The League of Communists or Communist League (Finnish: Kommunistien Liitto) is a Finnish Marxist-Leninist political organization. The League of Communists was founded on 14.9.2002 by the Communists who were expelled from the For Peace and Socialism - Communist Workers Party (KTP). The organization was at first known as, plainly, Communists (Kommunistit) but the name was changed to its current form during the registration process.
The dispute in the KTP arose as part of its Central Committee wished the party would join a new electoral alliance party (Forces for Change in Finland [MVS]) in which right-wing organizations were also participating. The majority led by Chairman Hannu Harju did not approve of this and the Central Committee voted (18-9) against the initiative. The minority, including the Helsinki district organization, the main force behind the project, chose not to respect the decision, and it was expelled. The expelled Helsinki district later participated in the founding of the MVS. Some notable persons among the expelled were Heikki Männikkö (the party secretary), Reijo Katajaranta (the editor-in-chief of the KTP organ), and Pekka Tiainen (the 1994 presidential candidate). In 2005, the (former) Turku district organization of the KTP joined the League of Communists. Both parties adhere to traditional orthodox Marxism-Leninism and support, for example, North Korea as an anti-imperialist bastion. The KTP has, however, chosen not to cooperate with their former comrades whom they regard as revisionist traitors. The League of Communists has had to find their allies elsewhere. The MVS was no success and after the general elections of 2003, the league collaborated with several organizations, like the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) on whose list the League of Communists candidates stood in the elections to the European Parliament in 2004. The only elected local councilor of the league, Antti Siika-Aho, stood (in 2004) as a Left Alliance candidate.
As the new organization was set in motion, a newspaper, called Kansan Ääni, was also founded. The bimonthly paper, the editor-in-chief of which is Reijo Katajaranta, looks very similar to KTP's Työkansan Sanomat. Kansan Ääni is also published by two other organizations controlled by members of the League of Communists. These are the People's Front Against European Union (EUVKr) and Work Against War and Fascism (SFT), the latter of which was founded after World War II by former Communist resistance fighters.
Since its beginning, the League of Communists has been led by Kalevi Wahrman whose board includes only men. The organization acts like a political party although it is not officially registered as one, an option which, however, has not been excluded.
The Green League, shortened to the Greens, is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a reformist party and it is supportive of feminism, animal rights and green liberal ideas.
The Left Alliance is a socialist political party in Finland.
The Centre Party, officially the Centre Party of Finland, is an agrarian-centrist political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Centre Party is positioned in the centre of the political spectrum. It has been described as liberal, social-liberal, liberal-conservative, and conservative-liberal. The party’s leader is Antti Kaikkonen, who was elected in June 2024 to succeed former minister Annika Saarikko. As of June 2023, the party has been part of the parliamentary opposition.
The Lapua Movement was a radical Finnish nationalist, fascist, pro-German and anti-communist political movement founded in and named after the town of Lapua. Led by Vihtori Kosola, it turned towards far-right politics after its founding and was banned after a failed coup d'etat attempt in 1932. The movement's anti-communist activities continued in the parliamentarian Patriotic People's Movement.
The Communist Party of Finland was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944.
Finnish People's Democratic League was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic Party. It was founded in 1944 as the anti-communist laws in Finland were repealed due to the demands of the Soviet Union, and lasted until 1990, when it merged into the newly formed Left Alliance. At its time, SKDL was one of the largest leftist parties in capitalist Europe, with its main member party, the Communist Party of Finland, being one of the largest communist parties west of the Iron Curtain. The SKDL enjoyed its greatest electoral success in the 1958 parliamentary election, when it gained a support of approximately 23 per cent and a representation of 50 MPs of 200 total, making it the largest party in the Eduskunta.
Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism is a communist party in Finland. It was founded in 1988 to secure the existence of an independent Marxist–Leninist party. Since it was founded, it has been re-registered and subsequently de-registered multiple times. Since its founding, it has failed to gain any seats in the Parliament of Finland. The party has been de-registered since 2019.
The Communist Party of Finland (Finnish: Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, abbr. SKP; Swedish: Finlands kommunistiska parti, abbr. FKP) or New Communist Party of Finland (Finnish: Uusi Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, abbr. USKP; Swedish: Finlands nya kommunistiska parti, abbr. FNKP) is a political party in Finland. It was founded in the mid-1980s as Communist Party of Finland (Unity) (Finnish: Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue (yhtenäisyys), abbr. SKPy; Swedish: Finlands kommunistiska parti (enhet), abbr. FKP(e)) by the former opposition of the old Communist Party of Finland (1918–1992). SKP has never been represented in the Parliament of Finland, but the party has had local councillors in some municipalities, including the city councils of major cities such as Helsinki and Tampere. SKP claims 2,500 members.
Karl Harald Wiik was a Swedish-speaking Finnish Social Democratic (SDP) leader. Elected to parliament numerous times between 1911 and the time of his death and Secretary of the SDP for more than a decade, Wiik is remembered as one of six radical SDP members of parliament expelled from the SDP in the aftermath of the Winter War with the Soviet Union.
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland between 1 and 3 July 1933. The Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in Parliament with 78 of the 200 seats. However, Prime Minister Toivo Mikael Kivimäki of the National Progressive Party continued in office after the elections, supported by Pehr Evind Svinhufvud and quietly by most Agrarians and Social Democrats. They considered Kivimäki's right-wing government a lesser evil than political instability or an attempt by the radical right to gain power. Voter turnout was 62.2%.
Workers' Party of Finland was a left-wing political party in Finland. The STP was founded in 2006 as a successor to the Alternative League (1999–2006).
Kansan Uutiset is a Finnish language weekly newspaper published in Helsinki, Finland. It is the party organ of the Left Alliance.
Tiedonantaja is a Finnish leftist monthly newspaper published in Helsinki, Finland. It is the party organ of the new Communist Party of Finland (SKP).
Radical People's Party was a Finnish radical populist socialist political party led by Ernesti Hentunen. The party was active in the 1940s and 1950s. The Radicals participated three times in the parliamentary elections and once in the municipal elections. They were left without MPs, but Hentunen served in the Helsinki City Council in 1948–1950. The party paper was Totuuden Torvi.
Socialist Workers' Party of Finland was a Finnish political party in the early 1920s. The SSTP consisted of radical leftists who split from the Social Democratic Party of Finland after the Finnish Civil War of 1918. The banned Communist Party of Finland (SKP) was the main force behind the party but other socialists were also involved. The SSTP was banned in 1923 and its leading members, including 27 members of parliament, were jailed. The party was succeeded by the Socialist Electoral Organisation of Workers and Smallholders (1924–1930).
James Patrick Cannon was an American Trotskyist and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party.
The U20 SM-sarja is the premier junior men’s ice hockey league in Finland. It was previously known as the A-nuorten SM-sarja during 1945 to 1991 and the Nuorten SM-liiga during 1991 to 2020. The league was founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 1945 and a Finnish Champion in men’s under-20 ice hockey has been named annually since the league’s inaugural season – with the exception of the 2019–20 season, in which the playoffs were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighteen to twenty teams compete in the U20 SM-sarja regular season, which is played in a preliminary ranking stage followed by a divisional or group stage.
Markus Kainulainen was a Finnish communist politician. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) and served as a Member of the Parliament of Finland from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1982 to 1983, representing the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL). After the SKP split in the 1980s, Kainulainen at first joined the Communist Party of Finland (Unity) (SKPy). The SKPy split in 1988 as well and Kainulainen was one of the leading organisers of a new party, Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism (KTP).
Niilo Vilho Rauvala was a Finnish engineer and the chairman of the far-right Lalli Alliance of Finland and the Nazi Party of Finnish Labor in the 1930s and 1940s.
Socialism in Finland is thought to stretch back to the latter half of the 19th century in the Grand Duchy of Finland, with the radicalization of the labour movement and increasing industrialization of Finland.
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