Communist Party of Finland

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This article is about the historical Communist Party of Finland. For the current party, see Communist Party of Finland (1994).
Not to be confused with Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism.

Communist Party of Finland
Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue
AbbreviationSKP
Founded29 August 1918 (1918-08-29)
Legalized1944
Dissolved1992 (1992)
Split fromSocial Democratic Party of Finland
Succeeded by
Comintern
ColorsRed
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The Communist Party of Finland (

Comintern
and illegal in Finland until 1944.

The SKP was banned by the state from its founding

front organisations were used. In the 1920s the communists took part in the Socialist Workers' Party of Finland (1920–1923) and the Socialist Electoral Organisation of Workers and Smallholders (1924–1930). Both of them were also banned. In 1944, a new front, Finnish People's Democratic League
was formed. The SKP controlled these fronts but they always had a prominent minority of non-communist socialists.

History

Central Committee of the exile Communist Party of Finland (SKP) in Moscow, 1920. From left to right: K. M. Evä, Jukka Rahja, Jalo Kohonen, Kullervo Manner, Eino Rahja, Mandi Sirola and Yrjö Sirola.

Early stages

In 1918, the

Soviet Russia. Some of these exiles founded the Communist Party of Finland in Moscow
.

The SKP was illegal in Finland until 1944, and members could be imprisoned. After the Continuation War, the SKP dominated the Finnish People's Democratic League, which was founded in 1944 as an umbrella organization of the radical left.

Cold War

Labour Day march of the Communist Party of Finland on Kaivokatu in Helsinki on May 1, 1960
Leaders of the Communist Party of Finland: Ensio Laine (left), Markus Kainulainen, Taisto Sinisalo, Aarne Saarinen, Arvo Aalto, and Erkki Kivimäki in 1970

The

U.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 40 000 (1.44% of the working age population).[2] with the SKP's main rival for domination of the political left being the Social Democratic Party of Finland. The competition was very bitter in trade unions
and other leftist organizations.

The SKP received substantial financial support from the

Eurocommunist mainstream and a hardline pro-Moscow minority, called the Taistoists after their leader, Taisto Sinisalo. The word "taisto" also means "battle" or "fight"; the double connotation made this slur, originally launched by the largest Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, stick. Soviet threats to withdraw support were the main reason why the majority did not expel the Taistoists from the party leadership or membership.[citation needed
]

Aftermaths of the Prague Spring

The events of the

Brezhnev doctrine.[4] Gradually this led to a disintegration, and in practice, the party now consisted of two parallel structures, and gradually lost ground in terms of public support.[5] The most hardline leader of the party, Markus Kainulainen, led a group that even opposed Soviet policies after the Perestroika
had begun.

In 1985–1986 a large number of Taistoists, hundreds of party organizations with thousands of members, were expelled. They regrouped as the Communist Party of Finland (Unity) (SKPy) which later evolved into the current Communist Party of Finland (1994).

Collapse

The dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s led to ideological conflicts: bitter internal disputes plagued the party. Bad stock-market investments made during Aalto's term of office resulted in financial bankruptcy in 1992. The SKP never recovered. A majority of the party members, with other member-organizations of SKDL, formed the Left Alliance in 1990.

SKPy, originally the faction of the party expelled in 1985–1986, outlasted its parent and registered itself as the Communist Party of Finland in 1997, but has failed to regain the former Communist Party's parliamentary representation. In the elections of 2007 it won 0.7% of the vote; in April 2011, it won just 0.3%.[6]

Youth wing

The youth wing of the SKP was the

Democratic Youth League of Finland (SNDL). The SNDL was member of World Federation of Democratic Youth
.

Leaders

Chairmen
Yrjö Sirola 1918–1920
Kullervo Manner 1920–1935
Hannes Mäkinen 1935–1937[7]
Jukka Lehtosaari 1937–1938[7]
Aimo Aaltonen 1944–1945 &
1948–1966
Aaro Uusitalo 1945–1948
Aarne Saarinen 1966–1982
Jouko Kajanoja 1982–1984
Arvo Aalto 1984–1988
Jarmo Wahlström 1988–1990
Heljä Tammisola 1990–1992
    General secretaries
Arvo Tuominen 1935–1940
Ville Pessi 1944–1969
Arvo Aalto 1969–1977 &
1981–1984
Erkki Kivimäki 1977–1981
Aarno Aitamurto 1984–1985
Esko Vainionpää 1985–1988
Heljä Tammisola 1988–1990
Asko Mäki 1990–1992

See also

References

  1. ISBN 951-9455-55-8
    .
  2. ^ Benjamin, Roger W.; Kautsky, John H. Communism and Economic Development, in the American Political Science Review, vol. 62, no. 1. (Mar. 1968), pp. 122.
  3. ISBN 951-1-14497-9
    .
  4. ^ Tuomioja, Erkki (2008). "The Effects of the Prague Spring in Europe". Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  5. ISBN 0-275-96372-1
    .
  6. ^ 9.232 of 2.939.571 (Ministry of Justice Finland Archived 20 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine)
  7. ^ a b Krekola, Joni (2006). Stalinismin lyhyt kurssi (in Finnish). SKS. p. 108.
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