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The Finnish Communist Party

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

John H. Hodgson
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Extract

Interest in Finnish communism has been high in recent years and seems to be, at least in part, a reflection of two facts. First, the Finnish party, like the Communist parties of Italy and France, has been able to poll at least 20 percent of the popular vote in parliamentary elections. Second, the father of Finnish communism, Otto Kuusinen, was from 1957 until his death in 1964 a member of the Secretariat and Presidium (Politburo) of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The reader should, however, keep in mind that Finnish communism has a long and dramatic history dating back to the formation of the party in 1918. This history falls logically into three periods: 1918-30, when the party was in theory legal but in practice illegal; 1930-44, when the party was formally proscribed; and 1944 to the present, a period during which the party has been able to act in the open as a registered, legal organization.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , March 1970 , pp. 70 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1970

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References

1. Further information on the civil war and the early years of the Finnish Communist Party can be found in Hodgson, John H., Communism in Finland : A History and Interpretation (Princeton, 1967), p. 53–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2. Ilkka, Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue ja sen vaikutus poliittiseen ja ammatilliseen tyovaenliikkeeseen, 1918-1928 (Porvoo, 1966), pp. 19, 25.Google Scholar In 1930 the Finnish Bureau was replaced by a Politburo (KK : n poliittinen toimikunta), which had more authority than its predecessor and was larger in size. Ville Pessi to author, Aug. 31, 1967.

3. Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, p. 25; Arvo Tuominen to author, Oct. 2, 1962; Toivo Hjalmar Langstrom to author, Sept. 13, 1962; Jaakko Kivi to author, Apr. 26, 1962. The core of the Finnish Bureau was its political section, which, according to Kivi, served as a coordinating link between other sections (trade union, youth, athletic, and cooperative jaostot).

4. Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, p. 26; Tuominen, Arvo, Sirpin ja vasaran tie (Helsinki, 1957), p. 306.Google Scholar

5. Tuominen asserts that he was elected to the Central Committee of the Finnish Communist Party in 1921. Tuominen, Sirpin ja vasaran tie, p. 306; idem, , Kremlin kellot (Helsinki, 1957)Google Scholar, p. 268. But Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, p. 23, indicates that it was not until 1925, at the fifth party congress, that Tuominen became a member of the Central Committee.

6. Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, pp. 184-87. Of interest in terms of the composition of the radical left in Finland in the 1920s is the fact that 59.4 percent of the people convicted of treason (valtiopetos and maanpetos) from 1921 through 1928 were under thirty years of age. Ibid., p. 141. The youthful nature of the radical left is also brought out in Hodgson, Communism in Finland, pp. 105, 105-6n.; Marvin, Rintala, “The Problem of Generations in Finnish Communism,” American Slavic and East European Review, 17, no. 2 (April 1958) : 195–96 Google Scholar; Martti, Noponen, Kansanedustajien sosiaalinen tausta Suomessa (Porvoo, 1964), p. 166.Google Scholar

7. Hodgson, Communism in Finland, pp. 100-101; T. Hj. Langström, in Vapaa Sana, June 26, 1949, p. 3 ; Antti Hyvönen, “Sosialistisen työväen puolueen perustaminen,” Kommunisti, 1967, no. 8, p. 265; Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, pp. 137-38. See also Hertta Kuusinen, in Vapaa Sana, June 27, 1949, p. 3.

8. Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, pp. 137, 139, 168; Antti Hyvönen, “SKPn maanalainen lehdistö, I,” in Kansan Uutiset, Apr. 25, 1961, p. 4; Kyösti Seppänen, “SKPn illegaalinen lehdistö 1918-44, II,” Kommunisti, 1966, no. 1, p. 19; Kheimo, M. and Tivel, A., eds., 10 let Kominterna v resheniiakh i tsijrakh (Moscow and Leningrad, 1929), p. Leningrad.Google Scholar

9. Suomen kommunistinen puolue : Puoluekokousten, konferenssien ja kcskuskomitean plenumien päätöksiä, 1 (Leningrad, 1935) : 50.

10. Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, p. 167; Antti Ojala to author, Sept. 20, 1962.

11. Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, pp. 174, 174-75n. The Finnish Parliament is composed of two hundred representatives, and the seats won by the SSTP in the 1922 election reflected 14.8 percent of the total popular vote.

12. Langström to author, Sept. 13, 1962.

13. Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, pp. 197-98. The results of Finnish parliamentary elections from 1907 through 1966 can be found conveniently in Jaakko, Nousiainen, The Finnish Political System, trans. Hodgson, John H. (Cambridge, Mass., 1970), tables 8 and 16.Google Scholar

14. Jalmari Kuusela to author, Mar. 31, 1962; Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, pp. 187-90.

15. Kuusela to author, Mar. 31, 1962. Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, p. 26, indicates that the Central Committee representative, Jaakko Kivi, became a member of the Finnish Bureau in 1925. Kivi, however, states that from 1921 to 1928 he served on the Finnish Bureau and for the last five of those seven years acted as its secretary. Kivi to author, Apr. 26, 1962.

16. Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, pp. 184, 197; Suomen kommunistinen puolue, p. 297; International Press Correspondence, 9, no. 34 (July 19, 1929) : 726.

17. The most extensive and best documented analysis of the Lapua movement is Marvin, Rintala, Three Generations : The Extreme Right Wing in Finnish Politics (Bloomington, 1962).Google Scholar

18. The Greater Finland concept is examined by Rintala, ibid., pp. 71-121; idem, “Finland,” in Hans, Rogger and Eugen, Weber, eds., The European Right : A Historical Profile (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1966), pp. 408–42Google Scholar; idem, , “Aärioikeisto Suomen poliittisessa elämässä 1917-1939,” Politiikka, 1963, no. 3, pp. 87–112.Google Scholar

19. Sirola, Yrjö, in Työmies (Superior, Wis.), Sept. 5, 1928, p. 3.Google Scholar Sirola's position in the party is noted in Hodgson, Communism in Finland, p. 84; Erkki, Salomaa, Yrjö Sirola : Sosialistinen Humanisti (Helsinki, 1966), pp. 283, 285.Google Scholar

20. August Niemistö to author, Aug. 2, 1967. Niemistö, who joined the Communist Party in 1923, was editor in chief of the newspaper.

21. Työväentöj'drjestbjen Tiedonantaja, Mar. 10, 1930, p. 2.

22. Valtiopäivät 1930 pöytäkirjat (Helsinki, 1930), pp. 454, 497, 945, 959, 1027, 1045. See also Hodgson, Communism in Finland, pp. 136-37n.

23. Komntunisti, Oct. 15, 1932, no. 19 (103), p. 885; Siwmen kommunistinen pnolue, p. 386.

24. Hakalehto, Suomen kommunistinen puolue, pp. 139-40; Savon Työ, Sept. 14, 1929, p. 3; Hugo M. Ahokanta to author, Apr. 27, 1962. Ahokanta, who joined the Communist Party in its infancy, was one of the most important figures opposed to the 1928 Comintern resolutions.

25. Kansan Uutiset, Apr. 26, 1961, p. 4; Rantanen, S. Hj., Kuljin SKP : n tietä (Helsinki, 1958), p. 154.Google Scholar

26. Inkeri Lehtinen to author, Aug. 3, 1967; Toivo Karvonen to author, Aug. 9, 1967. The figure cited by Karvonen is much too high according to one of the most prominent Finnish Communists. Pessi to author, Aug. 31, 1967.

27. Päivän Sanomat, Mar. 15, 1960, p. 3; Paasikivi, J. K., Toimintani Moskovassa ja Suomessa, 1939-41, 1 (Porvoo, 1958) : 112 Google Scholar, 123 (this belief in the workers was also the gist of a conversation between the author and the Terijoki minister of the interior; Tuure Lehen to author, Jan. 11, 1963). History of the Great Patriotic War, referred to in Uusi Suomi, Sept. 22, 1966, pp. 9, 24.

28. Helsingin Sanomat, June 13, 1958, p. 6.

29. Kipinästä tuli syttyi (Helsinki, 1958), p. 207; Is istorii kommunisticheskoi partii Finliandii (Moscow, 1960), p. 118.

30. Sakari, Karttunen, Ystävyys vastatuulessa : Suomen-Neuvostoliiton ratthan ja ystävyyden seuran myrskyinen taival vuonna 1940 (Helsinki, 1966), p. 67.Google Scholar There was, in fact, some truth to the charges made by Ryoma against the Social Democratic leaders. See Hodgson, Communism in Finland, pp. 175-78, 175n., 198n.

31. Karttunen, Ystävyys vastatuulessa, pp. 37-38, 60.

32. Ibid., pp. 46, 53, 96, 116.

33. Hodgson, Communism in Finland, pp. 191-93, 191n., 192n. See also Karttunen, Ystdvyys vastatuulessa, pp. 119, 129.

34. Karttunen, Ystävyys vastatuulessa, pp. 52, 146-47. From 1945 until his death in 1958 Ryömä was a member of the Central Committee and the Politburo of the Finnish Communist Party.

35. Upton, Anthony F., Finland in Crisis, 1940-1941 : A Study in Small-Power Politics (Ithaca, 1965), pp. 266–67, 269, 275, 285, 292-93Google Scholar. See also Hodgson, Communism in Finland, pp. 194-96.

36. Martti V. Terä, in Uusi Suomi, May 18, 1967, p. 2, argues that it was Kalle Lehmus who exercised the greatest influence on Finland's top political leaders (korkein valtionjohto) during the period immediately preceding the outbreak of the Continuation War.

37. Erkki, Salomaa, Tavoitteena kansanvalta : Suomen työvädenliikkecn vaihcita vnosina 1944-1960 (Helsinki, 1964), pp. 37–38 Google Scholar; Martti Malmberg, in Kommunisti, Nov. 6, 1945, no. 44-45 (51-52), p. 21; Rozdorozhnyi, I, “40 let Kompartii Finliandii,” Agitator, 1958, no. 17 (September), p. 36 Google Scholar; Kuusinen, Hertta, in SKPn vuosikirja, 11 (Helsinki, 1955) : 8.Google Scholar

38. Zhukov, E. M., ed., Sovetskaia istoricheskaia entsiklopediia, 1 (Moscow, 1961) : 25 Google Scholar; Kansan Uutiset, Feb. 2, 1966, p. 1. In 1969 Pessi was replaced by Arvo Aalto as general secretary of the party. Aalto, a party member since 1951, had been secretary of the Lapland district organization.

39. Yrjo, Leino, Kommunisti sisäministerinä (Helsinki, 1958), pp. 33–34, 192Google Scholar; Hertta, Kuusinen, “Vääriä virtauksia työväenliikkeen sisällä,” Kommunisti, Apr. 10, 1945, no. 14-15 (21-22), pp. 10–11Google Scholar; Kauko Heikkila, “'Vasemmistolaisista’ syrjäpyrkimyksistä SKP : ssä,” ibid., Apr. 17, 1945, no. 16 (23), pp. 3-4; Hertta Kuusinen, in Kipinästä, p. 242; Suomen Sosiaalidemokraatti, Sept. 26, 1948, p. 1.

40. Miettinen, Iu. E., “Bor'ba kommunisticheskoi partii Finliandii za demokratizatsiiu strany v 1944-1948 godakh,” Novaia i noveishaia istoriia, 1964, no. 3, p. 10.Google Scholar From 1948 until 1966 Communists were excluded from the Finnish Cabinet. See Hodgson, Communism in Finland, pp. 205, 230-31; idem, , “The Finnish Communist Party and Neutrality,” Government and Opposition, 2, no. 2 (January-April 1967) : 285–87.Google Scholar

41. Kommunisti, Nov. 6, 1945, no. 44-45 (51-52), p. 21, and May 22, 1945, no. 21 (28), p. 8.

42. Katsaus Suomen Kommunistisen, pp. 6-7, 10; Kommunisti, 1954, no. 12, pp. 722- 23; Suomen Kommunistisen Puolnecn toiminnasta, pp. 54-55; Suomen Kommunistisen Puolueen XIV cdustajakokous (Kuopio, 1966), pp. 60-61.

43. Suomen Kommunistisen Puolueen XII edustajakokous (Helsinki, 1960), p. 65; Suomen Kommunistisen Puolueen toiminnasta, p. 54.

44. Uusi Päivä, Apr. 26, 1966, p. 2, Apr. 29, 1966, p. 3, and May 1, 1966, p. 4. The Finnish party has had three chairmen in the postwar period : Aaltonen, 1944-45 and 1948-66; Aaro Uusitalo, 1945-48; and Saarinen.

45. Työmies, Sept. 5, 1928, p. 3; Kommunisti, Nov. 6, 1945, no. 44-45 (51-52), pp. 21-22, 1963, no. 4, p. 133, and 1951, no. 11-12, p. 656; Salomaa, Tavoitteena, p. 119; Suomen Kommunistisen Puolueen toiminnasta, p. 55; Katsaus Suomen Kommunistisen, pp. 8-10; Työkansan Sanomat, Sept. 3, 1948, p. 3 ; Suomen Kommunistisen Puolueen XI, p. 63; Kansan Uutisct, Apr. 16, 1963, p. 6. In one district organization, Helsinki-Uusimaa, the intelligentsia percentage appears to be slightly higher. See Suomen Kommunistisen Puolueen XI, p. 370.

46. Aimo Aaltonen, in Kommunisti, 1951, no. 11-12, p. 656. See also Suomen Kommunistisen Puolueen XI, p. 67; Suomen Kommunistisen Puolueen XIV, p. 116.

47. Rintala, “The Problem of Generations,” pp. 192-93, 200. One should, however, bear in mind a point made by another political scientist, Key, V. O. Jr., in Politics, Parties, and Pressure Groups, 4th ed. (New York, 1958), p. 1958 Google Scholar : “The political scars of war project themselves powerfully, through the generations, into peacetime antipathies toward old enemies and loyalties to old comrades in arms.“

48. A history of the SKDL from a Communist point of view has been written by Irena, Wilhelmus, “Dvadtsat’ let demokraticheskogo soiuza naroda Finliandii,” in Skandinavskii sbornik, 10 (Tallinn, 1965) : 111–34.Google Scholar

49. Salomaa, Tavoitteena, pp. 51, 53, 115; Yrjö Enne, in Vapaa Sana, Mar. 19, 1946, p. 3; J. W. Keto, ibid., Mar. 24, 1946, p. 7.

50. Mauno, Tamminen, “Krepit1 edinstvo deistvii trudiashchikhsia—nasha pervoocherednaia zadacha,” Partiinaia shizn, 1959, no. 19, p. 70 Google Scholar; Salomaa, Tavoitteena, pp. 124, 290.

51. Vapaa Sana, June 3, 1952, p. 3.

52. Ville, Pessi, Eräistä SKP : n sisäisen tyon kysymyksistä (Helsinki, 1966), p. 6 Google Scholar; SKDL : n toimintakertomns V ja VI, p. 17; SKDL : n toimintakertomus VI ja VII, pp. 28-29.

53. Jaakko, Nousiainen, Suomen poliittinen järjestelmä, rev. ed. (Porvoo, 1967), pp. 73–74 Google Scholar; SKDL : n toimintakertomus VI ja VII, p. 29. See also Kansan Uutiset, May 13, 1967, p. 2, and Sept. 1, 1966, p. 5; Ele Alenius, “SKDL yhteiskunnassamme,” in Keijo, Immonen, ed., Puolueiden pnheenvitoro (Helsinki, 1965), p. 13.Google Scholar

54. Hertta Kuusinen, quoted in Suomen Kommunistisen Puolueen XI, p. 245; SKDL 5. liittokokous 4.-7.4.1958 (Kotka, 1958), p. 52; SKDL.n toimintakertomus V ja VI, p. 18; SKDL : n toimintakertomus VI ja VII, pp. 25, 30; Jorma Hentilä to author, Aug. 30, 1967. Hentilä, a young member of the Communist Party, holds one of the three most important positions in the SKDL.

55. Ele Alenius to author, Aug. 11, 1967. See also Alenius, , “Uusi SKDL nykypäivän Suomessa,” in Kansan Untiset, May 14, 1967, pp. 4, 10.Google Scholar

56. Hodgson, Communism in Finland, pp. 211-13.

57. The eighteen were K. H. Wiik, Y. Raisanen, J. Helo, C. Sundstrom, K.-M. Rydberg, M. Pekkala, R. Svento, Y. Manninen, V. Lehtonen, S.-K. Kilpi, E. Kilpi, K. Kilpi, Atos Wirtanen, Irma Rosnell, Martti Linna, T. Salin, E. Alenius, and L. Männistö. Rydberg and Rosnell later joined the Communist Party.

58. Gallup polls, referred to in Helsingin Sanomat, Mar. 1, 1966, p. 13, Dec. 9, 1966, p. 16, and Jan. 6, 1967, p. 10. See also Kansan Uutiset, Mar. 16, 1966, p. 5.