Socialism in Finland dates back to the latter half of the 19th century in the Grand Duchy of Finland, with the political radicalisation of the labour movement due to increasing industrialisation and urbanisation.
History Wrightian era The labour movement began with the establishment of workers' associations in the late 19th century. The first workers' association was the , founded by in 1883, which did not originally hold socialist beliefs. Many workers' associations were founded by members of the bourgeoisie, and these associations supported the , which was a socially liberal movement that sought to advance liberal interests, such as universal suffrage, alongside cooperation with the feminist and temperance movements.
The founder of this labour movement was , an industrialist from Helsinki, who had grown worried by the rise of socialism during his visit to Germany and Denmark, and thus sought to curb the rise of socialism in Finland by preventing the radicalization of the working class. He thought that by promoting workers' position through cooperation with employers and by addressing some of the problems caused by industrialisation, while keeping control of the movement in the hands of the upper-class. Danish and German State Socialism were the primary inspirations behind the labour movement.
The labour movement had grown rapidly by the end of the 1880s, with most large towns having workers’ associations, and by the mid-1890s, most small industrial towns had them too. Membership, however, was not as widespread and altogether the labour movement had mobilized fewer than 5,000 people. Most of the members of the Wrightian labour movement were middle-class, specifically small-business owners, foremen and craftsmen, and members of the intelligentsia outnumbered workers.
During the 1880s-1890s, working-class newspapers and magazines were founded. Papers such as , Työmies, or Kansan Lehti, a paper later headed by Yrjö Mäkelin, routinely published articles about European socialists and their methods, such as strikes. There was a struggle between the newspapers over which would be the definitive newspaper of the labour movement, with Kansan Lehti being less focused on class struggle and more focused on the language strife, which was criticised by the head of Työmies as 'nationalist revisionism'. Exposure to socialist influence, combined with the movement's increasing control by the working-class, resulted in the Second Workers' Association Assembly held in Tampere in 1896, at which more socialist ideals were adopted.
The was also affected by this drift towards socialism, and thus Viktor Julius von Wright gave up leadership of the movement in 1896, but remained a member of the board of the Helsinki Workers' Association. Between 1896-1898, many advocates of the Fennoman movement and Intelligentsia left the organization, such as , the chairman of the Young Finnish Party. The Young Finns had been at the helm of the Wrightian labour movement between 1897-1898, and would later continue to maintain connections through Yrjö Mäkelin.
Another significant step towards political independence was taken in the lead-up to the elections for the Diet of 1899. The First Russification Period (1899–1905) had begun, and the bourgeoisie in particular wanted to present a unified front, while the radical wing of the labour movement sought to abstain from the elections entirely, a protest against the delays encountered by the new suffrage act.. The radical wing won the debate in the movement, causing Viktor Julius von Wright to leave entirely, giving up his membership on the board of the Helsinki Workers' Association. The Finnish Labour Party was founded in the aftermath of this final internal divide between the working-class and the bourgeoisie.
The Finnish Labour Party was founded based on the principles of the mainstream labour movement of the day. The Labour Party adopted the following program as immediate and necessary goals of the movement, with later goals to be debated:
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. Labour 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. 1905 General Strike
Background Due to the attempted Russification of Finland (1899–1905), the Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and growing class consciousness amongst Finns, the labour movement began to grow in popularity. The Social Democratic Party grew rapidly in popularity and was allowed to operate publicly, unlike socialists in Russia. 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. In August, a large number of workers and students began to demand universal voting rights.
General Strike On 20 October, a railway strike began in St. Petersburg, Russia, spreading to the rest of the country, with Finnish railway workers in St. Petersburg joining the strike on 29 October. On 29 October, workers and constitutionalists, mainly consisting of the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, began to demand the resignation of the Old Finnish Party government. On 30 October, the Old Finnish Party-dominated Senate held a vote of no confidence and requested its resignation, which was accepted by the Tsar.
On 30 October, a general strike was proclaimed in Helsinki's Senate Square and Railway Square and also in Tampere's Keskustori by workers, who were later joined by students. The strike began with the railway workers and spread from there. The strike paralysed the nation, with most schools, factories, shops and offices were closed, and the strike soon spread to Viipuri, Turku and Oulu.The goal of the socialist movement had originally been more 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, leaving the moderates and unionists in the minority. 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. 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. Particularly to the Young Finns and to the Finland-Swedes, characterised as the most conservative of the radicals, and thus they began to detach themselves from the movement.
were created in 1905 as a united front of workers and students against the Russian Governorship. However, due to the increasing radicalisation of the labour movement, the National Guards split, eventually resulting in the creation of the respective Red Guards and White Guards in Finland. The Red and White Guards were dissolved following the end of the general strike, and would not officially return until the Finnish Civil War.
On 1 November, the Red Declaration was issued in Keskustori, Tampere. The declaration demanded equal voting rights for all citizens, and the disestablishment of the Senate, to be replaced by a National Parliament. These demands were 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. Following the Independence of Finland
The Civil War
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 (Parliament) 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, 15 of whom represented the Social Democrats, 10 represented the Finnish Trade Union Federation and Red Guards each, and 5 represented the Helsinki Workers' Council.
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. The Constitution for the Red Government was based on the United States and Swiss Constitution and took ideas from the French Revolution. The Red Government would silence criticism by banning anti-communist 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, where some of them, such as Edvard Gylling, would establish the Karelian Labor Commune. 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. 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.
Interwar Era In 1918, Communists organized the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) in Moscow. The SKP was banned in Finland for having tried to topple the government and was therefore made illegal to be a part of. Regardless, the SKP still operated underground in Finland, primarily using front organizations, such as the Socialist Workers' Party of Finland (1920–1923) and the Socialist Electoral Organization of Workers and Smallholders (1924–1930). These front organizations were used for organizing events at workplaces and public places, where illegal revolutionary socialist material would be read. The Etsivä keskuspoliisi would strictly monitor communists, and would break up meetings, sending communists to prison for treason either at Tammisaari or Hämeenlinna.
The SKP was a member of the Communist International and its policies were one-to-one with it. 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.