The Sower Commune: An American-Finnish Agricultural Utopia in the Soviet Union
Abstract In 1922 a group of idealistic American Finns decided to go to Soviet Russia to build an agroindustrial commune. After a harsh start, the Sower agricultural commune with its tractors and other modern machinery became a model farm that received a lot of attention as well as visitors from othe...
Published in: | Journal of Finnish Studies |
---|---|
Main Author: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
University of Illinois Press
2011
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.5406/28315081.15.1.2.06 https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jfs/article-pdf/15/1-2/52/1609012/52ylikangas.pdf |
id |
crunivillinoispr:10.5406/28315081.15.1.2.06 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crunivillinoispr:10.5406/28315081.15.1.2.06 2023-07-30T04:04:36+02:00 The Sower Commune: An American-Finnish Agricultural Utopia in the Soviet Union Ylikangas, Mikko 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.5406/28315081.15.1.2.06 https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jfs/article-pdf/15/1-2/52/1609012/52ylikangas.pdf en eng University of Illinois Press Journal of Finnish Studies volume 15, issue 1-2, page 52-85 ISSN 1206-6516 2831-5081 journal-article 2011 crunivillinoispr https://doi.org/10.5406/28315081.15.1.2.06 2023-07-16T14:36:39Z Abstract In 1922 a group of idealistic American Finns decided to go to Soviet Russia to build an agroindustrial commune. After a harsh start, the Sower agricultural commune with its tractors and other modern machinery became a model farm that received a lot of attention as well as visitors from other parts of the Soviet Union and even from abroad. It succeeded in something that had not been thought possible. In less than a decade, the communards turned the dry steppe into a granary and a green orchard. But living and working on the isolated steppe proved to be dull, especially for those who had come from the United States or Canada and from very different economic and cultural conditions. Then, when more and more non-Finnish people joined the commune, the original communards started to feel themselves marginalized. Therefore, in 1930 a majority of the Finns left the Sower commune and moved to Soviet Karelia to start a new collective farm—the Hiilisuo. That experiment ended tragically with the Great Purge of 1937. Article in Journal/Newspaper karelia* UI Press - University of Illinois Press (via Crossref) Canada Journal of Finnish Studies 15 1-2 52 85 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
UI Press - University of Illinois Press (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crunivillinoispr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract In 1922 a group of idealistic American Finns decided to go to Soviet Russia to build an agroindustrial commune. After a harsh start, the Sower agricultural commune with its tractors and other modern machinery became a model farm that received a lot of attention as well as visitors from other parts of the Soviet Union and even from abroad. It succeeded in something that had not been thought possible. In less than a decade, the communards turned the dry steppe into a granary and a green orchard. But living and working on the isolated steppe proved to be dull, especially for those who had come from the United States or Canada and from very different economic and cultural conditions. Then, when more and more non-Finnish people joined the commune, the original communards started to feel themselves marginalized. Therefore, in 1930 a majority of the Finns left the Sower commune and moved to Soviet Karelia to start a new collective farm—the Hiilisuo. That experiment ended tragically with the Great Purge of 1937. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ylikangas, Mikko |
spellingShingle |
Ylikangas, Mikko The Sower Commune: An American-Finnish Agricultural Utopia in the Soviet Union |
author_facet |
Ylikangas, Mikko |
author_sort |
Ylikangas, Mikko |
title |
The Sower Commune: An American-Finnish Agricultural Utopia in the Soviet Union |
title_short |
The Sower Commune: An American-Finnish Agricultural Utopia in the Soviet Union |
title_full |
The Sower Commune: An American-Finnish Agricultural Utopia in the Soviet Union |
title_fullStr |
The Sower Commune: An American-Finnish Agricultural Utopia in the Soviet Union |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Sower Commune: An American-Finnish Agricultural Utopia in the Soviet Union |
title_sort |
sower commune: an american-finnish agricultural utopia in the soviet union |
publisher |
University of Illinois Press |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.5406/28315081.15.1.2.06 https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jfs/article-pdf/15/1-2/52/1609012/52ylikangas.pdf |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
karelia* |
genre_facet |
karelia* |
op_source |
Journal of Finnish Studies volume 15, issue 1-2, page 52-85 ISSN 1206-6516 2831-5081 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5406/28315081.15.1.2.06 |
container_title |
Journal of Finnish Studies |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
1-2 |
container_start_page |
52 |
op_container_end_page |
85 |
_version_ |
1772816150434938880 |