With Sanna Kannasto and A.T. Hill, he was one of the key figures in the Finnish Canadian socialist movement of the early 1900s.
In June 1905 Päiviö began as the editor of Raivaaja (The Pioneer), the Eastern newspaper of the Finnish Socialist Federation located in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
Ten years later Päiviö became the editor of literary and women's magazine Liekki (The Flame) that was established in 1935.
Päiviös literary work include hundreds of poems published in several anthologies, three novels and six plays, of which three were for children.
[5] Päiviö's son, Allan Paivio, was an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Western Ontario.