Alonen’s residency in Westchester County during this time period is the immigration record in September 1929 for his wife and son. They are identified as returning to the United States from a trip to Finland where they visited Ida’s family. Ida’s home village was Kankaanpaa and she was visiting her uncle Juho Ylipeijari in Jamijarvi. Signifi cant to this timeline, however, is the fact that Ida denotes her husband Gus Alonen of Peekskill, New York (Westchester County) as her contact person in the United States.
On the lighter side, another confi rmation of Alonen’s residency in Peekskill is a Canadian border crossing document for November 7, 1932. Alonen crossed into Canada at Rock Island, Quebec with $80.00 in his possession and in search of Christmas trees. Alonen indicated that he was a businessman engaged in the sale of Christmas trees. He also identified his wife Ida as his contact person in Peekskill, New York. Alonen and his wife continue their residency in Peekskill through the next decades. Again, Avrich recalls in his oral history that Alonen “...was killed in an automobile accident on Crompond Road [Peekskill] during the 1950’s”. In addition his wife Ida died in July 1982, as recorded in the Social Security Index, in Peekskill.
Carl Paivio’s life upon his release from Clinton prison in 1923 was similar to Gus Alonen’s in that he continued to remain involved in leftist organizations. His World War II registration form from 1943 indicated that he was employed by the Industrial Workers Order at 80 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan as a “field man”. Over the next few years he relocated within New York City a number of times. He eventually became the national secretary of the Finnish America Mutual Aid Society, and continued through the 30’s and 40’s to be a prominent leftist political organizer, lecturer, and instructor. These activities required him to travel extensively throughout this period.
In 1946 Paivio made a trip to Finland to visit his family. He left in October with a ticket paid for by the Mutual Aid Society and returned at the end of December. He now indicated that his residence was in the Bronx and that he remained unmarried.
Once again, after the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, the United States became embroiled in another “Red Scare;” this time the Mc-Carthy Era. United States Senator Joseph McCarthy led the movement to uncover suspected Communists in the American government, school systems, and organizations deemed a threat to the United States. This was in so many ways similar to the events surrounding the First World War. Carl Paivio once again found himself accused of being a Communist. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn confirmed in her autobiography that, “… Carl Paivio later became a Communist, was held for deportation under the McCarran Law and kept on Ellis Island for many months”. The New York Times on April 18, 1952 published the obituary for Carl Paivio indicating that he “…came to this country as a young man from Finland. He became a member of the carpenter’s union and because of his activities was sentenced to jail for several years…. He had been charged with being a Communist, and deportation proceedings were pending against him”.
It is obvious that from the outset of their arrival in the United States both Carl Paivio and Gus Alonen became “activists” in America’s leftist movement. Even though a generation separated the two, Paivio was 24 and Alonen 42 when they entered Sing Sing Prison on October 28, 1919, they found common ground as the two collaborated as editors of “Luokkataistelu”. Paivio and Alonen were the first targets of New York State’s Lusk Committee to face trial for violating the State’s criminal Anarchy law. They, like all “activists” in the leftist movement in the United States, were at various times referred to as organizers, anarchists, socialists, and communists. It appears that Paivio and Alonen could and were characterized as all of them. There is no doubt, however, that the lives of Gust Alonen and Carl Paivio were tightly interwoven with the major events of the history of the United States in the first half of the twentieth century.

Resources

Ancestry.com Border Crossings: From United States to Canada 1908-1935.
New South Wales, Australia, Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1862-1922.
New York Passenger Lists 1820-1957
Social Security Death Index.
United States Federal Census 1920 and 1930.
World War I Draft Registration Cards 1917-1918.
World War II Draft Registration.

Literature

Avrich, Paul, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America, AK Press 2005.
Avrich, Paul, The Modern School Movement: Anarchism and Education in the United States, AK Press 2006.
Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley, The Rebel Girl: An Autobiography, My First Life (1906-1926) International Publishers, NY 1973.
Gitlow, Benjamin, I Confess: The Truth about American Communism, E.P.Dutton 1940
New South Wales, Australia State Records, Index to Vessels Arrived, 1837-1925.
New York State Legislative Documents, Volume 17, New York State Legislature 1921.
New York State Legislature Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities, Revolutionary Radicalism (Vol. I-II), J. B. Lyon 1920.
New York State Archives, Receiving Blotter for Carl Paivio Sing Sing Prison, October 28, 1919.
New York State Archives, Receiving Blotter for Gust Alonen Sing Sing Prison, October 28, 1919.
New York State Archives, Transcript Register of Male Inmates for Carl Paivio Auburn Prison Volume 4 December 9, 1919.
New York Times, October 10, 1919; October 11, 1919; October 25, 1919; October 29, 1919; August 4, 1951; August 18, 1952.
The People of New York State vs Carl Paivio and Gust Alonen, Trial Transcript October 8, 1919.
Pfannestiel, Todd J., Rethinking the Red Scare: The Lusk Committee and New York’s Crusade Against Radicalism, 1919-1923, Routledge, New York 2003.
Sydney Morning News, Sidney Australia May 29, 1912.

Photo's

Carl Paivio and sister Heidi Annala. Source: “Carl Paivio Papers, Box 1, Folder 1, Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota” http://ihrc.umn.edu/

Carl Paivio 1919. Source: “Revolutionary Radicalism”
Report of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee, April 24, 1920

Gust Alonen 1919. Source: “Revolutionary Radicalism”
Report of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee, April 24, 1920.

Class War Prisoners in New York State. Source: “Carl Paivio Papers, Box 1, Folder 2, Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota” http://www.ihrc.umn.edu/

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Thomas Hyder is retired educator of United States history and economics. BA and MA degrees in history from State University New York, Cortland with additional graduate work in history at the University of South Carolina. Primary research interests are in United States immigration. Recent research and presentations have involved the development and use of digital resources for the teaching of immigration history.

Siirtolaisuus-Migration 2/2011 - pp. 21-30.
An American Journey: The “Activist” Lives of Gust Alonen and Carl Paivio
http://www.siirtolaisuusinstituutti.fi/art/pdf/SM_2011_2.pdf