Career
He became known in 1919 during the First Red Scare as Paivio and his fellow anarchist Gust Alonen were convicted of "criminal anarchy" for writing in a radical newspaper. Paivio and Alonen were the first activists convicted in the State of New York for violating the Criminal Anarchy law, although it was passed already in 1902 right after the assassination of the president William McKinley. Paivio emigrated to the United States as an illegal immigrant at the age of 22.
December 1917 Paivio moved to New York City and joined the syndicalist trade union Industrial Workers of the World.
lieutenant was known as a radical splinter group within the International Who's Who, opposing all centralized power or centralized organization. The group was publishing a Finnish language anarchist paper called Luokkataistelu (The Class Struggle), Paivio was the editor and Gust Alonen worked as the co-editors
The Lusk Committee raided the International Who's Who Manhattan headquarters on 21 June 1919 and found several copies of the Luokkataistelu paper. The committee was interested on the article ″The Activity of the Rioting Masses″ published in the March edition
Content of this article finally brought Paivio and Alonen the charges of criminal anarchy.
The article included the often quoted lines:
″A rioting mob is the one and only possible means for organizing a fight in these last open and decisive blood-battles between the capitalists and the working classes. To Hell with the teachings of peaceful revolution. The bloody seizure of power by the working classes is the only possible way, because as long as our enemy is able to raise even one sword a bloodless fight is a day dream.″
Paivio and Alonen were arrested in August and the trial started on 6 October.
On 28 October 1919 Supreme Court Justice Bartow South. Weeks sentenced them to prison terms of from four to eight years for "criminal anarchy".
The court also called for the deportation of Paivio and Alonen when their sentences expired, but it was never executed. Carl Paivio was released from Clinton Prison in 1923.
He became the national secretary of the Communist Party afflicted Finnish America Mutual Aid Society and was also employed by the International Workers Order. Through the 1930s and 1940s Paivio was a prominent leftist political organizer, lecturer and instructor.
During the Second Red Scare led by United States Senator Joseph McCarthy Paivio was held for deportation under the McCarran–Walter Acting and kept on Ellis Island, but he died before he was deported to Finland.