Suchergebnisse

AbstractThis article traces the emergence of religious anti‐communist discourse in Finland's proto‐fascist Lapua Movement in the 1930s. Applying constructionist social problems theory, it discusses the constructions of communism as a religious social problem, Christian piety as a solution to the problem of godless communism, and the religious legitimation of violence. The article argues that by identifying Christianity with the Finnish nation the construction of communism as a religious problem—itself an outcome of the influence of revivalist Lutheran ministers in the leadership of the movement—resonated with the broader audience, but that this indigenous religious nationalism lost support with the increasing belligerence of the movement.

This is a study of why a group of farmers in Swedish Ostrobothnia chose to sympathise with the Lapua Movement in the summer of 1930. The Lapua Movement, a right-wing movement, emerged in Lapua in Southern Ostrobothnia in November 1929. Initially, the only expressed aim of the movement was to achieve total prohibition of communism in the country through efficient legislation. The movement wanted Parliament to establish laws that banned all organised communist activities and propaganda and that limited communists' possibilities to enter candidates in public elections. In addition, the movement wanted expanded authority for the nation's President to, when needed, put a stop to organisations that were considered a threat to national security. The Lapua Movement used extra-parliamentary means of agitation to carry through their demands. The movement's biggest manifesto against communism was to become the so called Peasants' March (Sw. Bondetåget) to Helsinki on July 7, 1930.

This article charts the history of fascism in Finland and looks for the causes of its failure. Like most of its European contemporaries, Finnish nationalism was radicalized in similar processes which produced successful fascist movements elsewhere. After the end of the Great War, Finnish nationalists were engaged first in a bitter civil war, and then in a number of Freikorps-style attempts to expand the borders of the newly-made Finnish state. Like elsewhere, these experiences produced a generation of frustrated and embittered, radicalized nationalists to serve as the cadre of Finnish fascist movements. The article concentrates on the Lapua movement, in which fascist influences and individuals were in a prominent position, even though the movement publicly adopted a predominantly conservative anti-communist outlook centred on the values of home, religion and fatherland.

This article charts the history of fascism in Finland and looks for the causes of its failure. Like most of its European contemporaries, Finnish nationalism was radicalized in similar processes which produced successful fascist movements elsewhere. After the end of the Great War, Finnish nationalists were engaged first in a bitter civil war, and then in a number of Freikorps-style attempts to expand the borders of the newly-made Finnish state. Like elsewhere, these experiences produced a generation of frustrated and embittered, radicalized nationalists to serve as the cadre of Finnish fascist movements. The article concentrates on the Lapua movement, in which fascist influences and individuals were in a prominent position, even though the movement publicly adopted a predominantly conservative anti-communist outlook centred on the values of home, religion and fatherland. ; Peer reviewed

The focus of this research is on Finland's role in Soviet Union's calculation of its foreign policy between 1920 and 1930. This was the first decade of both Finnish independence and of Soviet power in Russia. This book answers questions about the objectives of Soviet foreign policy in Finland, on the contacts used by the Soviet legation to obtain information, and on how well the Soviets understood Finland's objectives. People interested in Finland and in Russian perspectives with regards to foreign policy and neighbouring countries will find much new in this book because it relies on formerly unpublished Russian archival material to form the basis for charting Soviet objectives in Finland. The book shows that the Soviets primarily observed Finland in a larger regional context along with other states on its borders in the Baltic Sea region. The global objectives of the revolution and the Soviet Union, but also the domestic political situation in both countries, are reflected on this framework. The period was characterized by forced collectivization in the Soviet Union and, in Finland, by the rise of the right-wing Lapua Movement that emerged at the onset of the Great Depression, laying the foundations for the most severe crisis in the relations during 1929–1930 when the issues surrounding these events destabilized simultaneously the society and political decision-making in both countries

The focus of this research is on Finland's role in Soviet Union's calculation of its foreign policy between 1920 and 1930. This was the first decade of both Finnish independence and of Soviet power in Russia. This book answers questions about the objectives of Soviet foreign policy in Finland, on the contacts used by the Soviet legation to obtain information, and on how well the Soviets understood Finland's objectives. People interested in Finland and in Russian perspectives with regards to foreign policy and neighbouring countries will find much new in this book because it relies on formerly unpublished Russian archival material to form the basis for charting Soviet objectives in Finland. The book shows that the Soviets primarily observed Finland in a larger regional context along with other states on its borders in the Baltic Sea region. The global objectives of the revolution and the Soviet Union, but also the domestic political situation in both countries, are reflected on this framework. The period was characterized by forced collectivization in the Soviet Union and, in Finland, by the rise of the right-wing Lapua Movement that emerged at the onset of the Great Depression, laying the foundations for the most severe crisis in the relations during 1929–1930 when the issues surrounding these events destabilized simultaneously the society and political decision-making in both countries.

The formation of a small polity -- The problem -- A comparative perspective -- What is to be explained -- Plan of the book -- State-making and the class structure -- Dominant groups and state-making -- The early nineteenth century -- Economic integration -- The late nineteenth century -- The Agrarian class structure and industrial workers -- The industrial and agricultural revolutions in Finland -- Freeholding peasants and Agrarian workers -- The link between industrial and Agrarian workers -- Crofters -- Territorial integration -- Finnish regions up to 1809 -- Reorientation from Stockholm to St. Petersburg -- Territorial integration in the late nineteenth century -- Core-periphery interaction -- the county of Viipuri and Eastern Finland -- South-Western Finland as a core region -- Declining ostrobothnia -- Division of labour and state penetration in Northern Finland -- National integration and class integration -- Finnish nationalism -- The dual nature of nationalism in nineteenth-century Europe -- Finland in a European perspective -- The consolidation of a national culture -- Before the revolution: organisation, mobilisation, and the role of Russia -- Early mass organisation -- The Finno-Russian conflict -- The general strike of 1905, parliamentary reform, and the rise of Agrarian socialism -- Regional consolidation of party support -- Regions as loci of party systems -- The south-western core region -- The county of Viipuri -- Ostrobothnia -- Eastern Finland -- Northern Finland -- The abortive revolution -- On preconditions for revolutionary situations -- The abortive Revolution of 1917-1918 -- Socialists within the polity -- The rise of multiple sovereignty -- The revolutionary situation -- The aftermath -- The social and regional basis for the revolution -- On the character of the Finnish revolution -- Breakdown of society or contest for state power? -- State and nation after the failed revolution -- The failed revolution and the nation -- The persistence of the volcanic model of the Finnish revolution -- On the state, the nation, and class balance -- The Lapua Movement, 1930-2 -- The mass movement and the dominant classes in Finnish fascism -- The Finnish state and revolution in a European perspective -- Eastern European revolutionary movements -- National movements in the Baltic provinces -- Revolution in the Baltic provinces, 1905 and 1917-18 -- Challenges in East-Central Europe -- Fascism in Eastern Europe -- The formation of Finland in Europe -- Economic consolidation -- The formation of state and nation -- Political organisation and mobilisation before 1917 -- Revolutionary situations in small European polities -- State and revolution in Finland