Finnish People's Delegation
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The Finnish People's Delegation (Finnish: Suomen kansanvaltuuskunta, Swedish: Finska folkdelegationen) was the government of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) created by a group of members in the Social Democratic Party of Finland during the Finnish Civil War from January to May 1918.
The Delegation was established as a
Formation and immediate actions
The decision to start an armed revolution in Finland was initially made by Red Guards' leadership and by a branch split from Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) party committee on 23 January 1918, called "Finland's workers' executive committee", whose members represented the most radical wing of the labor movement[citation needed]. On the night of 27 January, the executive committee ordered the Red Guards to arrest members of the Senate led by Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, and a host of other leading capitalist politicians, including 33 members of Parliament. However, this failed completely, and the Red Guards' Supreme military staff postponed the coup by a day because of unfinished preparations, so the senators were informed of the arrest warrant through a prematurely issued public handout, and had time to hide.[citation needed] The assembling of Parliament on 28 January was blocked and a few members that turned up were arrested.
The Finnish People's Delegation was established on 28 January 1918 and it set to lead the revolt started on the same morning. The founding of the Delegation was announced on 29 January in the newspaper Työmies[citation needed] in a declaration that also named the delegates, and in which the fundamental objectives of the Red government were briefly explained. The Delegation already on its first day occupied the Senate House in Helsinki and established itself as the government of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland), an alternative socialist state to the pre-existing Finnish state.
The Red administration's first action was to discontinue all capitalist
On 2 February, the Delegation ordered the Red Guards to be maintained by the government, essentially placing them under its authority. In practice, the Delegation was later forced to confess that it could barely control the actions of the Red Guards, and reduced the number of military affairs cases it handled. The relationship between the Red Guards and the Delegation remained problematic throughout the war, as the Delegation regarded the Red Guards' actions to be arbitrary, and many guardsmen in turn saw the delegates as "parasites" who were estranged from the realities of the battlefront.
In its set of decrees, it published 45
Finnish People's Delegation members
The delegation members were elected and given similar roles as ministers in a government:[3]
- chairman ("prime minister") Kullervo Manner
- delegate for foreign affairs ("foreign minister") Yrjö Sirola
- delegate for internal affairs ("internal minister") Eero Haapalainen, from March Adolf Taimi, Matti Airola and Hanna Karhinen
- delegate for justice ("minister of justice") Lauri Letonmäki and Antti Kiviranta
- delegate for education ("minister of education") Otto Wille Kuusinen
- delegate for monetary affairs ("minister of finance") Jalo Kohonen, later Edvard Gylling
- delegate for labour ("minister of labour") Johan Erik Lumivuokko
- delegate for agriculture ("ministry of agriculture and forestry") Evert Eloranta
- delegate for provisions ("minister of supply") Oskari Tokoi
- delegate for transport ("minister of transport") Konstantin Lindqvist
- delegate for posts and information ("minister of communications") Emil Elo
- Procurator ("chancellor of justice") Matti Turkia.
Seats on the Supreme Workers' Council were allocated by the People's Delegation as follows:
- Finnish Trade Union Federation, 10
- Social Democratic Party of Finland, 10
- Red Guard, 10
- Helsinki Labour Unions, 5
Constitutional proposal
The People's Delegation drew up a new Constitution,
Dissolution
From March, a string of defeats had caused the Red Guards (and by extension the Delegation and Red Finland) to be increasingly pushed southeast into the
Members of the Delegation were not included in the
See also
- Red Finland
References
- ^ "Manner, Kullervo". Itsenäisyys 100. Helsingin Suomalainen Klubi. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
- ^ a b "The Red Finland was led by the People's Delegation". Itsenäisyys 100. Helsingin Suomalainen Klubi. Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
- ^ "The revolutionary government of Finland". histdoc. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "Ehdotus Suomen valtiosäännöksi". hlstdoc (in Finnish). 23 February 1918. Retrieved 28 December 2016.