On this day in 1918, the Finnish People's Delegation declared a socialist workers' republic (known "Red Finland"), at the start of the Finnish Civil War. The burgeoning working class movement was crushed by imperialist German forces.

Prior to 1917, Finland had been ruled as a Grand Duchy, an autonomous part of the Russian Empire. With the collapse of the Tsarist state in the wake of February Revolution and a long-term increase in nationalist sentiment, Finland declared independence on December 4th, 1917, formally recognized by the Russian Bolsheviks on December 31st.

Due to industrialized Finland having a strong revolutionary labor movement, conservative and proletarian forces were immediately thrown into conflict.

Red Guard paramilitary units representing the labor movement found themselves in a cycle of escalation with loyalist "White" Guards, culminating in a mass uprising of Reds in Helsinki on January 27th, 1918, marking the start of revolution. The following day, the Finnish People's Delegation was formed by members of the Social Democratic Party. Bourgeois forces fled to Vaasa, where they set up their own "White Senate".

The war saw the Whites, under the leadership of General Mannerheim, receive support from the German Empire, which was more well-established than the Reds' primary ally, the newly-created Russian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Following an imperialist intervention by Germany on the side of the Whites in March 1918, the war ended in defeat for the Reds in May. Over 12,000 people perished from starvation and hunger while imprisoned in White-operated POW camps, and reparations were not paid to former victims of the White Terror until 1973.

Lessons of the Finnish Revolution of 1917–1918 garcia-cock-shotty

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  • super_mario_69 [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    9 months ago

    There used to be a sort of socialist movement and commune in a rather obscure place called Munsala in Ostrobothnia, about 80 or so kilometers north of Vaasa. The Munsala socialism, or Munsala radicalism, they called it. It was started by people from the region who returned after having emigrated to the US in the late 1800's. Many of them had found that US labour rights were absolutely fucked, and had began to work with various labour movements, and eventually discovered Marxism. A few dudes that returned home to Munsala in the early 1900's started spreading the good word of Karl Marx in the region, and it was very popular among the almost entirely agrarian proletariat. It was a also rather religious movement. The local preachers took to incorporating the teachings of Marx in their sermons. They emphasised pacifism, sobriety, education, and parliamentarianism.

    That is, until the civil war broke out. The Munsala socialists mostly tried to stay out of it, but since the whites had decided to base themselves in Vaasa (80km away) and Pietarsaari/Jakobstad (30km away), they found themselves pretty much at the heart of enemy territory. They were often harassed by whites and cops, and used guerrilla style hidey holes in the local forests to hide. Many who didn't hide were captured and executed or fled to Sweden. During the second world war, many Munsala socialists refused to fight, because of the finnish state's alliance with Hitler and therefore its support for fascism. The able bodied men went back into hiding in their old forest hidey holes, while the rest of the village kept watch for cops and whites. In the 1930's, a Munsala socialist and teacher named Walter Blomqvist fled to the US. He eventually ended up in Cuba, where he supposedly hung out with Castro and Che and took part in the revolution (here is an interview with the guy, in swedish)

    Machine translated summary

    Munsala idealist Walter Blomqvist moved to Cuba in the early 1930s. He experienced many stages of Cuba's modern and bloody history and became friends with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Listen to him recount his fascinating memories.

    It was something of the Viking blood in the Munsala people that made elementary school teacher Walter Blomqvist leave the safety of Ostrobothnia and head out into the world. Via Sweden, Norway and Denmark, he acquired a taste for the big world. But he became increasingly anxious. He liked Munsala, but wanted to develop himself and the Munsala ideas.

    Walter Blomqvist travelled in 1929 with a small suitcase to study in Birmingham. There he applied for and received a scholarship to Columbia University in New York.

    Blomqvist had only fourteen dollars in his pocket when he arrived in New York. The first time in New York was therefore very difficult. But Blomqvist made contact with the Finnish-Swedish emigrant community.

    During his studies, Blomqvist met a Cuban girl, fell in love and got married. They couldn't stay in the US because Blomqvist only had a student visa, so they travelled down to Havana, Cuba.

    As soon as Blomqvist arrived in Cuba, he fell in love with the country, the nature and the Cubans. There was a strange bright light over nature. But he was also upset by the huge gaps between rich and poor. For example, the plight of sugar cane workers.

    The country was held in a strong dictatorship by Fudgenico Batista, after a coup in 1952. But with the coup came an uprising against the dictatorship. Being the Munsala idealist that Blomqvist was, he became interested in the situation there and in the youth trying to resist the dictatorship. Walter Blomqvist believed that Cuba was in need of a great revolution, which came in 1959.

    Blomqvist had several personal contacts with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. We hear anecdotes about Fidel and Che.

    Walter met Che Guevara for the first time when he came down from the mountains. He was bearded and big, almost as tall as Fidel. But when Blomqvist and a Finnish journalist, Eva Aminoff, met Che as Minister of Industry in a luxury palace, it was strange to see the bearded, unshaven man among the luxury items.

    The Munsala Socialism is said to have been eradicated in the 70's, after fur farming became a thing. It brought in vast amounts of money and resources to the thus far poor agrarian community, which "did away with any need for socialism".

    Edited out to not dox myself, oops.

    Finnish natopedia article: https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munsalan_radikalismi

    Here is one article and videos about it in swedish: https://svenska.yle.fi/a/7-883429

    full documentary, also in swedish: https://areena.yle.fi/1-4261007

    Doesn't seem to be available with subtitles either. It's unfortunately very hard to find any more information about this in English. Erased history, I suppose.

    • Perkele [he/him]
      ·
      9 months ago

      This is really cool to hear, as I was also never taught about socialist movements besides the civil war.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      9 months ago

      The local preachers took to incorporating the teachings of Marx in their sermons. They emphasised pacifism, sobriety, education, and parliamentarianism

      Notoriously sober peace guy who likes paliarments, Charles Marks.

    • Commiejones [comrade/them, he/him]
      ·
      9 months ago

      Some day you will pass this information on to the next generation the same way it was passed to you and that kid you tell will go on to ignite the revolution in Finland from their secret base in the woods outside Munsala. lathe-of-heaven