1.1 The General Strike (1905)

Tensions during Russia's failed war against Japan led, among other things, to a general strike in 1905, during which "Red" ( Socialist) "Protection Guards of Workers" were organized, but also "White" (anti-Socialist) Protection Guards (Suojeluskunnat). The White Guards, and also the Red Guards, were typically disguised as fire-brigades, which suddenly became a matter of great national concern in Finland.

In an attempt to quell the general unrest in Finland, universal suffrage was introduced. This soon led to close-to 50% turnouts for the Social Democrats, but no improvements for their voters, as legislation was "shared" between the Parliament and the Russian Tsar (in his role as Grand Duke of Finland). The legacy of the 19th century was the widespread belief that Finland's interests were best served by status quo.

1.2 The February Revolution (1917)

Though the first violent clash between Red and White Guards had begun in July 1906 in Helsinki, renewed Russian oppression had a unifying effect on the Finns, and delayed more serious conflict until after the February Revolution in Russia 1917.

From the general elections of 1916, when the Social Democrats had gained absolute majority in the Parliament of Finland, the Finland's Senate was a broad coalition- cabinet led by Oskari Tokoi, Social Democrat and Trade Union leader. His cabinet's attempt to gain increased autonomy failed however, according to Leftist points of view, chiefly due to secret resistance from the non-Socialists, and their collaboration with the revolutionary but " bourgeois" Provisional Government under Aleksandr Kerensky in Saint Petersburg.

The Senate's agreed view was, that the personal union with Russia was finished after the Tsar was dethroned. They expected the Tsar's authority to be transferred to Finland's Parliament, which the Provisional Government of Russia could not accept.

However, the non-Socialists in the Senate were confident. They, and most of the non-Socialists in the Parliament, were less than enthusiastic about the Senate's bill (the so-called "Power Act") enacted by the Parliament in July 1917, (particular with regard to its content on Parliamentarism, on which the Social Democrats had insisted), deeming it both too far-reaching and provocative for Saint Petersburg, but particularly too radical and dangerous for Finland. The bill restricted Russia's influence on domestic Finnish matters, but didn't touch the Russian government's power on matters of defence and foreign affairs. For the Russian Provisional Government this was, as expected, far too radical. The Parliament was dissolved, and new elections were announced.

Thus it turned out, that from the point of view of the poorest Finns, Oskari Tokoi's Senate's attempt was as much of a failure as was universal suffrage. Large numbers starved, and unemployment was bad and getting worse. Democracy didn't seem to offer a solution to these problems. Political violence increased during the following election campaign conducted by what the adversaries labeled "Rogue Reds" and "White Butchers" respectively. Subsequently the Left lost their absolute majority in the Parliament.

Finland's autonomy had been restored by the Provisional Government of Russia, but in the process the Police force in Finland was virtually abolished. In this situation some of the old fire-brigades were revived, simply as an answer to insecurity and lawlessness. It can be noted that general fear was widespread, but the relations between Reds and Whites were still reasonable in many places in Finland. White Guards were organized by leaders of the local societies, usually Conservative academics and industrialists, but the Reds were often collectively invited through their employers or their local Labor Union.

1.3 The October Revolution (1917)

The February Revolution, and even more so Lenin's Bolshevist October Revolution, ignited hopes also in the Grand Duchy. The polarization and mutual fear between Leftists and Rightists had increased dramatically. About 30 political assassinations were reported. After the general elections a pure non-Socialist cabinet was appointed, which after the Bolshevists had seized power in Russia felt squeezed between increasingly revolutionary Socialists at home and aggressive Bolshevists in Saint Petersburg, proximate to Finland's border in South-East. Numerous Russian troops stationed in Finland made a bad situation worse, as they too were excited by the revolutionary frenzy, which they called their "svoboda" - their freedom. And on top of all this: another general strike in Finland.

The svoboda appeared for the Finns as the Russian military going out of control. They were intoxicated, they looted, they acted violently and they executed their officers. In the virtual absence of police-forces, and also of military trained Finnish troops, the svoboda prompted the revival and new-organization of numerous White Guards. These Guards were local units, set up by local initiative, sometimes with roots in "Security Guards" established during the General Strike of 1905, but it was the svoboda of the Russian troops, which really got most of them established.

After the October Revolution the political positions in Finland were reversed. Now it was the non-Socialists who are eager for maximal autonomy, and even independence of Russia, and the Social Democrats who believed the Bolshevists to be possible allies against the " Capitalist oppressors". The Senate, led by the Finnish national hero Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, proposed a Declaration of Independence, which the Parliament adopted on December 6th, 1917.

1.4 The Social Democrats and the revolution

The strained political situation detoriated step by step during 1917 with agricultural strikes, skirmishes over food and inflation, local strikes intending to support or influence local government, and in November a General Strike. The leadership of the Social Democratic Party could not control this increasingly violent mass movement, and popular support vacilliated between parliamentary and extra-parliamentary action. All since 1906, the parliamentary road had proved disappointing, and after the the October Revolution also the Russian Revolutionary leadership pressed the Finnish Social Democrats to seize power. The Social Democratic party was accused of ineffectiveness both from within and from Saint Petersburg.

On November 16, during the general strike, the newly formed Workers' Revolutionary Central Council voted to seize power by a narrow majority, but the supreme revolutionary organ, the executive committee , could not recruit qualified members, and the revolution had to be called off. However, the organization of Red Guards surged, although the enthusiasm waned soon when general strike and revolution came to nothing. Initiative was seized by the Revolutionary Central Council, that was comprised of the trade unions and the Social Democratic Party, and the party leadership had lost much of their credibility and authority — initially due to the party's failure to gain any political advantages of their majority in parliament.

White Guards had been organized all through the year of 1917, and numbered in December nearly 40,000. The response, the organization of Red Guards, was concentrated to November, and numbered at the end of the year nearly 30,000. After Finland's declaration of independence, the parliament empowered the Senate on January 12, 1918, to crate a "strong police authority". Soon it became obvious that the White Guards were thought to become legalized in this way, excluding Red Guards and others that sympathized with the Social Democrats, that now constituted the opposition in parliament, with almost 50% of the votes and seats. On January 25, the Senate decreed the White Guards to be troops of Finland's government, and the point of no return was passed. Many leading Social Democrats joined, when the war broke out independently in three different towns, but formally the rebellion was not supported by the executive organs of the party.

Revolutionary Finland's programme and draft constitution, written by Kuusinen, was however heavily influenced by Social Democrats and of general liberal thoughts from the United States Declaration of Independence and from the Swiss cantonal system. The main goal was social reforms, and the means to achieve this was parliamentary democracy based on the principle of sovereignty of the people and of national self-determination. Bolshevist thoughts, proletarian dictatorship and massive socialization were no parts of their program. The rebellion in Finland thus differed from the October Revolution and from the various uprisings on the European Continent that followed the world war — Béla Kun's revolt in Hungary, the Spartacists in Berlin, or the Bavarian Soviet Republic,

2 Conflict

The Reds were alarmed by the government's decision to employ the White-oriented White Guards as the nucleus of a national army and to use them, "the Butchers" according to Leftist lingo, to disarm the 40,000 Russian troops that remained in Finland, understanding that Red Finns would also be targeted.

The first serious battles were on the night of January 19, followed by the Senate's declaration on January 25 transforming the White Guards into the Army of Finland, and on January 26 the order of rebellion was issued. The Soviet Union had already declared its intention to support the Revolution. The Reds seized control of the capital, Helsinki, in the early hours of January 28, and members of the Senate of Finland went underground.

It is often pointed out, that leaders of the White and the Red sides acted independently of each other in these final days, and that it in a way was coincidental that the White Army was formally established on the very same days as the Red rebellion was commenced. It's also obvious that the leaders acted without any formal democratic authorization, but on the other hand, their judgement was generally respected and met with no articulated opposition. In other words: the process leading to the Civil War was more of a general distrust between Reds and Whites, and less dependent of the particular events in the end of January 1918.

The last stages of World War I were still being fought in central Europe at the time, and both Bolshevist Russia and Imperial Germany had their own interests in Finland:

Many Whites feared the Russian troops taking the side of the Reds. The Russian Bolshevik government now also expressed support for the Reds, despite their official recognition of Finland's independence only three weeks before, wanting the Communist World Revolution to continue in Finland.

The White side was dominated by middle-class "activists" - members of Finland's pro-German independence movement. As far as they were concerned, too close contact with communist Russia was tantamount to forfeiting the recently won independence. They were also influenced by German interests, because Germany had secretly given assistance, including the volunteer "Jäger" troops (Jääkärit) that covertly had been trained in Germany during the World War.

The Whites regrouped in the north and centre of the country, under the political leadership of (the initially absent) president of the Senate Pehr Evind Svinhufvud and the military command of Mannerheim.

The Reds' situation in the south worsened by the arrival of White Jäger troops on February 25, and the subsequent withdrawal of Russian forces according to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ( March 3, 1918).

White forces launced a counter attack in "The Tampere Operation" on March 15, lasting until April 6) when they captured Tampere seizing 10,000 Red prisoners. This was a determining factor indicating that the Civil War might be won by the Whites, as it meant a strategically important bridge-head was taken.

On April 3, German troops landed at Hangö in support of the Whites, advanced rapidly eastward and took Helsinki on April 13. After another Red defeat at Viipuri on April 28- 29, the last Red strongholds fell by May 7.

3 Outcome

Lives Lost

	Whites	Reds	Other
Killed in action:	3 279	5 324	484
Executed, shot or murdered:	1 321	7 207	392
Concentration Camp deaths:	6	11 785	500
Capital punishment:	-	125	-
Died after release:	-	597	2
Missing:	42	1 818	116
Other causes:	173	695	536
Total:	4 821	27 426	2 030
Source: http://vesta.narc.fi/cgi-bin/db2www/sotasurmaetusivu/stat2

The civil war had ended, but it left the Finnish society divided in two groups. A "Red terror" campaign against the right wing was followed by a "White terror" against supporters of the revolutionary movement. Disease, hunger and maltreatment killed thousands of detained in the concentration camps. The conflict and its immediate aftermath are considered to have killed more than 30,000 out of a population of three million.

In addition, an unknown number of Red children were orphaned or sent to foster homes and institutions, as their parents were either interned (as most 75,000 Red internees) or deemed unfit to raise patriotic children for the independent Finland.

Many Red children suffered from the social stigma of being representatives of the defeated treacherous proletarians. Such feelings were especially strong in the children that were separated from their parents.

A lot of Finnish Reds fled to Russia at the end of the Civil War, and in the following years. Most of them were lost in Stalin's Great Purges. Their number is unknown.

While the Whites celebrated the "War of Independence" against Russia and Bolshevism, the Left refused for many years to participate in commemorations of Finland's pre-Civil War independence. The communist party was out-lawed in 1923 and 1930, while the Social Democrats remained in opposition for most of the inter-war period. Svinhufvud became president ( 1931- 1937) on the program to keep the Social Democrats out of the Cabinet, no matter what.

Finland, the first Nordic (and European) country to adopt universal suffrage, became the last to adopt parliamentarism.

The Civil War, and the pre-war polarization, did directly and indirectly lead to Finland developing a mentality more like 19th century Prussia, with the Military forces and Conservative ideologies having earned great prestige for its success, and less akin to her Scandinavian brethren where popular movements and Liberal ideologies had won that prestigious position.

The polarization would remain in Finland for long time, and would put its clear mark on Finland's foreign politics. Consensus was established for the major goal, namely Finland's maximal independence, but Finland changed her foreign affiliations frequently: from Imperial Germany in 1918, to the victorious Entente, to Poland ( 1922), then more towards the League of Nations, then again more towards Germany (from 1931), then more towards Scandinavia ( 1934), demonstratively against Nazi-Germany ( 1937), intense courting of Nazi-Germany (in 1940), unwilling but necessary accommodation to the Soviet Union after 1944 balanced by intensified Scandinavian relations.

To the legacy of the Civil War belongs also an anti-democratic and anti-parliamentarian current, which remained in the public opinion, and particularly among the academic youth, until the end of the Continuation War when such utterances became dangerous. An outcome was the Lapua Movement of the late 1920s, which was alarmed by the increased popularity and threatening influence of "Socialists" (reformist Social Democrats). However, after the Lapua Movement's failed coup d'etat in 1932, the anti-parliamentarians lost much of their popularity and couldn't dominate neither in any major political party, nor in the public debate.

Before the Civil War, the Scandinavian countries had been the first to recognize Finland's independence. After the Civil War the relations cooled - mutually. When Finland later, in the mid-1930s, again orientated towards Scandinavia, the reception was less enthusiastic than the Finns had expected, and ultimately Finland had to fight the Winter War on her own. Bitter debate followed: Was this coolness typical for the treacherous Scandinavians, or was it an unfortunate consequence of the impression the Scandinavians had got of Finland's Civil War and its aftermath?

4 See also

• Winter War
• Continuation War
• Finnish War
• History of Finland
• List of Finnish wars
• Lotta Svärd
• Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim

Civil War

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