Socialism in Finland

Socialism in Finland is thought to stretch back to the latter half of the 19th century in the Grand Duchy of Finland, with the radicalization of the labour movement and increasing industrialization of Finland.

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The beginnings of the labour movements began in the late 1800s with the establishment of labour unions. The Helsinki Worker's Association [fi] and Tampere Worker's Association [fi] were established in the 1880s and did not originally believe in socialist values. Instead many labour associations and unions were founded by members of the Bourgeoisie. These Labour unions supported the Wrightian labor movement [fi], a socially liberal social movement that sought to advance liberal interests and cooperation, such as cooperation with the temperance and feminist movement.^[1]

This time period for the working class movement was dubbed the Wrightian era. Much of the labour movement during the time period had extremely strong connections to political parties such Young Finns, as the Labour Association was led by them from 1897-1898.^[1] Yrjö Mäkelin would become the chairman of the labour movement in the 1890s,^[2] and would found Kansan Lehti, a socialist newspaper in December 1898.^[3] Radicalization of the labour movement would come in the 1896, when information about the demands of the labour movements in other countries in Europe had reached Finland.^[1] This led to the Second Workers' Association Assembly being held in Tampere, in which more socialist ideas were adopted to the belief of the labour unions.^[4] This marked the end of the Wrightian era, due to the dissatisfaction with the liberal cause,^[1] especially among labourers. The arrival of socialist ideas from overseas led to the labour movement and unions perusing the socialist cause, these labour unions would found the Finnish Labour Party in Turku in 1899.^[5]

The Finnish Labour Party was founded based off the principles of the mainstream labour movement. The Labour Party adopted the following program as immediate and necessary goals of the movement, with later goals to be debated upon:^[6]

• General, equal, and direct voting rights for all Finnish citizens aged 21 and over, regardless of gender, in all elections and votes. Proportional representation system. Two-year legislative terms. Elections and votes to be held on a legally designated rest day.
• Legislation and the right of self-taxation for the people through the Parliament.
• Complete freedom of association, assembly, expression, and press.
• Working hours to be reduced to 8 hours. The maximum working hours and minimum hourly wage for state and municipal work to be implemented immediately.
• General compulsory education. Free education in all institutions. Primary school to be organized as the foundational school for all higher institutions.
• The military burden to be greatly reduced, and the idea of peace to be developed and practically implemented.
• Complete equality between men and women.
• A general prohibition law on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages to be enacted.
• Labor protection legislation to be developed. The number of labor inspectors to be significantly increased, and assistants from the working class to be appointed for them. Female inspectors to be appointed as well.
• Gradually increasing income and inheritance taxes. Elimination of all indirect taxes.
• Workers' insurance to be taken under state care.
• Free legal proceedings and free medical assistance.
• The position of movable population tenants and smallholders to be improved.

The labour movement in Finland began to gain new found popularity in Finland due to the attempted Russification of Finland (1899–1905), defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and growing class consciousness amongst Finns.^[7] The Social Democrats grew fast in popularity and were unordinary compared to the Russian Socialists, who were forced to operate underground.^[8] All camps of the political spectrum grew to disdain the Russian Governorship, especially the nationalists, leading to the assassination of Nikolai Bobrikov by Eugen Schauman.^[7]

In August, a large amount of workers and students had demanded universal voting rights, this led to worries in the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, who began demanding the resignation of the Old Finnish Party government.

On 30 October, a general strike was proclaimed in Helsinki's Senate Square and in Tampere's Keskustori by workers, who were later joined by students.^[9] The strike began first with the railway workers and spread further on from there. The strike paralyzed the nation, in which most schools, factories, shops and offices were closed, and the strike shortly later spread to Viipuri, Turku and Oulu.

The goal of the socialist movement had originally been moderate, a simple protest against the Russian Governorship. However the general strike had moved the Social Democrats towards the left with the influx of new people sympathetic to the cause, in which the moderates and unionists became the minority.^[8] Workers' strike committees were established in Tampere, and across many cities "street parliaments" became a common occurrence. All of this was much too radical for many Young Finns and Svecomen.^[10] The demands of the Social Democrats had changed, and their new demands such as a unicameral parliament and equal voting rights for all citizens, were too radical for some. Especially to the Young Finns and to the Finland-Swedes, characterized as the most conservative of the radicals, they began to detach themselves from the movement.^[10]

National Guards [fi] were created in 1905 as a united front of workers and students against the Russian Governorship.^[11] However due to the increasing radicalization of the labour movement, the National Guards split, leading to their eventual separation and the creation of the respective Red Guards and White Guards in Finland.^[12] The Red and White Guards were dissolved following the end of the general strike, and would not come back officially until the Finnish Civil War.

On 1 November, the Red Declaration was issued in Keskustori, Tampere, the declaration demanded for equal voting rights for all citizens, and the disestablishment of the Senate, to be replaced by a National Parliament. These demands were then later sent to Helsinki on 4 November, at which point they were accepted. On November 4 in Rautatientori, Helsinki, a provisional government was elected as required by the Red Declaration.

On 29 January 1918, Red Guards and radicals in the Social Democratic Party succeeded in a plot of occupying the Senate House in Helsinki. A Red Government, called the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic would be declared. The Government would be a socialist state, and the Eduskunta would be replaced by the Central Workers' Council, which supervised the Finnish People's Delegation (Government). The Central Workers' Council would be composed of forty delegates, of which 15 represented the Social Democrats, 10 represented the Finnish Trade Union Federation and Red Guards each, and 5 represented the Helsinki Workers' Council.^[13]

The Red Guards would serve as the official military for the state, and would fight the Whites during the Civil War. Around 100,000 people would come to serve in the Red Guard, of which 2,000 were members of the Women's Red Guards.^[14] The Constitution for the Red Government was based on the United States and Swiss Constitution and took ideas from the French Revolution.^[13] The Red Government would silence criticism by banning anti-revolutionary newspapers such as Det Vita Finland and Valkoinen Suomi.

The Red Government would capitulate on 5 May 1918 during the Battle of Ahvenkoski. Following the capitulation of the Red Government, several prominent socialists would flee Finland to Soviet Russia in fears of persecution. During the Civil War, the Red Guards had committed atrocities known as the Red Terror, where political violence was carried out through executions. Toijala and Kouvola were the centers of terror, where 300–350 Whites were executed between February and April 1918.^[15] Around ten priests and ninety moderate socialists were executed by the Red Guards. Sometimes landowners, police officers, industrialists, civil servants and teachers were also executed by the Red Guards.^[15]

Following the Civil War, many of the radical-wing of the Social Democratic Party, fled to Soviet Russia, especially to Soviet Karelia. In 1918, the Communists organized the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) in Moscow. The SKP was banned in Finland for having tried to topple the legitimate government and therefore was made illegal to be a part of. Despite this, the SKP still operated underground in Finland, organizing events at workplaces and at public places. In these meetings illegal revolutionary material would be read. The Communist movement was under strict watch by the Finnish Secret Police/Intelligence Service (Etsivä keskuspoliisi, EK), and Communist meetings would often be broken up and Communists would be sent to prison for treason at Tammisaari or Hämeenlinna.^[16]

The SKP was a member of the Communist International and its policies were one-to-one with it, and it would often use front organizations, such as the Socialist Workers' Party of Finland (1920–1923) and the Socialist Electoral Organization of Workers and Smallholders (1924–1930).^[17] Communist organizations would be officially banned throughout the 1930s with the Communist laws. In the Soviet Union, with Stalin's Great Purge, the influence of the SKP was significantly limited, as leaders and members of the Communist Party were executed/killed.^[18]

The SKP would often send in agents into Finland, trying to influence the public to either bring back the Red Guard or to influence and use other socialist or communist parties as their puppets in elections. However this did not work, as the EK would often capture their informants and agents.^[17]

Many socialists and conservatives worked together during the Winter War against the Soviet Union, because they saw the importance in Finnish independence, this led to the rise and creation of organizations such as the Union of Finnish Brothers-In-Arms [fi], these organizations were also made as a counter-balance against the Finland–Soviet Union Peace and Friendship Society, which was a Soviet-backed anti-war propaganda organization.

Following the Winter War, sympathizers to the Soviet Union and her actions were removed from the Social Democratic Party. These sympathizers became known as the "six", and they set up their own faction within parliament known as the 'Socialist parliamentary group'.^[19] The Continuation War, was a controversial topic within many mainstream parties, and it was opposed by many socialists, who viewed it as a war of aggression and saw it as unjustifiable for the Finns to be allied with Nazi Germany. This sentiment only grew as the war took more and more of a toll on Finnish living standards and as the war turned to a stalemate in East Karelia and it led to the formation of the Peace opposition group.

During the Continuation War, communists would attempt to organize a resistance movement in Finland to end the war with the Soviet Union. Infrastructure sabotage and espionage for the Soviet Union was the main method of resistance, however for Soldiers who refused to enter service and fight in East Karelia against the Soviet Union became known as the Metsäkaarti (Forest Guard).^[20] Olavi Laiho, who led the Forest Guards in Turku,^[21] was a communist that spied for the Soviet Union, and also the last Finn to be executed.^[22] During the Continuation War and the Lapland War, there were 32,186 deserters, of which a large amount were communists, or at least anti-fascists, mostly refusing service due to Finland's Brothers-in-Arms policy with Nazi Germany. In Hämeenkyrö, Kittilä and Kolari were the largest concentrations of deserters or Forest Guards,^[23] there were an approximate 100 Forest Guards, which represented around 10% of the reservists in the municipality.^[20] In Tampere, a socialist youth resistance movement would oppose the war by performing domestic terrorism against trains and public infrastructure.^[24]

The Social Democratic Party during the 1950s and 1960s was at fray with the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc, due to its party election of 1957 choosing Väinö Tanner to its leadership, who was a convicted war criminal.^[25] This alongside other 'mishaps' by the Social Democrats led to the Night Frost Crisis, which led to crisis within the Social Democrats due to the Soviet Union not accepting the authority of their government. The Social Democrats began to skew their foreign policy to be more favourable to the Eastern Bloc and the USSR, in hopes of warming relations with the Soviet Union.^[26] The Social Democrats, from the 1950s to the 1960s would cooperate with the National Coalition Party, this phenomenon would be called the Aseveliakseli [fi], or the Brothers-in-Arms Axis. In 1961, the Social Democrats alongside most other parties in Parliament, would form a united front against Urho Kekkonen, to prevent his reelection, this was called the Honka Front [fi], named after Olavi Honka, however Honka gave up on his election campaign against Kekkonen due to the Note Crisis.

The Social Democratic Party faced a split in the late 1950s, due to the election of Väinö Tanner. This alongside the feuds of Väinö Leskinen and Aarre Simonen with Emil Skog, who had been the previous leader of the Social Democrats for over ten years and who was criticized for moving increasing right,^[27] led to the creation of the Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders (TPSL), a rival social democratic political party which was increasingly more conservative and Pro-Kekkonen. The TPSL continued to operate as a separate political party, holding seats in the Eduskunta, losing all their held seats in the 1970 Finnish parliamentary election, when they only received 1.7% of the national vote, and finally being dissolved in 1972. The party split also caused the disintegration of the trade unionist movement, leading to the cementation of two 'rival' trade unions, that believed in two different variations of social democracy, the Finnish Federation of Trade Unions (SAK) and the Finnish Trade Union Federation (SAJ), which united to form the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions in 1969.^[28]

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The Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL) was founded as a big tent socialist political party after the Continuation War,^[29] when Communism had been forcefully relegalized by the Soviet Union as per the stipulations of the Moscow Armistice.^[30] The Communists held the most influence and sway within the party, as they made up the majority of the party following the most influential socialists within the party either dying or leaving it.^[31] However the variety in Communism was apparent, and this was a major reason for the party not outright merging with the Communist Party of Finland (SKP), who was Marxist-Leninist, which led to fears of the possibility authoritarianism. Despite the opposition to merging the SKP and the SKDL, the two operated together and the SKP held much influence over the SKDL, with the SKP participating in elections on the list of the SKDL.^[29]

Due to the Moscow Armistice, Communism was relegalized in Finland by the Soviet Union.^[30] This allowed the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) to reemerge legally and Communists were released from prison after the Continuation War in October 1944.^[32] The Communist Party would receive financial assistance from the Soviet Union,^[33] and the Communist Party was believed to have approximately 40,000 members in the mid-1960s.^[34] The Communist Party would officially believe in Marxism–Leninism until the 1966 Party Assembly, when Aarne Saarinen began to move the party towards Eurocommunism.

In 1990, The Communist Party of Finland (SKP) decided to unite with the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL) and Democratic Alternative (DV) to form the Left Alliance, a democratic socialist political party. This marked the end of political activity for the SKP, and the SKP declared bankruptcy in 1992 and was officially dissolved in 1996, then removed from the association register in 1999.^[35]

Within the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) arouse conflicts over Eurocommunism and the party's relationship with the Soviet Union, Taisto Sinisalo was the main proponent against Eurocommunism and wished to take an even more favourable position towards the Soviet Union than the party already had.^[36] Taistoism, a term to refer to the ideology of Sinisalo, was often referred to as Stalinist and was born out of the conflict between Taisto Sinisalo and Arvo Aalto, alongside the Prague Spring, when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia. The Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia was extremely controversial, and caused a split within the party when the party officially declared to be against the invasion, and when the Kymenlaakso District of the SKP defended the actions of the Soviet Union.^[37] Taistoism was a famous ideology in Finland and Sinisalo became a known person to the public, especially after a Helsingin Sanomat article on the movement and Kulttuuritaistolaisuus, or 'Cultural Taistoism'.

Cultural Taistoism was the phenomenon of Taistoist messaging being spread through popular culture, especially in the political music movement of the 1970s in Finland. Love Records, a famous record company known for their Taistoist and Marxist-Leninist songs was highly influential, them alongside individual bands and musical groups such as Agit-prop and KOM-teatteri were known across Finland.^[38][39] Thousands of Taistoists would be expelled from the Communist Party throughout 1985–1987, and they would organize into the Communist Party of Finland (Unity) (SKPy).^[40] The SKPy which rebranded itself to the Communist Party of Finland in 1994, is the successor of the Communist Party and believes in Marxism-Leninism.

The Social Democrats in the 21st century advocate for deficit-spending to fund popular social programs, such as universal health care, among other policy ideas.^[41] The party is in favor of NATO membership, LGBT rights, such as same-sex adoption rights and for the establishment of an 'environmental administration'.^[42]

The Party has held office three times from 1999–, which includes the Lipponen II Cabinet, Rinne Cabinet and the Marin Cabinet.

• History of socialism
• Far-right politics in Finland

• Proposed Constitution for Red Finland