and because in their opinion they (the cooperatives) are not only steps to reinforce the capitalistic system and thereby only hinder economic development from reaching the point where it would become necessary to make all production facilities the property of the people. One can acknowledge this stand as being correct in part, and it would lead us with less trouble to the desired goal if the workers could be made to understand this and to fight for it. But it must be acknowledged that the workers, with the exception of a small minority, cannot be made to comprehend the necessity of the overthrow of the present order; it can much more easily be attracted to the cause by presenting small economic improvements." The statement was followed by two resolutions adopted by the meeting, "acknowledging completely the utility of the cooperative movement" and "considering itself not in a position to specifically urge cooperative establishments to be founded but leaving it as a matter for each local party unit to decide."

The Työmies newspaper had taken the stand that if the labor movement did not utilize the opportunities the cooperative movement offered then the enemies of the workers would use it as a weapon against this creed. 24 The Työmies published articles about the cooperative movement at very frequent intervals and later even provided a page set aside for such news. Furthermore, the publishers of the Työmies began to publish a monthly, Pelto ja Koti (Field and Home) devoted exclusively to the interests of farmers and cooperative folk. Its regular contributors were, among others, Professors A. S. Alexander and J. G. Halpin of the University of Wisconsin. Almost all cooperative movement periodicals appearing in England, Canada, or the United States were scanned and all usable articles were translated and offered to the Finnish readers. 25 And the slogan that cooperatives were "one important weapon in the socialist class struggle" was adopted at the Smithville meeting of 1912.

It is difficult to determine precisely when the Finnish-American cooperative `baby' was born. F. J. Syrjälä has stated that in the 1890s the Astoria fishermen already had cooperative ventures, 26 and certainly after the turn of the century such ventures appeared in the Midwest with the profusion of `mushrooms after rain,' as the Pelto ja Koti proudly stated. The strongest period of growth was at the end of World War I, when more than a

24. Työmies, 1 October 1904

25. Report of the Proceedings of the First American Cooperative Convention, Springfield, Ill. 1918. New York 1919. p 251

26. Syrjälä F. J. Historia-Aiheita Amerikan Suomalaisesta Työväenliikkeestä. Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 1925

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