Red Emigrants in the Soviet Russia and the National Legacy of Finnish Social Democracy. Study of Finnish Communist-Nationalism in 1918-1922.
VÄLIMÄKI, KIRSI (2002)
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VÄLIMÄKI, KIRSI
2002
Valtio-oppi - Political Science
Yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2002-10-30Sisällysluettelo
TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION 1 I NATIONAL QUESTION IN MARXIST AND LENINIST THEORY 1.1. Marx and Engels 7 1.2. V.I. Lenin 9 II NATIONALISM AND FINNISH SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 2.1. Early Finnish Socialism: Stance on nationalism adopted 13 2.2. The 1905 General Strike and strengthening of the national orientation 17 2.3. National struggle bears fruit Finland becomes independent 22 2.4. Was the 1918 power seizure a socialist revolution with a nationalist goal? 30 III EMIGRANT NATIONALISM 3.1. Founding of the Finnish Communist Party: Nationalism versus internationalism 35 3.2. Communist activity in Finland a sign of Finnishness? 41 IV CARELIAN WORKERS’ COMMUNE A NATIONAL ENTERPRISE OF FINNISH RED EMIGRANTS 4.1. Carelia as a Finnish cultural bastion 49 4.2. People’s Deputation in 1918 and the Carelian question 51 4.3. Tartu peace negotiations: Carelian self-determination becomes a watchword of the day 58 4.4. Carelian Workers’ Commune and a dream of Greater Red Finland 65 V CONCLUSION 82 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tiivistelmä
Despite the fact that nationalism and communism are based on different ideological assumptions the former has played a considerable role throughout the history of the latter. While socialists have always denounced nationalism as a bourgeois ideology, tantamount of world capitalism, they have nevertheless been willing to adopt national policies in practice. This is also true of the Finnish socialists, who from the very inception of the labour movement in Finland showed themselves to be sympathetic to the national ideal. The two Russification periods coupled with an independence struggle and the ensuing civil war left the Finnish socialists strong national legacy; so much so that even the Red emigrants who had fled to Soviet Russia after the failed 1918 revolution found it impossible to rid themselves off nationalist feelings.
The main purpose of this thesis was to examine the national orientation of the Finnish Communist Party (Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, SKP) in the immediate years following the party’s inception in Soviet Russia, with focus on years 1918-1922. Aim was to find out to what extend did emigrants’ past experiences in the Finnish labour movement as ex-socialists facilitate the ‘national communist’ stance adopted by many party members. My research established that most SKP members were, indeed, national communists, who could not abandon national thinking upon adopting communism. Not only did nationalism dictate their policy choices but it also influenced their thinking on Russia and the Russians. National selfishness, characteristic of the pre-1917 Finnish labour movement, marked the actions of Finnish émigré communists in the early 1920s. The establishment of Carelian Workers’ Commune and the power struggle that evolved between the Red Finns and the local Russians is a prime example of this ethnocentrism. Finnicisation of Carelians was meant to pave the way for the creation of Greater Red Finland, which would be independent from Soviet Russia and serve as a base for future Red Scandinavian Republic.
Alongside printed publications I used several primary sources in my study. The most important ones include Pentti Renvall’s Carelia collection in Kansallisarkisto, SKP’s collection in Kansanarkisto and Carelia and Ingria collection in Ulkoministeriön arkisto. Worth a note is also Helsinki University library’s Fennica collection and particularly its vast newspaper material.
The main purpose of this thesis was to examine the national orientation of the Finnish Communist Party (Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, SKP) in the immediate years following the party’s inception in Soviet Russia, with focus on years 1918-1922. Aim was to find out to what extend did emigrants’ past experiences in the Finnish labour movement as ex-socialists facilitate the ‘national communist’ stance adopted by many party members. My research established that most SKP members were, indeed, national communists, who could not abandon national thinking upon adopting communism. Not only did nationalism dictate their policy choices but it also influenced their thinking on Russia and the Russians. National selfishness, characteristic of the pre-1917 Finnish labour movement, marked the actions of Finnish émigré communists in the early 1920s. The establishment of Carelian Workers’ Commune and the power struggle that evolved between the Red Finns and the local Russians is a prime example of this ethnocentrism. Finnicisation of Carelians was meant to pave the way for the creation of Greater Red Finland, which would be independent from Soviet Russia and serve as a base for future Red Scandinavian Republic.
Alongside printed publications I used several primary sources in my study. The most important ones include Pentti Renvall’s Carelia collection in Kansallisarkisto, SKP’s collection in Kansanarkisto and Carelia and Ingria collection in Ulkoministeriön arkisto. Worth a note is also Helsinki University library’s Fennica collection and particularly its vast newspaper material.