Populaarikulttuuri sosiaalistumisväylänä: Tampereen työväestön julkiset huvit 1860-luvulta vuoteen 1917

Abstract

Suomen alkavan teollistumisen keskukseksi muodostui 1800-luvun jälkipuoliskolla Tampere. Kaupunki oli pitkään Suomen ainoa selväpiirteinen teollisuusyhdyskunta, jossa työväestöä oli kolme neljäsosaa asukkaista vielä pitkälle 1900-lukua. Tampere kasvoi ja kehittyi tehdasvetoisesti ja teollisuus sai työtekijänsä lähimaaseudulta.

Tutkimusajanjakson 1860-luvulta vuoteen 1917 muita tamperelaisia yhteiskunnallisia ja kulttuurisia projekteja teollistumisen ja kaupungistumisen lisäksi olivat kansalaistuminen ja kansallistuminen. Populaarikulttuurista julkisine huveineen muodostui työväestölle tärkeä kouluttautumisväylä modernin suomalaisen yhteiskunnan jäsenyyteen. Integraatiovaiheita olivat kasvatus, itsekasvatus ja viihde.

Kansallisromanttisen kansanvalistusaatteen sisäistänyt sivistyneistö järjesti yleishyödyllisiä, salonkiohjelmaisia, kasvattavia kansanhuveja rahvaalle. Työväestön kärkijoukko otti haasteen vastaan ja alkoi tehtaalaisseuroissaan opiskella seuranäyttelemistä, kuorolaulua ja torvisoittoa. Osassa työväestöä heräsi omakohtainen sivistymishalu ja järjestöelämää pönkittämään kehiteltiin uusi huvilaji, ohjelmalliset iltamat. Iltamien ohjelmanumerot olivat tehtaalaiseuroissa omaksuttua salonkipohjaista musiikkia ja näyttelemistä. Työväestö siis omaksui sääty-yhteiskunnan itsellisten kulttuuria ja prosessin tuloksena oli yhtenäistyvä, tasa-arvoistuva yleiskulttuuri. Prosessi ei kuitenkaan päättynyt tähän, vaan itsellisyyden itsekin saavuttanut, tässä vaiheessa toisen polven työväestö jatkoi eriytymistään ja sen käsissä yleiskulttuuri sai erityisiä yhteisöllisiä ja viihteellisiä muotoja. Työväestön joukkojärjestöt esimerkiksi ammattiosastot sekä voimistelu- ja urheiluseurat järjestivät innokkaasti tanssiaisia ja urheilukilpailuja. Näistä sekä elokuvista ja teatterista tuli kaiken kansan massaviihdettä.

Kansanvalistuksesta kertovat tekstit ovat yleisesti antaneet sankarin roolin sivistyneistölle, joka ymmärsi valistaa kansaa. Mielestäni rahvas otti valistuksen vastaan itselleen edullisena. Valistuminen oli heille selviytymisstrategia. Markkinatalous, teollistuminen ja kansalaistuminen olivat suuri haaste ja työväestön pääjoukko vastasi siihen olemalla kunnon työmiehiä ja myös oikeaoppisia huvittelijoita.

POPULAR CULTURE AS A WAY OF INTEGRATING INTO SOCIETY The public entertainments of the working class in the city of Tampere from the 1860s to the year 1917

1. The city of Tampere and the themes of the study

During the latter half of the 19th century Tampere became the centre of the early Finnish industrialisation. The city was for a long time the only pronounced industrial community in Finland, where still till late in the 20th century three fourths of the population were workers. In the middle of the 19th century Tampere was a small town with a population of only around 3,000 people, but already by the end of the century the number had increased tenfold. The rapid growth already begun in the late 1880s continued in the 20th century and in the 1910s the number of inhabitants had increased to 45,500. Workers were recruited from the countryside to supply the demands of the growing industry. Most of the migrating work force was comprised of landless workers from the immediate neighbourhood of Tampere. As the main branch in Tampere was textile industry, the majority of factory workers were women. Another special feature of the factory work force was child labour, which was used until the end of the 19th century. Industrial factories produced a population structure in which the population was young and women in majority, but the growing number of families reduced the significance of this structural bias. Industrialisation and urbanisation meant change at many levels, both socially and culturally.

In this study I examine first and second generation working class inhabitants of Tampere and their leisure in the period of time from the 1860s to the year 1917. The beginning of the study in the 1860s was a time of civil activism in connection with the new principle of openness and the emerging of the press. The study ends in the year when Finland gained independence. The beginning of the 20th century was characterised by consolidation of industrialisation and urbanisation as well as the making of civic society, and by independence a new period of transition began in the lives of the working class in Tampere. The aim of this study is to examine what was the life of pleasure of the working class in Tampere like in practise, what were its functions and consequences. The source material mainly consists of pieces of news and advertisements for amusements in local newspapers, material produced by local and government authorities, documents of associations, recollections in text and in interviews, histories of Tampere and scientific studies. Points of view in studies of art, culture and history are utilised in the study.

2. Popular culture as a way to make modern society

Richard Middleton states that the meaning of the term popular culture should always be determined according to the context. The essential feature in popular culture is, however, that it is a part of the common tradition of some social group. According to my interpretations, during the examined period of time in this study, from the 1860s to the year 1917, there were three different stages of popular culture to be found. The earliest stage in this development is represented by soirée concerts and shows of itinerant theatres, amusements which belonged to the entertainment culture of the educated classes. These philanthropic amusements offered to the working class by the intelligentsia were the early form of organised popular culture of the working class. Later, entertainment evenings and public celebrations with performances such as choir singing, brass music, amateur dramatics and sporting represented the early working class popular culture of their own. The changeover to market economy, international trade connections, industrialisation and urbanisation on the whole, as well as development in graphic industry created the prerequisite for the international and commercial development of popular culture. In the early 20th century the life of pleasure among the working class, and in wider perspective the whole population of Tampere, reached this third stage of popular culture, which was markedly commercial and entertaining. Industrially produced mass entertainment in forms of movies and records was a commodity with a price.

The institution of public amusements advertised in newspapers aided the working class adaptation to full membership of their society in transition. Public entertainment, which was in accordance with the principle of bourgeois openness, was a significant way of integrating into society. Public entertainment is a part of popular culture. Characteristically popular culture is a part of common tradition; on the one hand it sticks to its traditions, on the other hand it is flexible, since every member of a social group takes part in defining its popularity. Thus also in Tampere popular entertainment culture became a way of integrating into society, which enabled the gradual adaptation of bourgeois culture. I characterise this survival battle of the working class as a three-phase progress in the fields of education, self-improvement and entertainment.

The period between 1865-1885 was the time of class society and the culture was dominated by Protestant set of values. Uniting forces of the class society were the doctrine of tripartition of secular, religious and domestic government as well as the Lutheran church. The class society was divided into cultures of the gentry and local cultures of the lower classes. Industrialisation and the migration of the lower classes to the towns in order to find work in factories brought about changes in the pastime traditions. The whistle of the factory marked a clearer division between working time and leisure. Greater free time and some money to spare provided by the monetary wages paid by the factories made it possible to choose new forms and contents for one s leisure in this urban environment. Since the 1850s, ideals promoted by the educated classes were liberalism and fennomania, i.e. a national movement for making things Finnish. The intelligentsia became concerned that industrialisation would lead to moral decline in the working population. This motivated the intelligentsia to provide rational recreation or amusement with instruction for their enlightenment in accordance with the new principle of liberal openness. Popular entertainment with programme suiting the ideals of the Finnish national movement was the only pastime connected with class society that brought together the intelligentsia and the lower classes.

The period between 1886-1905 was the time of transformation into a civic society. Social reformists founded elementary schools and the lower classes were active in popular movements and mass organisations. In 1886 a workers association led by the intelligentsia was founded. Ten years later a coup was staged inside the labour movement and the workers themselves got onto the board. At the same time eagerness to form trade unions with the aim of self-improvement expressed the working class demand for a more egalitarian society. Culturally the period was markedly dominated by the liberal ideals of enlightenment. The aim of the intelligentsia was to create a homogenous national culture. Fennomania, liberalism, social reforms and the working class aim of self-improvement created the prerequisite for naturalisation and nationalisation, i.e. for equal participation in society of adjectively equal Finnish citizens.

The period between 1906-1917 saw the formation of a class society within which the social class division became politicised and which was dominated by cultures of compartmentalising social groups. In Tampere as elsewhere, the labour movement was in the background of the formation of the social classes. In the late 19th century the labour movement had started to radicalise, and the process continued in the 20th century. In autumn 1905 the working class went out on general strike, the main demonstration of which took place in Tampere. As a consequence from political activity and universal suffrage in 1906 the working class in Tampere recognised themselves as a distinct social class in its own right with democratic rights. By speech, song and poetry the working class asserted their capability for equal citizenship and participation in society. As a part of their organised association culture, the working class spent their leisure time at their own entertainment evenings. Performances included choir singing, brass music, plays, gymnastics, folk dances and comic songs. Singers of comic songs were popular artists who made their living performing both at entertainment evenings and in their own special concerts and selling their records. The life of pleasure in the period between 1906-1917 was not only organised and collective but also increasingly commercial and characterised by pure entertainment. Sports and gymnastic associations organised commercial dances and sports events. The characteristically urban mass entertainment, such as the cinema and the theatre, was a great success.