Suomen Kansan Demokraattinen Liitto Demokratiska Förbundet för Finlands Folk Perustettu 1944 Lopetti 1990 (poliittinen toiminta) Ideologia sosialismi
kommunismi
marxilaisuus Äänenkannattaja Vapaa Sana (1944–1956)
Kansan Uutiset (1957–1990) Naisjärjestö SNDL Nuorisojärjestö SDNL Varhaisnuorisojärjestö SDPL Opiskelijajärjestö ASS / SOL Sivistysjärjestö KSL Raittiusjärjestö KRL / KDRL Eläkeläisjärjestö Eläkeläiset Infobox OKNimi-testi OK
Finnish People's Democratic League (abbr. SKDL[[1\]](https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suomen_Kansan_Demokraattinen_Liitto#cite_note-kotus-1); member kansandemokraatti, abbr kd.) was a left-wing coalition party that participated in several governments and was twice (1946–1948 and 1958–1962) the largest party in the Parliament, and once the party with the highest support in parliamentary elections (1958). SKDL ceased its political activities in the spring of 1990, when the Left Alliance was established as its successor.
SKDL was founded after the Continuation War in 1944 as a coalition of communists, socialists, and other 'democratic forces.' Socialism was added to the party program only in 1967.[2] In practice, cooperation within the alliance required recognition of the leading position of the Communist Party of Finland (SKP), as the SKP always held a dominant position within the SKDL. The socialists who were prominently involved in the founding of the alliance, having split from the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) on the left, remained a minority within the SKDL, even though, for example, the chairpersons of the alliance were socialists.
SKDL included both individual and organizational members. Organizational members included in addition to SKP Academic Socialist Society/Socialist Student Union (1944–1965/1965–1990), Finnish Women's Democratic League (1944–1990), Socialist Unity Party of Finland (1946–1955), Finnish Fellowship League (1946–1952), and Finnish Democratic Youth League (1967–1990).
SKDL participated in the governments Paasikivi II, Paasikivi III, Pekkala, Paasio I, Koivisto I, Karjalainen II, Miettunen II, Sorsa II, Koivisto II, and Sorsa III, thus being a governing party in the years 1944–1948, 1966–1970, 1970–1971, 1975–1976, and 1977–1982.
Part of the article series
History
Main directions
Subheadings
Concepts
Persons
Organizations
More about
Main article: Socialism
SKDL was established as a cooperation organization of socialist and communist groups. The goal of SKDL was a socialist society 'where people are liberated from exploitation, oppression, and humiliation.' The transition to socialism was to take place peacefully and with the support of the majority of the people. Central to SKDL's social change concept were the democratization of the economy and increasing social control in economic policy. SKDL's program has been assessed as socialist.
SKDL's minority opposed party-like features and ideological ties. The minority of the party wanted to reserve for SKDL mainly the character of a working forum and socialism exclusively for SKP.
The Finnish People's Democratic League was established on October 29, 1944, when the Soviet Union ordered Finland to repeal anti-communist laws after the end of the Continuation War. The preparatory negotiations for the league were held at the Helsinki Workers' Hall on October 5, 1944. The project was chosen to be led by K. H. Wiik, who also drafted the organization's program outline. The founding meeting elected a large committee to the league's board, which included a fairly equal number of communists and former social democrats. The quickly completed rules of the league defined SKDL's purpose as securing popular sovereignty, democracy, freedom, and peace. In Vapaa Sana on November 7, 1944, SKDL was said to unite 'all circles and citizens who oppose reaction, fascism, and Nazism to the end and without reservation in the common struggle for their people's democracy and freedom, civilization, and well-being.'
SKP played a major role in the founding of SKDL. The Communists wanted to create a broad-based cooperation organization of democratic forces because SKP was intended to be kept strictly as a cadre party. In the initial rules of SKDL, the organization was described to act as a 'link between organizations thinking democratically and operating on the basis of democratic principles.'
In January 1945, the SKDL proposed a nationwide electoral alliance to the SDP, but set as a condition that leading politicians of the SDP, Väinö Tanner, Väinö Hakkila, Väinö Salovaara, and Aleksi Aaltonen would not stand as candidates in the elections.[7] When the SDP party committee rejected the SKDL's electoral alliance offer with the support of Väinö Tanner's followers and 'arms socialist' votes, it also rejected the communist-driven people's front policy.[8] A large number of SDP's basic organizations immediately moved under the SKDL in the following years of the Continuation War. According to a survey conducted by the SDP in 1947, a total of 100 associations had left the party. Social Democrats lost 62 labor halls.[9] The Academic Socialist Society (ASS), expelled from the SDP in 1937, was one of the founding organizations of the SKDL. The most well-known party switchers were the 'sixes' expelled from the SDP in 1940 and the social democratic opposition led by J. W. Keto. However, other 'democrats' could not be persuaded to join the alliance, and thus the SKDL became merely a left-wing cooperation party in which the SKP always had a dominant role. As the SKP's membership quickly increased, many members switched between both the SKP and the SKDL, leading to a distinct and resource-intensive dual organization.
SKDL:n nimen takana olivat tiettävästi SKP-johdon voimapari Hertta Kuusinen ja Yrjö Leino.[10] Erkki Tuomioja on maininnut myös Andrei Ždanovin nimen.[11] Rekisteröinnin yhteydessä oikeusministeri Ernst von Born yritti jarruttaa prosessia väittäen puolueen nimen johtavan kansalaisia harhaan.
The first People's Democratic minister was Yrjö Leino, who served as the second Minister of Social Affairs in Paasikivi's second government. In the third Paasikivi government formed after the March 1945 parliamentary elections, ministerial portfolios were formally divided equally among the three largest parties: the SKDL, SDP, and Maalaisliitto. However, the People's Democrats were overrepresented in the government, as Prime Minister J. K. Paasikivi's trusted men Mauno Pekkala and Reinhold Svento became ministers outside the party quotas, neither of whom the SDP recognized as their own. As Finland reestablished diplomatic relations with foreign powers in the autumn of 1945, People's Democrats were also appointed to key positions in this sector: Johan Helo became the ambassador to Paris, Cay Sundström to Moscow, and Eero Wuori to London. Paasikivi needed the support of the People's Democrats in both domestic and foreign policy, and with these actions, he at least superficially gained their respect.[12]
In September 1946, the SKDL parliamentary group became the largest in the country when Sylvi-Kyllikki Kilpi and Atos Wirtanen joined from the SDP. Kilpi and Wirtanen also joined the Socialist Unity Party established earlier in the year.
When the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL) raised its voters' expectations high with visible, powerful, and promising propaganda, it put itself in a difficult position. In government, the party had to address the country's affairs and adapt its reform and change ambitions not only to the then limited economic possibilities but also to the pace of its coalition partners. In reality, the SKDL, as the strongest group in the government, quickly became pillars of support for the prevailing social system and authorities - the same system it had previously sought to overthrow. According to the general perception of the bourgeoisie, the communists sought to use their acquired power to prepare for a revolution, but it can just as well be argued that the communists' revolutionary zeal was instead stifled within the established bourgeois system.
In 1948, the Cold War took on a new character when the communists forced bourgeois and social democratic parties out of the government in Czechoslovakia. Around the same time, on February 22, Finland received an invitation to initiate YYA-negotiations from Stalin, who, in a tense atmosphere, wanted to quickly conclude the chain of agreements with Western neighboring countries. Among Finnish parties, only the SKDL responded positively to the initiative, as they had previously advocated for the agreement. YYA was important for the communists as it was believed to enable a change in Finland's political system with the support of Soviet troops. According to Jukka Nevakivi, the communists were 'fully aware that they did not have the prerequisites to come to power without Soviet support.' However, the Soviet Union was not willing to intervene in Finland's domestic politics in such radical ways.
The Finnish Social Democrat published the above-mentioned coup scenario on Sunday, April 25, 1948. Around the same time, Minister of the Interior Leino, who had fallen out of favor with the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) and the Soviet Union, claimed to Commander of the Defense Forces Aarne Sihvo that coup plans were actually being prepared on the 'right' side. The State Police, under the control of the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL), had informed Leino that they had found a paper written a year earlier detailing the resistance movement's organization. Upon receiving this information, Sihvo canceled his trip to Moscow for the YYA negotiations and began implementing defense force readiness measures. After the Moscow negotiations, J. K. Paasikivi reminded Sihvo that the threat of a coup was more likely from the left rather than the right. Finnish fears were heightened by an article in the SKDL's Vapaa Sana reporting on a speech given by Hertta Kuusinen on the 24th, titled 'The Czechoslovakian path is our path.' During the night between the 26th and 27th, armored and artillery units were deployed near the capital region. The ratification process of the YYA agreement began in the parliament on April 28 and concluded with the President's ratification on April 30. The YYA negotiations took place from March 22 to April 5, and the agreement was signed on April 6 in a very favorable form for Finland.
In May 1948, the General Secretary and Member of Parliament of the Communist Party of Finland, Ville Pessi, traveled to Moscow and informed Zhdanov about the information from the Finnish State Police leadership, indicating that the right-wing was planning a coup to prevent the YYA agreement. Upon receiving this information, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Finland deemed it necessary to arrest some of the prominent conspirators, allegedly led by President Paasikivi according to the head of the State Police. However, Pessi stated that the plan had to be abandoned as the plotters discovered they were under surveillance. The Central Committee decided to counter the coup threat by organizing mass meetings to facilitate the arrest of the conspirators. Despite uncertainties about their success, SKP requested assistance from Zhdanov in possible pressure tactics. Zhdanov informed Stalin that the Communist Party of Finland was ineffective as it lacked confidence in its own strength and constantly relied on Soviet support. Pessi did not receive support and returned to Finland.
There is no concrete evidence of either of the attempted coups in the spring of 1948. Individual parties may have planned actions, but the ideas remained at a theoretical level. #17 Extreme left-wing groups had wanted to carry out a change of power immediately after the war, with the SKDL later absorbing all parties within itself according to the Eastern European model. However, the Soviet Union then prohibited the implementation of the plan. In 1946, the NCP ordered the SCP to take action to carry out the coup, but the SCP was not up to the task. #18 Finland's extreme left was practically incapable of an independent coup. However, Finland was somewhat moving towards people's democracy between 1944 and 1948, as the extreme left had exceptionally much power at that time. In this sense, the era can be called the years of danger, but using the term solely in reference to coup theories is somewhat exaggerated. #19
Communists ultimately failed to overthrow the prevailing system because their own minister, Yrjö Leino, who had lost the trust of his own and become alcoholic, was unable or unwilling to help them. The tension was relieved when the parliament passed a vote of no confidence against Leino on Leino's prisoners on May 19, 1948. Even the Communists supported Leino's resignation, but they demanded a new representative from the SKP to replace Leino. The demand was supported by organizing demonstrations and strikes. However, a directive came from Moscow to stop the support measures, as they could have led to postponing or canceling the July parliamentary elections.20
The association opposed, for example, the relaxation of peace terms, which irritated many citizens. Many saw the SKDL as merely a tool of the Soviet Union.[21] In addition to the Soviet Embassy, other countries' embassies were also involved in the coup rumors. The British Embassy admitted to distributing propaganda among the working class because 'the resolution between communism and social democracy cannot be considered solely an internal political matter.' The Soviet Union attempted to improve the situation of the far left by halving the $147 million war reparations demanded by the SKDL, but the People's Democrats suffered a crushing defeat in the parliamentary elections and dropped to the third largest party. The Social Democrats emerged as the largest party, indicating that the working class had primarily voted for social democracy instead of communism, as Western countries, the SDP, and the bourgeoisie had hoped before the elections.[19]
Western countries saw the election result as a guarantee that Finland was no longer heading towards people's democracy. In the new K. A. Fagerholm government, there was not a single politician considered far-left. This was seen as a sensation, but it improved the state's relations with the West. In the West, there was a desire for Finland to settle its war reparations. The SKDL was excluded from the government due to the conditions set by the party. The People's Democrats demanded at least five ministerial positions and Hertta Kuusinen as Foreign Minister. Paasikivi stated that this would have meant 'the same as if her father were sitting as Foreign Minister.' In the future, it was desired to ensure that the far-left does not get key positions in the government, such as the roles of Prime Minister, Interior Minister, Defense Minister, Foreign Minister, and Minister of Trade. Paasikivi justified his decision by stating that 'a communist as Foreign Minister would only represent the Soviet Union, not Finland' and 'a communist as Minister of Trade would try to make Finland economically dependent on the Soviet Union.' When the SKDL joined the Paasikivi I government after 18 years, receiving a second Minister of Finance portfolio, police matters were not included.
The Social Democrats and the bourgeoisie lost their trust in the SKDL. Paasikivi complained that in Pekkala's government and in the Foreign Affairs Committee, discussions could not be held confidentially without fearing that the information would reach the Russians. The Social Democratic Fagerholm minority government, appointed on July 31 with Paasikivi's support, began to purge important social tasks of the People's Democrats. On October 23, 1948, the government proposed the abolition of Valpo and its replacement with the Security Police. The government believed that the so-called Red Valpo had misused its interrogation and arrest powers, which were transferred to the criminal police. Next, Yleisradio was cleansed, and Hella Wuolijoki, appointed to lead it in 1945, was dismissed by the decision of the Yleisradio Board of Directors. With the new domestic political trend, the Fagerholm government released five individuals convicted of war crimes in May 1949.23
In 1952, the SKDL expelled its main mouthpiece Vapaan Sanan editor-in-chief Raoul Palmgren, who had sought to establish a distinct profile for the newspaper. Palmgren had clashed, especially with the party's news agency Demokraattisen Lehtipalvelun (DLP) director Armas Äikiä. Palmgren refused to condemn Yugoslavia with the intensity demanded by the Soviet Union and defended Jean-Paul Sartre's play Dirty Hands. The case of Palmgren, declared a
Kun Nikita Khrushchev criticized the abuses of Joseph Stalin's era in the 20th Congress of the CPSU in 1956, similar issues began to be addressed among Finnish communists. However, major reforms were not made, and the so-called de-Stalinization remained incomplete. A new phase of discussion began when Aira Sinervo, former director of the Sirola Institute, published a novel in 1960 sharply criticizing the people's democratic movement. The Finnish Communist Party condemned the work as provocative trash, which stirred the emotions of many socialists. The cultural association Kiila, close to the people's democratic movement, clashed with the communists, causing the Finnish People's Democratic League to lose many prominent supporters. In 1961, Jarno Pennanen founded the magazine Tilanne, where the affairs of the Finnish People's Democratic League were openly discussed. The Finnish People's Democratic League found Tilanne uncomfortable and often did not see it wise to engage in discussions with it. Nevertheless, the magazine had its influence, and the themes it raised reached the Finnish People's Democratic League and its publications by the mid-1960s. The leadership of the Finnish People's Democratic League and the Finnish Communist Party were renewed, and cooperation with other parties began to improve.
The change in the procedures of the SKDL towards more openness was also due to a generational shift. In the 1960s, a generation that had grown up in post-war Finland was about to take over the leadership of the SKDL, a generation for whom the emigrant period in the Soviet Union, the times of Lapua Movement, as well as years of imprisonment, safekeeping, and underground activities were just history, and who had been able to freely participate in society's activities. Apparently, this had also softened the sharp avant-garde thinking and class struggle zeal, and the tolerability of the bourgeois society, at least as a framework for transitioning to socialism, had increased. Criticism from the younger generation towards the old guard found resonance especially in the non-communist wing of the SKDL. When the non-communist political scientist Ele Alenius won the Secretary-General election in 1967 against the SKP candidate Hertta Kuusinen, this was seen as a victory for the group demanding changes.
After the 1966 Finnish parliamentary election, the SKDL participated in the government for the first time since the 1940s. The government was formed under the leadership of Rafael Paasio based on the three largest parties, the SDP, Centre Party, and the SKDL. This government base, known as the popular front, remained, although not entirely uninterrupted, until the 1980s. In 1968, the SKDL's executive committee, like the SKP, condemned, albeit more strongly, the actions of the Warsaw Pact in Czechoslovakia (see Prague Spring). The trade union movement began its consolidation in the early 1970s.
The changes of the 1960s gave the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL) a more independent role in relation to the Finnish Communist Party (SKP). On the other hand, the internal disputes within the SKP increasingly reflected on the activities of the SKDL as they prolonged. For example, the Socialist Student Union (SOL), established in the spring of 1965 as the student organization of the SKDL based on academic socialist clubs, allied itself with the SKP opposition in 1971. Also, the Finnish Democratic Youth League (SDNL), accepted as a community member of the SKDL in 1967, was divided throughout the 1970s.
In the late 1960s, the SKDL also faced economic problems. Staff had to be reduced, the union went into debt, and the number of actively operating associations dropped to only 1,350 in 1969. Major structural changes in the country made it difficult to establish contacts with new people. #4
The success of the SKDL in the parliamentary elections declined over the years as the division within the party intensified. In the 1970 parliamentary elections, all government parties suffered losses. SKDL lost more votes than the Center Party, but only lost five seats compared to the Center Party's loss of 13 seats. Of the 36 members of the parliamentary group after the elections, 19 belonged to the majority of the SKP and 15 to the minority, with two socialists not belonging to the communist party. The term 'taistolaiset' was coined in the early 1970s by the minority faction of the SKP led by Taisto Sinisalo, in reference to the political editorial office of Helsingin Sanomat. 25
SKDL joined the Ahti Karjalainen government formed after the elections, but resigned from it in March 1971 due to the 'corvus war'. From 1975 onwards, the party was again part of all political governments for seven years, except for the third government of Martti Miettunen in 1976-1977. In May 1976, at President Urho Kekkonen's suggestion, the SKDL parliamentary group voted against the government's proposed turnover tax increase despite the party's participation in the government.[26]
When the Finnish Parliament voted in January 1973 on the state of emergency law to extend President Urho Kekkonen's term in office without an election until 1978, the entire SKDL parliamentary group voted in favor of the bill's approval.[27] Among the major parties, it was the SKDL that first expressed support in April 1972 for extending Kekkonen's term despite the party's opposition to the free trade agreement between Finland and the European Economic Community (EEC) advocated by Kekkonen, and even though the so-called UKK Agreement in December 1970 had undermined the communist-planned strike movement.[28]
SKDL's leading figure Arvo Aalto agreed to become the Minister of Labor in the second government of Sorsa in May 1977, when unemployment was at historically high levels. Sorsa's government shifted its economic policy from socialism towards a market economy, a direction also supported by the SKDL ministerial group.[29] Aalto continued as the Minister of Labor in Koivisto's second government, and his close collaboration with Prime Minister Mauno Koivisto became a key force in keeping the government together. When Aalto left the government in March 1981, Minister of Education Kalevi Kivistö became Koivisto's and SKDL's special relationship successor.[30]
In the 1979 elections, the party lost its position among the three largest parties to the National Coalition Party. In the autumn of 1981, the rebellious members of the SKP minority were expelled from the SKDL parliamentary group, but they were able to return in the spring of 1982. #31 The gap widened definitively during the 1983−1987 parliamentary term, which was visibly reflected in the Parliament building: in June 1986, the SKDL group room was divided by a partition, and the members of the SKP minority who had organized as the Democratic Alternative parliamentary group were moved to the left end of the main hall at the beginning of the autumn session in 1986. #32 After the 1987 elections, the SKDL group consisted of only 16 members of parliament. At that point, the party had lost its parliamentary seats in the Kymen, Mikkeli, and North Karelia electoral districts.
Aarne Saarinen has speculated in his memoirs that a significant reason for the 1983 election defeat was the behavior of the party's minority wing in the 1982 presidential elections. When the SKDL voted for its presidential candidate, the party's then chairman and Minister of Education Kalevi Kivistö was elected, whom the Taistoists opposed. In the electoral college vote, Kivistö, Aarne Saarinen, and Ele Alenius urged the party's 32 electors to support the SDP's Mauno Koivisto in the first round. The majority did so, but the minority, 11 electors, voted against Kivistö whom they had previously opposed. Saarinen called the Taistoists' behavior 'political hooliganism' and said it had brought the party's credibility into question in the eyes of the people.[33]