Työväen Sivistysliiton "Agricola"
Hjalmar Eklund, liiton ensimmäinen sihteeri
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37456/tvt.83048Abstract
The Workers´ Educational Association WEA of Finland (TSL) was founded on the first of September 1919 in Helsinki. The real founding father was professor Väinö Voionmaa, a member of parliament. The first secretary for the organization was found a couple of weeks later in Turku: chief editor of a local labour newspaper, Hjalmar Eklund (1880–1937). Eklund became a student in 1899, and he graduated as a Master of Arts in 1903. Later in his life, he studied mathematics and philosophy in Göttingen and Leipzig. He worked as a school teacher of mathematics and natural sciences, and he was active in a social democratic youth club in Turku. During the Civil War in 1918, Eklund took part in the Red government of Finland. As a consequence, he was sentenced to prison after the war. In the late autumn of 1918, he was released conditionally. He was not allowed to continue as a teacher. When Eklund was asked to become the first secretary of the TSL he first hesitated, but then he took up the post. He supervised the small office with an eager, friendly and hearty attitude. Besides his post in the TSL, he was also known as one of the most important figures in Finland in mathematical logic. He resigned in October 1926 from the TSL and moved back to Turku where he worked as a mathematician for an insurance company.
