Finnish American communities sent money and equipment to Karelia in the 1920's.  They held dances, raffles, bake sales, etc. to further the Soviet experiment. But it should be emphasized that they supported the Soviet experiment only in Karelia. By 1929 Gylling was faced with dramatic Russian in-migration to Karelia. The new work force was to meet the huge production quotas of Stalin's First Five Year Plan.

By 1930 Gylling had determined to recruit a Karelian work force among North American Finns in order to maintain the Finnish dominance of Karelia.

The recruitment, conducted between 1931 and 1934 succeeded in bringing approximately 10,000 ethnic Finns from North America to Karelia in those years.

Some have argued that the Depression encouraged people to leave North America for the Soviet Union. Recruiters to Karelia were motivated. They received a bonus for each person recruited. But most significant was the recruitment message. Recruiters sought to recruit Finnish speakers to a homeland for Finns in the Soviet Union. For some left wing or leftist Finns the message was irresistible. Finns, who often faced discrimination and poor working conditions as new comers to the immigrant table, were drawn to labor activism. Such activism bred further discrimination. In Karelia, North American Finns were wanted precisely because they were Finns. Their ethnicity bought privilege and, they thought, fulfillment of promises the migration to North America had failed to keep. With the added lure that the Soviet Union provided free education, those with children were drawn to the possibility of educating them in the (Finnish) Soviet Socialist Republic of Karelia.

 

 

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