Red Finns

   All of us have got used that in fact our country proved out to be in “bright isolation” in politics and economy. Contiguous and distant states cherish a full range of feelings towards Russia – from hatred and fear to ravenous economic assertions and demands of territorial cessions. But there is no country which we could consider an unselfish and reliable ally. Except Byelorussia people of which is defiantly and maladroitly ignored by our political elite. But don’t forget that in the recent past a large number of countries were choosing the Soviet model of development, brave experiments of Soviet people in social and ideological fields were causing admiration and support of millions people all over the world. Leading public and scientific figures didn’t hesitate to lend effective help to the Soviet Union. In any state groups of people existed (and often they formed a vast majority) willing to sacrifice unselfishly and with their whole heart their forces and knowledge (and life sometimes) for Soviet Russia’s interests. Our numerous supporters (the very “Lenin’s guard of the planet”) were neither outcasts nor paid employees of Soviet secret services (as modern mass media depict): it is difficult to call so R.Rollan, H.Mann, A.Zweig, T.Mann, D.Neru, F.Joliot-Curie. Is it possible to find now a writer or scientist of universal level directing his talent to help our country?

   By the contrast, numbers of our foes don’t decrease. That’s why in this article I want to tell a word of encouragement about truthful friends of Soviet Russia – Finnish communists and socialists who had extended a hand of friendship to Russian people in the hardest conditions.

   In October 1917 Finland was a country where socialists had risen to power as a result of an election win (but not by a revolutionary action as in Petersburg and Moscow). But the united socialist bloc appeared to include clearly contradictory forces – openly nationalist, anti-Russian kulak-bourgeois groups of P.E.Svinhufvud ready to revenge for a century of submission to Russian Empire’s interests (they may be easily called national-socialists as an analogue of their German “team-mates”) and the left wing of social democracy (Kullervo Manner, Yurye Sirola, Otto Kuusinen, etc.) who supposed future Finland a democratic and friendly neighbour of Soviet Russia (not certainly submitted to it politically or economically). The right wing (that was repeated at the end of the 20th century by Eastern European and Baltic regimes) was aimed at predatory “original accumulation” at the account of Russian enterprises, army and navy at the Finnish territory. Nationalist slogans as well as sophisticated social rhythorics (like “plunder the plundered”) (by Russian invaders) and “exploit the exploiters” (military and civic employees of Russian Empire’s institutions) found a vivid respond among farmers-kulaks (who constituted the framework of Finnish peasantry), urban bourgeoisie, petty bourgeoisie and lumpens. Rather few Finns were among the socialist changes sympathizers – up to 200,000 (or isn’t it few for a three-million country?) – but they were the vast majority of industrial workers and some intelligentsia (teachers, employees, even members of Finnish parliament). Don’t forget about the “Third Force” – the military mostly enlisted by kaiser’s secret services and trained in military camps in Germany during the WWI. According to the German Command’s plans they were to attack Russian garrisons at the Finnish territory and to destabilize the situation together with nationalists. It is naive to believe the stories of the new-sprung “defenders” of Russian Empire who frighten the TV spectators with their “revelations” about “German spies” and “sealed carriages”. No, German allies didn’t arrive in a compartmentalized carriage: thousands of well-trained and armed soldiers landed at the Finnish seashore and unleashed the “white” terror against their political adversaries.

   The baron K.E. Mannerheim’s role was interesting. This general of the tsar’s army who later became the President and Marshall of Finland is now portrayed by Russian liberal mass media as a wise ruler and a generous cavalier adoring Petersburg and Russia. It is interesting to know that it took the Russian general-lieutenant and a “patriot” of Russia only a few weeks to take the lead of pro-German troops and to organize a massacre of Russian military institutions and garrisons in Finland.

   As a reply to the terror of the Suojeluskunta (White Finnish troops; it is interesting to know that in Swedish they were called Skyddskar, SS in abbreviated form) on January, 28, 1918 the Finnish Red Guard and its supporters almost without striking a blow occupied the government institutions in Helsinki and in the industrial centres of Southern Finland – Turku, Tampere, Pori, Kotke, Lahti, Vyborg. A government – the Council of People’s Assignees and the supreme regulatory body – the Main Workers’ Council were formed in Helsinki. On January, 29 the MWC published the program of democratic reforms – elimination of peasants-leaseholders’ enslaving dependence on land-owners, improvement of labour legislation, establishment of state control over private banks and large enterprises. On February, 23 the democratic Constitution project was published and the Soviet-Finnish treaty for strengthening friendship and brotherhood was concluded on March, 1. But enterprises and banks were not nationalized, the question of endowment of land to peasants was not solved, the counter-revolutionary underground was not wiped off.

   The Finnish counter-revolution having rejected concluding any treaties with the MWC started a mass offensive from well-prepared positions in Northern regions. During sanguinary battles near Tampere and Tammerfors (March-April) the 80-thousand main forces of the Red Guard were defeated. German invaders stabbed a backblow at red finns, in early April 15,000 Germans landed in South-Western Finland and captured Helsinki on April, 14 and Vyborg on April, 29. The “volunteer brigade” of Swedish invaders occupied the Karelian territory neighbouring to Soviet border. According to Toyvo Vyakhya, “poorly armed, unskilled and isolated Red Guard groups and squadrons stood on the heroic defensive. But they couldn’t stop movement of regular troops with such forces. They were eager to fight, their courage increased in battles. But they lacked skill, they had no common command and no time to organize it”.

   The game was up to the beginning of May, a massacre of the revolution participants and their relatives began: up to 90,000 persons were shut in prisons and camps, more than 8,000 were executed. Besides red Finns, the Russian population was subjected to genocide. Hundreds of Russian soldiers and officers were shot in Helsinki and other places of cantonment of former Russian Emperor’s troops. They sympathized the White movement but were killed by Mannerheim supporters only for they were Russians. But the most villainous massacre was organized by the White in Vyborg. Germans and Finnish nationalists who entered this multinational city (11 church-houses of 19 belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1918) accomplished a full ethnic cleansing. They killed everyone who couldn’t speak Finnish: neutral soldiers of Vyborg garrisone, Russian workers, employees and even high school students. 3,000 people were shot within several days. A mock of history: the Polish community took the steets to hail the shame of hateful Russians but was also shot down: the Polish speaking reminded Russian much. According to testimonies of Russian habitants of Finland, anti-Russian hysteria was stirred up in the newspapers: “On April, 14 advertisements about supposed eviction of Russian nationals were stuck over the city... Local newspapers revealed extreme malignity towards Russia and slang tubs of mud onto everything anyway concerning the name of Russian... Russian citizens were forced to leave Finland as soon as possible not only by open repression of authorities but by boycott, public offence, newspaper baiting and conditions of life close to full lawlessness”. In April 1918 White Finns plundered Russian state property to the amount of 17,5 billion golden roubles.

   Well, let us agree with Romain Rolland’s opinion: “All White armies are like each other in any time”.

   Near 10,000 Finnish Red Guardians fought their way to the territory of Soviet Russia, also did thousands of political emigres. Many Red Finns joined the Red Army, defended revolutionary Petrograd, in 1919 confronted the so-called “Olonets March” of Karelian kulaks which aimed at dismembering Southern areas of Karelia (Olonets province) from the RSFSR. In 1921-22 the Soviet troops terminated an attempt of White Finnish invasion into Karelia (the so-called “Karelian adventure”) aimed at joining Soviet Karelia to Southern Finland. The ski batallion of Red Finns under the lead of legendary heroes A.A.Inno and T.Antikainen whose images look forward to be cinematized played an important role here. The batallion has passed fighting more than 1100 km through Mannerheim’s rear areas and fought more than ten combats. At the North of Finland Finnish woodcutters created a detachment of 300 skiers which marched out to help Soviet Russia. Many Red Finns remained professional soldiers of the Red Army after the Civil war and reached generals’ positions (A.Anttila, E.Toykka, E.A.Rakhya, etc.).

   Other Finns were engaged in industry, agriculture, raising the economy of workers’ country. At the same time don’t forget groundless repressions which touched Finns, Ingermanlanders, Karelians, Izhorians during “Yezhovschina” when outstanding military and economic leaders suffered as well as common workers and peasants.

   In 1939 the military-political situation in regions borderline to Finland strained sharply. A military engagement looked like the only way to save the borderline problem for both sides. The Finnish reaction was blinded with nationalist ideas of creating the “Great Finland” at the expense of Soviet territory dismemberment. The President P.Svinhufvud declared: “Each enemy of Russia should be a friend of Finland”. The border incident (finally, provoked by Mannerheim troops on a number of Finnish historians’ opinion) caused the beginning of active warfare on November, 30. One of the myths of “new Russian” historiography is notorious underestimating of Mannerheim’s army’s force and considering the Soviet offensive unprepared, failure, too sanguinary, etc. But let’s think: the Finnish army numbered more than 600,000 people (more than Napoleon’s), the Western powers (the Scandinavian powers, the USA, Great Britain, Baltic countries as well as being at war with them (!) Hitler’s Germany) passed Mannerheim 350 airplanes, 500 cannons, more than 6,000 machine-guns and other countless assistance. More than 11,500 armed anti-communist “volunteers” came from Western Europe. That was the army which the Red Army succeeded to defeat (even with losses, with difficulties) within three months. The modern Russian Army conducts “anti-terrorist operations” with much less success...

   Red Finns were on the top of the offensive Soviet troops. On December, 1, 1939 the creation of the People’s government of Finnish Republic headed by O.Kuusinen and the Finnish People’s army headed by the general A.Anttila was declared in liberated Terioki (Zelenogorsk). 25,000 volunteers and conscripts from among Finns, Karelians and other Finno-Ugric peoples joined this force wearing special uniform. But the army didn’t succeed to take part in warfare, in the beginning of March the Finnish government begged to start negotiations for peace. The warfare was stopped on March, 12, 1940.

   It was not so fierce resistance of Finns and weariness of Soviet troops that prevented the accomplishment of maximal program – the full military defeat of White Finns and incorporation of the whole Finland into the zone of interests of the USSR – but the hardest political pressure of Great Britain and the USA over the USSR (the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations, an invasion of large Anglo-American forces was being prepared in case of further success of the Red Army). In circumstances where the WWII had begun the Soviet government didn’t dare to enter a conflict with the only allies in the fight against Hitler.

   Red Finns didn’t realize their dream, Finland didn’t become communist. But the defeat of the Suojeluskunta by Soviet troops in 1940 and 1944, economic and political pressure of the USSR, the existance of Karelian-Finnish Soviet Republic in borderline regions until the 1950es, popularity of communist ideas among Finnish political emigres and the Finns themselves forced the Finnish politicians to carry out large-scale political reforms. Once pro-Nazi-spirited country has become one of the leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement declaring the policy of tolerance and anti-militarism. Hawkish Russophobia and territorial claims have changed to the policy of peaceful co-existence and close economic co-operation. Most of all the position of wage workers was improved, women’s and children’s labour, workers’ bondage in pre-war Finland have changed to progressive labour legislation and real social guarantees. Modern Suomi respects rights of man and citizen, is famous for its low level of unemployment and corruption and independent judicial system as a counter of extrajudicial executions and repressions of Svinufhud’s and Mannerheim’s governments. A country with poorly available medicine and low level of education has become one of the most healthy and well-educated nations in Europe. There is a doubtless merit of Red Finns in all these achievements.

   When speaking of the Scandinavian model of socialism we remind Finland which doesn’t reject the socialist experience in the 3rd millenium but develops its active social policy. But we have once again entered a turn of political regime returning by our reforms to the situation of the notorious “1913”.

   Konstantin Erofeev, Leningrad