Finland's Independence
Between social crisis and political instability
After the great famine of the 1860s, Finland's economy showed signs of a strong recovery. The leading sector that gave the start to the industrialisation of the country was the forest industry. Finnish wood was widely exported to the industrialised countries of Western Europe and constituted the raw material for the nascent pulp and paper industry.
The largest landowners (not many in Finland) and the owners of medium and large farms (about 35% of the total) benefited most from the thriving forest industry. The increase in timber prices contributed to the rise of land value.
The boom of the forest industry also produced an improvement in the living condition of leaseholders (about 20% of the rural population) and farmhands (over 40%). Felling trees in winter and floating logs to sawmills in spring brought additional income for both tenant farmers and farm labourers.
As in all other Eastern European countries, also in Finland the number of farmhands was exceedingly high compared to the needs of agriculture. This category of labourers concealed most of the demographic surplus that neither emigration nor the country’s weak industrialisation could absorb. This surplus together with the problem of tenant farmers constituted the core of the Finnish agrarian question.
Tenant farms were plots of various sizes whose rent was paid mostly as working days on the landowner's farm. This kind of exchange was particularly important for both larger estates and medium-sized farms. However, the economic expansion fuelled by the wood industry destabilised this farming system. The increase in land value drove the landlords to stop the creation of new tenant farms. Meanwhile, at a time of major structural changes in agriculture, the existing tenants were required additional working days for their rent. The landlords also tried to limit the tenants' rights to use the forest for grazing and gathering wood.
As lease agreements were mostly oral, tenants were forced to accept new charges to avoid eviction. The laws enacted since 1892 to strengthen their legal position were ineffective. In 1909 it was necessary to enact a special law that prohibited evictions for seven years. The tenancy issue was endorsed by the Social Democratic Party and became highly politicised. It created a deep rift in the country and caused growing social unrest.
During World War I, Finland was not directly involved in the hostilities. However, the closure of western markets had a heavy impact on the timber industry. In the meantime, Russia continued to absorb much of the pulp and paper industry as well as metallurgical, chemical, textile and husbandry products. Finland, in its turn, depended heavily on Russia for cereal supply. In 1916, the construction of Russian fortifications along the Finnish coast gave work to thousands of unemployed and this helped to relieve social tensions.
After March 1917, when a liberal Provisional Government took power in Russia, the economic situation in Finland became dramatic. Exports and imports with Russia ceased and the country remained suspended on the brink of unemployment and hunger.
During the war, there were no major political initiatives in Finland. In the elections of July 1916, however, the SDP won 103 seats out of 200, thus becoming the first social democratic party to have ever achieved an absolute majority. When in March 1917 the Provisional Government convened the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta), this majority appointed a coalition government of six socialists and six non-socialists led by the socialist Oskari Tokoi.
On 18 July, with an "Enabling Act" the Eduskunta assumed unilaterally all powers, excluding defence and foreign affairs. The Provisional Government then dissolved the Eduskunta. In the elections of early October the SDP remained the largest party with 92 seats, but lost the absolute majority. The defeat strengthened the radical wing of the party that advocated violent revolution to achieve a political and social breakthrough.
The seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in Russia on 7 November 1917 triggered an escalation of political events in Finland. The non-socialist parties wanted to break relations with revolutionary Russia as soon as possible, while the SDP supported negotiations for the country's independence.
A Revolutionary Council, made up of representatives of the SDP and the Trade Union Federation, proclaimed a general strike on 14 November. During the strike, the Red Guards, the workers’ militia, clashed, in some places, with the White Guards, the right-wing paramilitary organization. The strike was called off on 20 November after legislative reforms of local government and the introduction of an 8-hour working day. However, the tension in the country remained very high.
In late November, the Eduskunta voted confidence in a government led by the conservative Pehr Evind Svinhufvud and, on 6 December, passed a declaration of independence made by the government on 4 December. The Russian Bolshevist government recognised Finland’s independence on 31 December.
Written by Modestino Carbone, 'Finland’s Independence: Between social crisis and political instability’, Finn-Guild Links, Summer 2016, pp. 18-19.