Russian Influences On The Finnish Revolution And

C Essay, Research Paper

Finland gained its independence from Russia in 1917. The influences that Russia had upon the Finnish Revolution and subsequent civil war were many. The Tsar of Russia and his ruling policies towards Finland, the events of World War I, and the rise of Soviet communism all played important roles in guiding Finland towards revolution, and in shaping the nation after independence had been declared. Each of the influences affected a different aspect of the process leading to the formation of an independent Finnish Republic. Finland was a part of the Swedish Empire from the middle of the twelfth century until 1809, when Russia conquered Finland in a war with Sweden. When Finland was under control of the Swedes it was a group of provinces and not actually a country. After being joined with Russia these provinces gained a national character. The ruler of the Russian Empire, Tsar Alexander I, made Finland into a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire. This meant all the lands of Finland were joined together as one autonomous unit. The ruler of the Russian Empire would be given the title Grand Duke of Finland. He would be represented in Finland by an appointed Governor General. The Finns were allowed to rule themselves under the Governor General through a Senate, made up entirely of Finns. There was little interference from the Tsar in the governing of Finland. By 1863 Finland acted like a normal independent country, it had its own language, army, legal system, and religion and was a separate economic entity from Russia, with its own currency and the ability to collect taxes and impose tariffs. Although Finland had its own language, Swedish was the predominant language of the ruling class. Society in Finland was similar in structure to Sweden, where there was a ruling upper class with farmers and workers in a fixed position under them. Society stayed this way until the 1870’s when the senate passed legislation permitting free enterprise and social mobility. This led to the introduction of capital into the country and a boom in industry and population. Finland was allowed to operate freely without interference from Russia until 1899, when Tsar Nicholas II imposed laws that encroached upon the autonomy of the Finnish state. The laws that Nicholas II imposed upon the Finns were written in an Imperial Manifesto of February 15, 1899. These laws dealt specifically with the governmental procedures of Finland. It was felt that the government of Finland must be more closely tied to that of Russia. All the doings of the Finnish government were examined by the Russian Council of Ministers, and then approved by the Tsar himself. This policy shocked the Finnish people, but not as much as the laws placed upon the country as a whole. There was legislation passed which made Russian an official language in Finland, the granting of full rights of citizenship in Finland to Russian nationals, and made the ruble official legal currency in Finland. Although these laws took away the Finnish identity from the people, most seemed not to care. Finnish was still a national language, and the Finnish mark was still a usable currency, so the first Russification policies didn’t affect the average Finn. This apathy was changed to anger in 1901. The Russian government introduced a law that dissolved the Finnish army, and required Finnish men to serve as conscripts in the Russian army. These laws which were imposed led to the beginnings of a feeling of Finnish nationalism, at first it was only the members of the ruling class who showed their displeasure with the Russians, but the new conscription law gave everyone a reason to despise the Russians. In 1902 over half the Finnish conscripts refused to report for duty. To counter this defiance the Tsar suspended the Finnish constitution, and gave the Governor General complete dictatorial power. He remained in power as a dictator for a little over a year. On June 3, 1904 he was assassinated by the son of a former senator named Eugen Schauman. Some of the Finnish people followed their political leaders in joining active resistance movements against the Russians. At the same time groups of workers joined together into labor unions. The formation of these labor groups was accompanied by the formation of a socialist party in Finland. As was the case with the Nazi party in Germany, the Finnish Social Democratic Party (SDP) started out small and grew to become the most powerful party in Finland. The SDP went around Finland trying to recruit new members to their party, but found it difficult in rural areas. This was because they tried to recruit small land owners to join their cause. This posed a problem because these people did not want to give up their status as land owners. The SDP also made the mistake of stressing its atheism and materialism to those people of the countryside who were set in their rather humble ways and attached to their religion. This would come back to haunt the socialists, these country folk later became their enemies in the Finnish Civil War.

The Russians continued to pose a threat to both the bourgeois and to the workers in Finland, but for different reasons. The ruling bourgeois were threatened by the Russians because they prevented from ruling the country the way they saw fit, and the socialists felt that the Russians were supporting the capitalist factory owners who were keeping the workers down. The advent of World War One put th