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Finnish Party Suomalainen Puolue | |
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Founded | 1860s |
Dissolved | 1918 |
Succeeded by | National Coalition Party National Progressive Party |
Ideology | Finnish nationalism Conservatism |
The Finnish Party (Finnish : Suomalainen Puolue) was a Fennoman conservative political party in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland and independent Finland. Born out of Finland's language strife in the 1860s, the party sought to improve the position of the Finnish language in Finnish society. Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Yrjö Sakari Yrjö-Koskinen, and Johan Richard Danielson-Kalmari were its ideological leaders. The party's chief organ was the Suometar newspaper, later Uusi Suometar, and its members were sometimes called Suometarians (suomettarelaiset).
The party started to form around a core of Fennoman intellectuals in the 1860s, but remained formally unorganized for decades. Improving the status of the Finnish language, especially furthering its use in education, was a central issue from the start. In the 1877–1878 sessions of the Diet of Finland the party attained a leading role among the clergy and the peasantry, which it would hold till 1904. [1]
In the 1880s, a faction within the party took a critical view of Russia, eventually breaking away and founding the Young Finnish Party in 1894. The Finnish Party sought legitimacy in the eyes of the Russian authorities and saw cooperation with Russia as a way to enact its language policies. When Russification began in 1899, the Young Finns advocated passive resistance, whereas the Finnish Party, now often called the Old Finns (vanhasuomalaiset), supported appeasement. Although the party maintained that Finland's rights were being violated, it emphasized the importance of keeping official positions in Finnish hands and feared that resistance could lead to further loss of autonomy.
Aside from the central language question, the party espoused conservative values and supported many social reforms, especially during Danielson-Kalmari's time as its ideological leader after Yrjö-Koskinen's death in 1903. On economic issues, the 1906 party program placed the party in the political centre, between the Social Democratic Party on the left and the Young Finns on the right. After the 1906 parliamentary reform, the party was consistently the biggest non-socialist party in parliamentary elections in 1907–1917 and the second biggest overall after the Social Democrats. However, it lost seats in every election, sliding down from 59 MPs in 1907 to 32 in 1917.
After the Finnish independence in December 1917 and the Civil War of 1918, Russification was no longer an issue and the language question had lost a great deal of its importance in Finnish politics. The main issues holding the party together were now secondary to economic and constitutional issues. Although it had agreed to establishing a republican form of government before the war, the party leadership now switched to supporting constitutional monarchy. Party leaders saw in a monarchy a bulwark against socialism and thought that the election of a German prince as a monarch would guarantee Germany's military support, but the plan failed when the First World War ended in a German capitulation and the abolition of German Monarchy. In December 1918, the party's supporters divided into two new parties, with a majority going to the conservative, monarchist National Coalition Party and a minority to the liberal, republican National Progressive Party. [2]
Johan Vilhelm Snellman was an influential Fennoman philosopher and Finnish statesman, ennobled in 1866. He was one of the most important 'awakeners' or promoters of Finnish nationalism, alongside Elias Lönnrot and J. L. Runeberg.
Finland's language strife was a major conflict in mid-19th century Finland. Both the Swedish and Finnish languages were commonly used in Finland at the time, associated with descendants of Swedish colonisation and leading to class tensions among the speakers of the different languages. It became acute in the mid-19th century. The competition was considered to have officially ended when Finnish gained official language status in 1863 and became equal to the Swedish language.
The Fennoman movement or Fennomania was a Finnish nationalist movement in the 19th-century Grand Duchy of Finland, built on the work of the fennophile interests of the 18th and early-19th centuries.
Finnicization is the changing of one's personal names from other languages into Finnish. During the era of National Romanticism in Finland, many people, especially Fennomans, finnicized their previously Swedish family names.
The Young Finnish Party or Constitutional-Fennoman Party was a liberal and nationalist political party in the Grand Duchy of Finland. It began as an upper-class reformist movement during the 1870s and formed as a political party in 1894.
Finland declared its independence on 6 December 1917. The formal Declaration of Independence was only part of the long process leading to the independence of Finland.
Walhalla-orden was a secret society founded in the early part of 1783 in the Sveaborg fortress outside Helsinki, Finland by Johan Anders Jägerhorn along with Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm. It is thought to have been instrumental in setting in motion forces that eventually caused Finnish independence.
Baron Yrjö Sakari Yrjö-Koskinen was a friherre, senator, professor, historian, politician and the chairman of the Finnish Party after Johan Vilhelm Snellman. He was a central figure in the fennoman movement. His original name was Georg Zakarias Forsman and his family from his father's side originated from Sweden. He later fennicized his name to Yrjö Sakari Yrjö-Koskinen. He was the husband of Finland's first female author, Theodolinda Hahnsson.
Johan Richard (J.R.) Danielson-Kalmari was a Finnish Senator, professor of history, State Councillor and one of the leaders of the Finnish Party. He was a Senator without portfolio in the Hjelt Senate from 1 August 1908 to 13 November 1909.
Jacobus Petri Finno, sometimes known as Jaakko Finno or by the Finnish form of his real name Jaakko Suomalainen, was a Finnish priest and the rector (headmaster) of the Cathedral School of Turku. He was the publisher of the first Finnish-language hymnal, as well as a catechism and a prayer book. Finno was doctrinally a moderate reformer.
Ina Lange, also known by her pen names Daniel Sten and Daniel Stern, was a Finnish writer, music historian, pianist and music instructor.
The National Socialist Union of Finland, later the Finnish-Socialist Party was a Finnish Nazi political party active in the 1930s, whose driving force and ideologue was Professor Yrjö Ruutu. With an ideology based on Ruutu's theories, the party came to reject orthodox German Nazism.
The Finnish National Socialist Labor Organisation was a Finnish Nazi party led by Teo Snellman. The movement that operated during the armistice and the Continuation War was also known as the National Reform Labor Organization (KUT) and the Finnish National Socialist Workers' Party (SKTP). The party's organ was Vapaa Suomi, which appeared between 1940 and 1944.
The Finnish-Socialist Workers' Party was a Finnish Nazi party that operated from 1934 to 1944 and was led by engineer Ensio Uoti.
The Organisation of National Socialists was a Finnish Nazi party operating in 1940–1944. It was founded and led by Arvi Kalsta, and the party was a continuation of Kalsta's earlier party Finnish People's Organisation. The party board included Yrjö Raikas, Väinö Kari, Reino Rauanheimo and Eino Hanhivaara. Jäger Major Onni Kohonen was also one of the closest associates of Kalsta and active in the party.
The National Socialists of Finland was a Finnish Nazi party operating in 1941–1944, led by Yrjö Raikas. The party's newspaper was the daily Kansallissosialisti that was funded by Petter Forsström.
Ensio Ilmari Uoti was a Finnish politician and Nazi who in the 1930s was the leader of the Finnish-Socialist Workers' Party (SSTP).
The Party of Finnish Labor was a Finnish far-right party operating in the 1930s and 1940s, led by engineer Niilo Rauvala. The party's motto was: "Finland into a great and rich nation state". In 1940s, the organization was known as the New Finnish Party. The party was dissolved on 18 January 1945 as contrary to Article 21 of the Moscow Armistice, which forbade fascist parties.
Teo Kaarlo Snellman was a Finnish Nazi, embassy counselor, translator, and vegetarian. From 1940 to 1944, Snellman headed the Finnish National Socialist Labor Organisation. Snellman was the grandson of Johan Vilhelm Snellman. Teo considered his grandfather Johan Vilhelm and Eino Leino, Väinämöinen and Mikael Agricola to be Finland's first National Socialists.