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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  • TheDialectic [none/use name]
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    11 months ago

    For valentines day I think I want to get some lavender beard oil. I am looking at the beared oil section and it is all like Manly smells. If i am kissing a person that likes fem stuff I should get pretty smelling stuff so I smell nice to them right? Or am I supposed to get leather so they can smell how masculine I am? This feels like a mismatch here.

    • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
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      11 months ago

      Do what you want, but as a general message. All of you need to stop smearing smelly shit on yourselves. I fucking hate it. It makes me gag when I'm nearby and it's like dating at can of fancy air freshener.

    • Ufot [he/him]
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      11 months ago

      Lol this always cracked me up. Ask your partner I guess?

      Fwiw I picked up some vanilla scented beard oil for when I eventually date again. I don't want to smell like leather. But if sandlewood gets my next partner going lol, I'll pick some up.