Communist Party of Finland

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
File:SKP logo.svg
Abbreviation	SKP
Founded	29 August 1918 (1918-08-29)
Legalized	1944
Dissolved	1992 (1992)
Split from	Social Democratic Party of Finland
Succeeded by	Left Alliance Communist Party of Finland (1994)
Youth wing	Young Communist League of Finland
Ideology	Marxism-Leninism Eurocommunism Taistoism (minority)
Political position	Far-left
National affiliation	Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL)
International affiliation	Comintern
Colors	Red
Politics of Finland Political parties Elections

The Communist Party of Finland (Template:Lang-fi; Template:Lang-sv; abbreviated SKP) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944.

The SKP did not participate in any elections with its own name. Instead, 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 were banned by the state. 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

Early stages

In 1918 the Reds lost the Finnish Civil War. The Social Democratic Party of Finland had supported the losing side, and several of its leaders were exiled in 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

The era of the Cold War was the "golden age" of Communists in Finland. Between 1944 and 1979 support of the Finnish People's Democratic League was in the range of 17%–24%. Communists participated in several cabinets, but Finland never had a communist Prime Minister or President. In the mid 1960s the U.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 40 000 (1.44% of the working age population). 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 Soviet Union during the Cold War (Rentola 1997, p. 177). Internally, SKP was divided, with a 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 reformists didn't expel the Taistoists from the party leadership or membership.

Aftermaths of the Prague Spring

The events of the Prague Spring followed by the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia had strong repercussions on the SKP. With the SKP's leadership strongly denouncing the Soviets' invasion, the internal disputes became fiercer than ever. While a de facto Eurocommunist majority held sway, the Taistoist minority decisively stood by the Soviet Union and the Brezhnev doctrine. 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. 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 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 0.3%.

Youth wing

The youth wing of the SKP was the Communist Youth League of Finland (SKNL, 1925–1936). After World War II young communists were active in the SKDL's 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 Jukka Lehtosaari 1937–1938 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

• Kaisu-Mirjami Rydberg
• List of Communist Party (Finland) breakaway parties
• List of Social Democratic Party (Finland) breakaway parties

References

• Rentola, Kimmo (1997), Niin kylmää että polttaa - Kommunistit, Kekkonen ja Kreml, Helsinki: Otava, ISBN 951-1-14497-9