| Isak Penttala | |
| Office1: | Member of the Parliament of Finland |
| Constituency1: | Vaasa Province South |
| Term Start1: | 4 March 1927 |
| Term End1: | 20 July 1951 |
| Predecessor1: | Kaarlo Saari |
| Birth Date: | 8 February 1883 |
| Birth Place: | Isokyrö, Russian Empire |
| Death Place: | Seinäjoki, Finland |
| Party: | Social Democratic Party of Finland |
| Occupation: | Newspaper editor |
Isak Penttala (8 February 188328 February 1955) was a Finnish newspaper editor, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Vaasa Province South between March 1927 and July 1951.[1] Prior to being elected, he was imprisoned for political reasons during and following the Finnish Civil War.[1]
Penttala was born on 8 February 1883 in Isokyrö in the west of the Grand Duchy of Finland.[1] [2] He was the son of crofter Juho Penttala and Maria Holkko.[1] He studied at public school, Work People's College in Duluth, Minnesota (1911-1912) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) college in Helsinki (1913).[1] [2]
As a teenager Penttala migrated to the USA where he held various jobs between 1902 and 1913: in an iron factory, in a sawmill, in a coal mine, as a fisherman, as a writer for the Toveri magazine and as an agent for the magazine in the western states.[1] [3]
Penttala was the secretary of the Vaasa Province South branch of the SDP from 1916 to 1917.[1] [2] He was amongst tens of thousands of leftists who were imprisoned in concentration camps for political reasons by the Whites during and following the Finnish Civil War.[1] Penttala was arrested by the Whites in February 1918 and after interrogation had been recommended for release by Inspector I. W. Markus but the White prosecutors refused.[4] [5] Eventually, after he was produced before the courts, he was released by the state criminal court in Vaasa on 28 November 1918.[6] Following his release, he served as editor of several SDP newspapers: Työläinen (Vaasa, 1919), Kansan Lehti (Tampere, 1920), Raivaaja (Vaasa, 1921, 1924–1926), Vapaus (Mikkeli, 1924) and Pohjanmaan Kansa (Vaasa, 1931).[1] [2] He was a farmer in Isossakyrö from 1920 to 1924.[1]
Penttala was appointed to the Parliament of Finland in March 1927 following the death of Kaarlo Saari.[7] [8] He was re-elected at the 1927, 1929, 1930, 1933, 1936, 1939, 1945, and 1948 parliamentary elections.[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] He was a presidential elector at the 1931, 1937, 1940 and 1943 presidential elections.[1] He was a member of the municipal councils in Isokyrö and Seinäjoki.[1] [3]
Penttala died on 28 February 1955 in Seinäjoki.[1]
Penttala married Sanna Matilda Heikkilä in 1918.[1]