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33-717: At the 6th World Congress of the Communist International Joseph Stalin ordered all communist parties around the world to accelerate class struggle . The order led to a higher level of communist activity in Finland in 1929 like the so-called "Red Day" of August 1st when communists organized countrywide protests. A general strike was also declared in November, although it failed to garner support and only 5–10% of workers participated in it. The movement originated in November 1929, after Finnish communist youth paraded in

66-492: A legal way to achieve their goals and aided them in formulating a plan to remove communists through parliamentary means. On July 1st the government brought the so-called Communist Laws to a vote and resigned the following day. Svinhufvud became the new prime minister as the Lapua Movement had wished, but he refused to make Vihtori Kosola a member of cabinet or to arrest communist members of parliament. In response Kosola ordered

99-530: A period of a sharp exacerbation of all the contradictions of capitalism , characterized by an impending global economic crisis , an increase in class struggle and a new upsurge of the liberation movement in colonial and dependent countries . In this regard, the Congress approved the tactics outlined by the 9th plenum of the ECCI (February 1928), expressed by the formula "class against class". The Congress developed

132-745: The Soviet Union . Many of the Finns deported by the Lapua Movement were later caught up in Stalin's Great Purge and executed; while persecuted in Finland as communists, Stalin accused them of being "Nationalists". After the Vaasa riot, witnessing the Kyösti Kallio led government's inability to control the situation, the Movement reiterated their demands with regards to communist organizations and papers and declared June 15th as

165-586: The Associations Act, but amendments to the Freedom of the Press Act failed to gather sufficient support. Radicals among the Movement answered by attacking the communist paper Työn Ääni directly. The night of March 28th 1930 thirteen men broke into the paper's facilities and destroyed their presses. On April 4th seventy-two men publicly declared themselves responsible for the attack, but only the actual perpetrators and

198-641: The Charter, in each country there could be only one Communist Party, called a section of the Comintern. The charter presupposed the obligation of strict international party discipline and the urgent implementation of the resolutions of the Comintern. The sections had the right to appeal against the decisions of the ECCI at the World Congress, but until the congress canceled the decisions of the sections, they were not relieved of

231-645: The Communist Laws, changes to the Freedom of the Press Act were this time accepted by parliament with a simple majority, but the Protection of the Republic Act was considered a constitutional law and thereby required a five sixths majority to pass immediately. Social Democrats were only willing to accept the law for a three year temporary period, which meant that the Act only received a simple majority and had to be voted on by

264-532: The Congress, the provisions that social democracy often plays a fascist role in the most critical moments for capitalism, its ideology in many points being in contact with the fascist, were reflected in a number of documents of the congress. The Congress adopted the Program and Statutes of the Communist International, which stated that this organization was a "united world communist party." The main work on

297-664: The Lapua Movement was banned, the Patriotic People's Movement was formed shortly thereafter. Like its predecessor, it also was nationalist and anti-communist. It had limited political success and was banned in 1944 on the orders of the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the Continuation War . 6th World Congress of the Communist International The Sixth Congress of the Communist International

330-507: The Movement however no longer accepted the abductions and, in September, convinced Kosola to stop them. Most notable cases over this period were the abduction of Väinö Hakkila , a Social Democrat vice-chairman of parliament, and that of the municipal politician Onni Happonen , who was killed and confirmed to not actually be a communist. Before the election the Lapua Movement was also involved in electoral fraud. The Movement's violent reputation

363-492: The abductions of members of parliament Jalmari Rötkö and Eino Pekkala . The Lapua Movement had planned a massive show of force, the " Peasant March ", to be held on July 7th. Kosola was persuaded to release the abductees when Svinhufvud informed him that he would not be there to greet the marchers otherwise. The Peasant March gathered 12,600 men to Helsinki where they marched through the city, held speeches and sermons and were greeted by distinguished politicians and generals. Of

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396-516: The conservative and religious town of Lapua enraged pro-White Guard locals, who subsequently attacked the performers physically. The momentum from this event was the catalyst for the formation of the Lapua Movement. It was initially dominated by anti-communist nationalists , emphasizing the legacy of the nationalist activism, the White Guards and the Civil War in Finland . The movement saw itself as

429-492: The country. After the events in Lapua, local politicians Kustaa Tiitu and Artturi Leinonen called a "national assembly" to the town to discuss the growing communist agitation. The assembly was attended by some two thousand people from across the country, and it drew up a list of demands, which was delivered to the government . The demands were to remove communists from Parliament and the military, to forbid speech that "desecrated

462-449: The deadline for fulfilling them. The government was unwilling to use the military or the police to restore order, because it believed them to sympathize with the Movement. Instead President Lauri Relander asked former Prime Minister P. E. Svinhufvud , whom the Finnish right wing greatly respected, to negotiate with the movement. Svinhufvud convinced Kosola and the other leaders that there was

495-491: The defender of what was won in the Civil War, supporting Lutheranism , Finnish nationalism , and anti-communism . Many politicians and high-ranking military officers were initially sympathetic to the Lapua Movement, as anti-communism was the norm in the educated classes after the Civil War. However, excessive use of violence made the movement less popular within a few months. During the Civil War, Ostrobothnia had been one of

528-603: The draft of the new Program was carried out by Nikolai Bukharin , on behalf of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . After discussing it in the Politburo and subsequent revision, the draft was submitted to the ECCI and published on May 25 for discussion. In the course of preparation Joseph Stalin made a number of significant amendments to the text of the Program, making it more "leftist". The Program consolidated

561-412: The event just escalated from actions of the local chapter and the national organization came aboard later. The rebellion ended after President Svinhufvud gave a radio speech to the rebels. After a trial, the Lapua Movement was banned on 21 November 1932 under the Protection of the Republic Act, which Lapua itself had worked to get passed. Wallenius and about 50 other leaders were sentenced to prison. After

594-505: The foundations of the Finnish people's sense of morality and justice" and to stop the Communist Party , which had already been banned, from operating in Finland. Other assemblies were quickly organized in different parts of the country, and they all sent similar demands with some also adding that they were prepared to save the country "by other means", as well, should the government fail to act. The parliament quickly accepted amendmends to

627-520: The main organizer, Yrjö Nikula , were charged. The trial, which was held in Vaasa two months later, turned into a riot. After the judge called an intermission and people were leaving the courtroom, Työn Ääni employee and witness in the case, Eino Nieminen, was surrounded by supporters of the Movement, who accused him of being a "red officer". Nieminen was dragged to the street and beaten badly along with three other communists. Asser Salo , Työn Ääni attorney,

660-633: The most important strongholds of the White army, and anti-communist sentiments remained extremely strong. Late in November 1929, the Young Communist League of Finland arranged meetings and protests in Ostrobothnian Lapua . As the nationalists saw it, the communists had "mocked God, the Lutheran Church, the 'bourgeois' fatherland, the Finnish army and General Mannerheim". This infuriated many of

693-468: The next parliament. On July 15th the President disbanded the parliament and called for an election. Failure to pass all the Communist Laws led to a new wave of abductions and beatings by the Lapua Movement over the autumn of 1930. Vihtori Kosola's outspoken goal was to let society deteriorate to a state of anarchy, which would make dictatorship a preferable alternative to people. Other more moderate leaders of

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726-697: The obligation to fulfill them. It was decided to expand the Executive Committee of the Comintern so that it included representatives of all sections united in the Comintern as members or candidates. According to the Charter, the rights of the delegates of the ECCI in certain sections of the Comintern were expanded. Asser Salo Edvard Asser Salo ( Russian Ассер Эдуардович Сало, Asser Eduardovich Salo ; 22 February 1902, in Laukaa , Grand Duchy of Finland – 11 February 1938, in Karelian ASSR , Soviet Union )

759-464: The remaining Communist Laws. Despite this the most infamous abduction was carried out on 14 October 1930 when the popular ex-president Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg and his wife Ester were kidnapped and taken to Joensuu . After this, general support for the movement collapsed. More moderate people left the movement, and extremists became more influential. In February 1932 a Social Democrat meeting in Mäntsälä

792-439: The rigid centralization of the leadership of the communist parties and the demand for "international communist discipline", which was to be expressed "in the unconditional implementation by all communists of the decisions of the governing bodies of the Communist International." The Congress' support for Stalin's line strengthened his line in the struggle against "right-wing" tendencies , in particular against Bukharin. According to

825-519: The strategic directive adopted by the Fifth Congress (1924), according to which, in connection with the left turn of the masses in the capitalist countries, two equally hostile political forces confront the communists there: openly reactionary ( fascism ) and democratic reformist ( social democracy ). In accordance with this, the possibility of an alliance of communists with the social democratic parties in joint political actions and in pre-election blocs

858-629: The territory of Vaasa Province . Soon after that he went into exile, first to Sweden , then to the Soviet Union , where he worked at first as a lecturer at the International Lenin School in Moscow . He worked in administrative functions in Leningrad from 1935 to 1936 and in the Karelian ASSR from 1936 until 18 August 1937, when he was dismissed. As one of the victims of the Great Purge , he

891-474: The townspeople, who put a violent end to the meetings. Anti-communist violence was hailed as justified and praiseworthy. On 1 December an anti-communist meeting was held, attracting more than 1,000 people demanding an end to all communist activities. The movement quickly spread around the country, and in some provinces people other than communists were targeted as well, for example the group " Patriotic Citizens of Viitasaari " wanted to purge Jews and Freemasons from

924-528: Was a Finnish lawyer and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1929 to 1930, representing the Socialist Electoral Organisation of Workers and Smallholders (STPV). On 4 June 1930, he was kidnapped in Vaasa by activists of the anti-communist Lapua Movement , who forced him to threaten his life to make a public promise to never again engage in communist activities on

957-403: Was abducted in a car to Lapua. The Movement used violence to apply pressure to the government and parliament to stop communist activity in Finland. Meetings held by leftist and labour groups were also interrupted, often violently. A common tactic was " muilutus " or "kyyditys", which started with kidnapping and beating. After that the subject was thrown into a car and driven to the border with

990-481: Was held in Moscow from July 17 to September 1, 1928. The Congress was attended by 515 delegates from 65 organizations (including 50 Communist Parties) from 57 countries. Adopting the theory of the " Third Period ", Congress proclaimed social democracy to be " social fascism ." The Congress noted the approach of a new ("third") period in the revolutionary development of the world after the October Revolution -

1023-448: Was rejected. The danger of the activities of the leaders of the "left wing" of social democracy was especially emphasized. The thesis of " social fascism " was generally supported by the congress, only a small part of the delegates opposed it, in particular, the Italian delegation headed by Palmiro Togliatti . Although the thesis was not included in the program of the Comintern adopted by

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1056-402: Was used to intimidate socialist voters to either abstain or to vote for right wing candidates, Social Democratic Party members were harassed on the campaign trail and hustings were interrupted, and guards were organized around polling stations. Voters perceived as communists were also outright removed from electoral rolls. After the election right wing parties had the majority they needed to pass

1089-460: Was violently interrupted by armed Lapua activists. The event escalated to an attempted coup d'état known as the Mäntsälä rebellion (Mäntsälän kapina), led by the former Chief of Staff of Finland's army, General Wallenius . Despite the appeals of Wallenius, the army and the White Guards were largely loyal to the government. Many historians believe the main reason for the failure was poor planning:

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