Socialism in Finland dates back to the latter half of the 19th century in theGrand Duchy of Finland, with thepolitical radicalisation of thelabour movement due to increasingindustrialisation andurbanisation. Socialism still has an effect on current Finnish politics, with many different socialist political parties in Finland.
The labour movement began with the establishment ofworkers' associations in the late 1800s. The first workers' association was theHelsinki Workers' Association [fi] in 1883, which did not holdsocialist beliefs. Many workers' associations were founded by members of theBourgeoisie, and these associations supported theWrightian labour movement [fi]. The Wrightian labour movement was asocially liberal movement that sought to advance liberal interests, such as cooperation with thefeminist andtemperance movements.
The man behind this labour movement wasViktor Julius von Wright [fi], a smallindustrialist who had grown worried by the rise of socialism during his visit toGermany andDenmark, and thus intended to curb the rise of socialism in Finland by fixing some of the ills brought about by industrialisation, while keeping control of the movement in the hands of the upper classes. The labour movement was inspired by the DanishArbejderforeningen af 1860 [da] and GermanState Socialism.[1][2]
During the Wrightian era the labour movement grew rapidly in geographic terms and by the end of the 1880s most large towns had their own association. In the mid 1890s even most small industrial towns had one. Membership however was not as widespread and altogether the workers' movement had mobilized less than 5,000 people.[2]
Along with organizational structure another significant achievement of the Wrightian era was the founding of working-class newspapers and magazines. Papers likeArbetaren–Työmies [fi] routinely published articles about European socialists and their methods – such as strikes – which introduced these ideas to Finnish workers as well, and unlike conservative newspapers did not explicitly condemn them.[2]
Exposure to foreign influences slowly radicalized the Finnish workers' movement during the first of the half 1890s while workers themselves began occupy more central positions in the movement. The Wrightian era saw its end at Second Workers' Association Assembly held inTampere in 1896, in which more socialist ideas were adopted in the workers' associations.[1][3]
Another significant step towards political independence was taken in the lead-up to the elections for the Diet of 1899. TheFirst Russification Period had begun and the bourgeoisie in particular wanted to present a unified front towards Russia, while the radical wing of the workers' movement wanted to abstain from the election completely as a protest against the delays met by the new suffrage act. The radical wing won the debate inside the movement, and many old Wrightians – including von Wright himself – left. In the fallout of this final political divide between the working class and the bourgeoisie, the workers decided to found their own party, theFinnish Labour Party.[4]
The Finnish Labour Party was founded based on 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:[5]
The labour movement in Finland began to gain new found popularity in Finland due to the attemptedRussification of Finland (1899–1905), defeat in theRusso-Japanese War and growingclass consciousness amongst Finns.[6] The Social Democrats grew fast in popularity and were unordinary compared to the Russian Socialists, who were forced to operate underground.[7] All camps of the political spectrum grew to disdain the Russian Governorship, especially the nationalists, leading to the assassination ofNikolai Bobrikov byEugen Schauman.[6]
In August, a large number 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 theOld Finnish Party government.
On 30 October, a general strike was proclaimed inHelsinki'sSenate Square and inTampere'sKeskustori by workers, who were later joined by students.[8] 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.[7] 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 manyYoung Finns andSvecomen.[9] The demands of the Social Democrats had changed, and their new demands such as aunicameral parliament and equal voting rights for all citizens, were too radical for some. Especially to the Young Finns and to theFinland-Swedes, characterized as the most conservative of the radicals, they began to detach themselves from the movement.[9]
National Guards [fi] were created in 1905 as a united front of workers and students against the Russian Governorship.[10] 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.[11] The Red and White Guards were dissolved following the end of the general strike, and would not come back officially until theFinnish Civil War.
On 1 November, theRed Declaration was issued in Keskustori, Tampere, the declaration demanded for equal voting rights for all citizens, and the disestablishment of theSenate, to be replaced by aNational Parliament. These demands were then later sent to Helsinki on 4 November, at which point they were accepted. On November 4 inRautatientori, 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 theSenate House in Helsinki. ARed Government, called the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic would be declared. The Government would be asocialist state, and the Eduskunta would be replaced by theCentral Workers' Council, which supervised theFinnish People's Delegation (Government). The Central Workers' Council would be composed of forty delegates, of which 15 represented the Social Democrats, 10 represented theFinnish Trade Union Federation and Red Guards each, and 5 represented the Helsinki Workers' Council.[12]
The Red Guards would serve as the official military for the state, and would fight theWhites during the Civil War. Around 100,000 people would come to serve in the Red Guard, of which 2,000 were members of theWomen's Red Guards.[13] The Constitution for the Red Government was based on theUnited States andSwiss Constitution and took ideas from theFrench Revolution.[12] The Red Government would silence criticism by banning anti-revolutionary newspapers such asDet Vita Finland and Valkoinen Suomi.
The Red Government would capitulate on 5 May 1918 during theBattle 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 theRed Terror, where political violence was carried out through executions.Toijala andKouvola were the centers of terror, where 300–350 Whites were executed between February and April 1918.[14] 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.[14]
Following the Civil War, many of the radical-wing of the Social Democratic Party, fled toSoviet Russia, especially toSoviet Karelia. In 1918, the Communists organized theCommunist Party of Finland (SKP) inMoscow. 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 atTammisaari orHämeenlinna.[15]
The SKP was a member of theCommunist International and its policies were one-to-one with it, and it would often usefront organizations, such as theSocialist Workers' Party of Finland (1920–1923) and the Socialist Electoral Organization of Workers and Smallholders (1924–1930).[16] Communist organizations would be officially banned throughout the 1930s with theCommunist laws. In theSoviet Union, with Stalin'sGreat Purge, the influence of the SKP was significantly limited, as leaders and members of the Communist Party were executed/killed.[17]
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.[16]
Many socialists and conservatives worked together during theWinter War against theSoviet Union, because they saw the importance inFinnish independence, this led to the rise and creation of organizations such as theUnion of Finnish Brothers-In-Arms [fi], these organizations were also made as a counter-balance against theFinland–Soviet Union Peace and Friendship Society, which was a Soviet-backedanti-war propaganda organization.
Following the Winter War, sympathizers to the Soviet Union and heractions 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'.[18] TheContinuation War, was a controversial topic within many mainstream parties, and it was opposed by many socialists, who viewed it as awar of aggression and saw it as unjustifiable for the Finns to be allied withNazi 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 inEast Karelia, leading to the formation of thePeace 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 inEast Karelia against the Soviet Union became known as the Metsäkaarti (Forest Guard).[19]Olavi Laiho, who led the Forest Guards in Turku,[20] was a communist that spied for the Soviet Union, and also the last Finn to be executed.[21] During the Continuation War and theLapland War, there were 32,186 deserters, of which a large amount were communists, or at leastanti-fascists, mostly refusing service due to Finland's Brothers-in-Arms policy with Nazi Germany. InHämeenkyrö,Kittilä andKolari were the largest concentrations of deserters or Forest Guards,[22] there were an approximate 100 Forest Guards, which represented around 10% of the reservists in the municipality.[19] In Tampere, a socialist youth resistance movement would oppose the war by performingdomestic terrorism against trains and public infrastructure.[23]
The Social Democratic Party during the 1950s and 1960s was at fray with the Soviet Union and itsEastern Bloc, due to itsparty election of 1957 choosingVäinö Tanner to its leadership, who was aconvicted war criminal.[24] This alongside other 'mishaps' by the Social Democrats led to theNight 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.[25] The Social Democrats, from the 1950s to the 1960s would cooperate with the National Coalition Party, this phenomenon would be called theAseveliakseli [fi], or the Brothers-in-Arms Axis. In 1961, the Social Democrats alongside most other parties in Parliament, would form aunited front againstUrho Kekkonen, to prevent his reelection, this was called theHonka Front [fi], named after Olavi Honka, however Honka gave up on his election campaign against Kekkonen due to theNote Crisis.
The Social Democratic Party faced a split in the late 1950s, due to the election of Väinö Tanner. This alongside the feuds ofVäinö Leskinen andAarre Simonen withEmil Skog, who had been the previous leader of the Social Democrats for over ten years and who was criticized for moving increasing right,[26] led to the creation of theSocial 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 the1970 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, theFinnish Federation of Trade Unions (SAK) and theFinnish Trade Union Federation (SAJ), which united to form the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions in 1969.[27]
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TheFinnish People's Democratic League (SKDL) was founded as abig tentsocialist political party after the Continuation War,[28] whenCommunism had been forcefully relegalized by the Soviet Union as per the stipulations of theMoscow Armistice.[29] 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.[30] 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 wasMarxist-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.[28]
Due to theMoscow Armistice, Communism was relegalized in Finland by the Soviet Union.[29] This allowed theCommunist Party of Finland (SKP) to reemerge legally and Communists were released from prison after theContinuation War in October 1944.[31] The Communist Party would receive financial assistance from the Soviet Union,[32] and the Communist Party was believed to have approximately 40,000 members in the mid-1960s.[33] The Communist Party would officially believe in Marxism–Leninism until the 1966 Party Assembly, whenAarne Saarinen began to move the party towardsEurocommunism.
In 1990, The Communist Party of Finland (SKP) decided to unite with theFinnish People's Democratic League (SKDL) andDemocratic Alternative (DV) to form theLeft 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.[34]
Conflicts overEurocommunism 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.[35]Taistoism, a term to refer to the ideology of Sinisalo, was often referred to asStalinist and was born out of the conflict between Taisto Sinisalo andArvo Aalto, alongside thePrague Spring, when the Soviet Union invadedCzechoslovakia. 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.[36] Taistoism was a well-known ideology in Finland, and Sinisalo himself become a well-known person to the public, especially after aHelsingin Sanomat article on the movement and Kulttuuritaistolaisuus (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 asAgit-prop andKOM-teatteri were known across Finland.[37][38] Thousands of Taistoists would be expelled from the Communist Party throughout 1985–1987, and they would organize into theCommunist Party of Finland (Unity) (SKPy).[39] 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 fordeficit-spending to fund popular social programs, such asuniversal health care, among other policy ideas.[40] The party is in favor ofNATO membership,LGBT rights, such assame-sex adoption rights and for the establishment of an 'environmental administration'.[41]
The Party has held office three times from 1999–, which includes theLipponen II Cabinet,Rinne Cabinet and theMarin Cabinet.
