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Communist Party of Finland (Unity)
Encyclopedia
Communist Party of Finland is a Marxist political party. It was founded in the mid-1980s as Communist Party of Finland (Unity) by the former opposition of the old Communist Party of Finland
(1918–1990). SKP is not represented in the Finnish parliament, but the party has local councillors in some municipalities, including the city councils of Helsinki
and Tampere
. SKP claims 2,500 members.
The party has been officially registered since 1997. In the 1980s, when the opposition and the organizations it controlled were expelled from the SKP led by Arvo Aalto, the SKPy, however, chose not to register since they considered themselves the real SKP and claimed Aalto had illegally stolen the party.
April 26, 1986 a meeting of "the representatives of SKP organizations" was held in Tampere
and those present elected a new central committee. The leader of the new central committee was Taisto Sinisalo
, former vice chairman of the SKP and the most well known figure of the opposition, who already had led Committee of SKP Organizations founded in November 1985. In the SKPy's 21st party congress Sinisalo was re-elected. Yrjö Hakanen and Marja-Liisa Löyttyjärvi became the vice chairmen while the former SKP chairman Jouko Kajanoja was elected party secretary. In his congress speech, Sinisalo told that the suffix “unity” meant “strong intention to gather all the forces of the SKP”. The congress, however, also was heading to future and building of a new party, or “rebuilding” as they thought it. Before the name SKPy was adopted the party was known in media as the unity or Tiedonantaja group.
and the political line of its Communist Party
(CPSU), which was going through great changes during Gorbachev
's time. SKPy supported perestroika
but criticized those who claimed to have been "Gorbachevist" even before Gorbachev's time. SKPy claimed SKP to be anti-SU and tried to give the Finnish people as positive a picture as possible of that country. When SKP split the monetary support from Soviet Union was halted and, for example, the very profitable publishing deals of the SKP had gone to SKPy. Gorbachev's CPSU, however, had relations with both parties.
began to criticize opposition leaders. When it was decided that SKPy would not be registered as an official party, some communists protested and demanded registration. They thought SKPy was clinging to the unity slogan in a situation in which it no longer seemed realistic. In the 1987 party congress, these people were warned by the SKPy leadership but they chose to ignore the advice and oriented themselves toward founding a new party. For Peace and Socialism - Communist Workers Party
(Rauhan ja sosialismin puolesta – Kommunistinen työväenpuolue, KTP) was founded early in the year 1988. Founders of KTP felt to be securing the existence of a Marxist-Leninist party in Finland while criticizing SKPy for being revisionist and supporting Mikhail Gorbachev
. The most famous figure in the new party was probably Markus Kainulainen, a longtime SKP district secretary of Uusimaa
and a former MP.
, a member of the Parliament of Finland
, was elected new chairman of SKPy October 22, 1989 when Kajanoja decided to resign while strongly criticizing his comrades. Tennilä has later told he took the job to secure that the founding of a new united left party would not be sabotaged by his own party comrades many of which were quite critical of it. The Left Alliance
(Vasemmistoliitto) was founded in spring 1990 and members of SKPy and its electoral front Deva also joined even though prejudices were very high on both sides at this point.
(LA) disliked that many of their members were also members of the SKPy. It was thus decided that SKPy members couldn't participate in the LA's electoral lists, even though they could be members. Because of this, Tennilä also had to quit his job as party chairman when joining LA group in parliament. Yrjö Hakanen was chosen Tennilä's successor. The dispute over double membership, as it was called, led to many SKPy members leaving LA and relations between the two parties got even colder. On the other hand, many former SKPy members were actively participating in LA.
SKP has a nationwide organization consisting of 14 district organizations. The central committee
has 41 members and the politbyro 10. The organ of SKP is Tiedonantaja
, which was founded in the 1960s. Tiedonantaja was also the organ of Deva during 1986-1990. The editor-in-chief is Erkki Susi who has led the paper since the 1980s. SKP also has some local papers.
As the SKPy considered itself to be the real SKP it also had the same organizational structure. It was based on Leninist principle of democratic centralism
and the party rules of 1958 (modified in 1978).
(, Deva). Those MPs of Finnish People's Democratic League
(, SKDL, a front organization dominated by SKP) who were against expulsions were expelled from SKDL and they found the parliament group of Deva. Deva was SKPy's SKDL and it was supposed to attract some democratic allies. The small Socialist Workers Party
(, STP) didn't join Deva but it had members on the DEVA list. Young supporters of SKPy and Deva founded Revolutionary Youth League
(, VKN) which was Deva's youth organization. SKDL's Socialist Student League (, SOL) also joined. Deva was led by actress Kristiina Halkola.
In 1987 parliamentary elections
Deva got 4.3% of votes and four MPs. In 1988 presidential elections
Deva candidate Jouko Kajanoja got under 2 per cent of the votes. Not even all members of SKPy supported Kajanoja who was the party chairman. Deva was closed down in 1990 after Left Alliance
was founded and most of its members joined the new party.
The SKP participates in parliamentary-, European parliament- and municipal. The party has not put up candidates in recent presidential elections. No national representatives has been elected from the SKP lists but the party has a few local councillors. The SKP also participates in trade union and cooperative elections.
The SKP first took part in parliamentary elections in 1999. The party had electoral alliances with small parties of Muutos 99 -coalition. It was the first time the Finnish electorate had an opportunity to vote for a list named Communist Party of Finland. In 2003 the vote-puller for the party was rock-musician Kari Peitsamo
(1 803 votes) and in 2007 rap-artist Seppo "Steen1" Lampela (1 842).
In the local elections the SKP has had elected councillors in about ten different municipalities. The party has got its strongest support in Nokia, where there are three SKP councillors. Communists also briefly had three councillors in the Jyväskylä
city council until early 2008.
The SKP has made electoral coalitions with other small parties, especially the Communist Workers Party (KTP). Communist League members were on SKP lists before they in 2006 founded the Workers Party of Finland
(STP). The SKP condemned the STP for scattering communist forces. The parties have made some limited electoral cooperation since. The Left Alliance has never been interested in coalitions with the communists, although the parties have had coalitions in few municipalities.
The SKP chairman Yrjö Hakanen is an elected member of HOK-Elanto cooperative council since 1999. The SKP represented joint list with the KTP.
Communist Party of Finland
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.SKP did not participate in any elections with its own name. Instead, front organisations were used...
(1918–1990). SKP is not represented in the Finnish parliament, but the party has local councillors in some municipalities, including the city councils of Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
and Tampere
Tampere
Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of , growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in...
. SKP claims 2,500 members.
The party has been officially registered since 1997. In the 1980s, when the opposition and the organizations it controlled were expelled from the SKP led by Arvo Aalto, the SKPy, however, chose not to register since they considered themselves the real SKP and claimed Aalto had illegally stolen the party.
The opposition inside SKP
The internal conflict of Finnish communists began in the mid-1960s, when the party, led by the new chairman Aarne Saarinen, began to modernize the party line. A minority of the party cadre didn't accept this and they accused the SKP leadership of being revisionist. SKP didn't break up in the 1960s and the party was formally united until the mid-1980s. After the 20th party congress in 1984 things, however, changed as Arvo Aalto was elected chairman, after which the opposition didn't participate in (or was left out of) the SKP central committee. The opposition, which was also known as “taistoists”, called supporters of Aalto “axe liners”.The founding of SKPy
The central committee of the SKP expelled eight opposition district organizations from the party October 13, 1985. Also, 494 other basic organizations and 17 city or regional organizations were expelled June 13, 1986, which the expelled then dubbed “Black Friday”. The opposition considered the actions to be against the law. They took the conflict to courts and because of minor technicalities Helsingin Hovioikeus court overruled SKP's decision June 11, 1987. SKP then re-expelled these same organizations in its 21st party congress (June 12–14, 1987). However, a week before this happened, the newly founded SKP (Unity) held its own “21st” party congress. The ambiguities in the expelling process and the opposition's firm belief in its own cause gave it the justification it needed and they considered SKPy to be the real SKP. They claimed Aalto had illegally seized the party with “paper members”. SKPy was never taken to the official party register of Finland as the party considered that to have been voluntary resignation and admission of SKPy not being the real SKP.April 26, 1986 a meeting of "the representatives of SKP organizations" was held in Tampere
Tampere
Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of , growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in...
and those present elected a new central committee. The leader of the new central committee was Taisto Sinisalo
Taisto Sinisalo
Taisto Jalo Sinisalo was a Finnish communist politician, MP of the SKDL , leader of the SKP`s orthodox pro-Soviet faction and vice chairman of the party . After the SKP split in the 1980s, Sinisalo became the first chairman of the Communist Party of Finland ....
, former vice chairman of the SKP and the most well known figure of the opposition, who already had led Committee of SKP Organizations founded in November 1985. In the SKPy's 21st party congress Sinisalo was re-elected. Yrjö Hakanen and Marja-Liisa Löyttyjärvi became the vice chairmen while the former SKP chairman Jouko Kajanoja was elected party secretary. In his congress speech, Sinisalo told that the suffix “unity” meant “strong intention to gather all the forces of the SKP”. The congress, however, also was heading to future and building of a new party, or “rebuilding” as they thought it. Before the name SKPy was adopted the party was known in media as the unity or Tiedonantaja group.
SKP and the Soviet Union
SKPy was very committed to the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the political line of its Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
(CPSU), which was going through great changes during Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
's time. SKPy supported perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
but criticized those who claimed to have been "Gorbachevist" even before Gorbachev's time. SKPy claimed SKP to be anti-SU and tried to give the Finnish people as positive a picture as possible of that country. When SKP split the monetary support from Soviet Union was halted and, for example, the very profitable publishing deals of the SKP had gone to SKPy. Gorbachev's CPSU, however, had relations with both parties.
KTP splits from SKPy
In the late 1970s the opposition of SKP began to split as those supporting a more traditional version of Marxism-LeninismMarxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
began to criticize opposition leaders. When it was decided that SKPy would not be registered as an official party, some communists protested and demanded registration. They thought SKPy was clinging to the unity slogan in a situation in which it no longer seemed realistic. In the 1987 party congress, these people were warned by the SKPy leadership but they chose to ignore the advice and oriented themselves toward founding a new party. For Peace and Socialism - Communist Workers Party
For Peace and Socialism - Communist Workers Party
Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism is a political party in Finland. It was founded in 1988 to secure the existence of an independent Marxist-Leninist party...
(Rauhan ja sosialismin puolesta – Kommunistinen työväenpuolue, KTP) was founded early in the year 1988. Founders of KTP felt to be securing the existence of a Marxist-Leninist party in Finland while criticizing SKPy for being revisionist and supporting Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
. The most famous figure in the new party was probably Markus Kainulainen, a longtime SKP district secretary of Uusimaa
Uusimaa
Uusimaa, or Nyland in Swedish, is a region in Finland. It borders the regions Finland Proper, Tavastia Proper, Päijänne Tavastia and Kymenlaakso...
and a former MP.
The founding of Left Alliance
Esko-Juhani TenniläEsko-Juhani Tennilä
Esko-Juhani Tennilä is Finnish leftist politician from Lapland and member of Parliament since 1975 until 2011.Tennilä was born in Rovaniemi and has studied in University of Tampere and worked as reporter for Hämeen Yhteistyö 1966–1975....
, a member of the Parliament of Finland
Parliament of Finland
The Eduskunta , is the parliament of Finland. The unicameral parliament has 200 members and meets in the Parliament House in Helsinki. The latest election to the parliament took place on April 17, 2011.- Constitution :...
, was elected new chairman of SKPy October 22, 1989 when Kajanoja decided to resign while strongly criticizing his comrades. Tennilä has later told he took the job to secure that the founding of a new united left party would not be sabotaged by his own party comrades many of which were quite critical of it. The Left Alliance
Left Alliance (Finland)
The Left Alliance is a left-wing political party in Finland. It was founded on the basis of the Finnish People's Democratic League and the Communist Party of Finland in 1990....
(Vasemmistoliitto) was founded in spring 1990 and members of SKPy and its electoral front Deva also joined even though prejudices were very high on both sides at this point.
Dispute over double membership
Members of the Left AllianceLeft Alliance (Finland)
The Left Alliance is a left-wing political party in Finland. It was founded on the basis of the Finnish People's Democratic League and the Communist Party of Finland in 1990....
(LA) disliked that many of their members were also members of the SKPy. It was thus decided that SKPy members couldn't participate in the LA's electoral lists, even though they could be members. Because of this, Tennilä also had to quit his job as party chairman when joining LA group in parliament. Yrjö Hakanen was chosen Tennilä's successor. The dispute over double membership, as it was called, led to many SKPy members leaving LA and relations between the two parties got even colder. On the other hand, many former SKPy members were actively participating in LA.
The “new” SKP
In its 1993 party congress (August 28–29) SKPy oriented towards founding a new officially registered communist party and drafting of a new party program. A new party logo was also introduced to mark renewal. It was suggested that a congress to continue SKP's work should be held and that happened next year (November 26–27). In the congress the suffix “unity” was dropped from the name as SKPy now considered to consist of all those comrades who wanted to have an independent communist party. An athletic club was made the basis of new organization and renamed SKP. The decision split the party as some supporters would have preferred SKP to have a lesser role as “Marxist forum” of some kind. Leadership of Left Alliance was also not pleased with those plans. SKP would have wanted to stay inside LA but that wasn't possible and the parties split in spring 1994. SKP wasn't however “re-registered” until 1997. There was some confusion, as the new SKP didn't accept responsibility for debts of the old one, which had gone bankrupt.Organization
| Chairmen | ||
| 1986–1988 | Taisto Sinisalo Taisto Sinisalo Taisto Jalo Sinisalo was a Finnish communist politician, MP of the SKDL , leader of the SKP`s orthodox pro-Soviet faction and vice chairman of the party . After the SKP split in the 1980s, Sinisalo became the first chairman of the Communist Party of Finland .... |
|
| 1988–1989 | Jouko Kajanoja | |
| 1989–1990 | Esko-Juhani Tennilä Esko-Juhani Tennilä Esko-Juhani Tennilä is Finnish leftist politician from Lapland and member of Parliament since 1975 until 2011.Tennilä was born in Rovaniemi and has studied in University of Tampere and worked as reporter for Hämeen Yhteistyö 1966–1975.... |
|
| 1990→ | Yrjö Hakanen | |
| General secretaries | ||
| 1986–1988 | Jouko Kajanoja | |
| 1988–1990 | Yrjö Hakanen | |
| 1990–2010 | Arto Viitaniemi | |
| 2010→ | Juha-Pekka Väisänen | |
| Vice chairmen | ||
| 1986–1988 | Yrjö Hakanen 1. vpj. | |
| 1986–1987 | Marita Virtanen 2. vpj. | |
| 1987–1989 | Marja-Liisa Löyttyjärvi 2. vpj. |
|
| 1988–1989 | Esko-Juhani Tennilä Esko-Juhani Tennilä Esko-Juhani Tennilä is Finnish leftist politician from Lapland and member of Parliament since 1975 until 2011.Tennilä was born in Rovaniemi and has studied in University of Tampere and worked as reporter for Hämeen Yhteistyö 1966–1975.... |
|
| 1990–1991 | Kristiina Nieminen | |
| 1991–? | Kirsti Kasnio | |
| 1994–2004 | Riitta Tynjä | |
| 2004–2007 | Kaija Kiessling | |
| 2007→ | Lena Huldén | |
SKP has a nationwide organization consisting of 14 district organizations. The central committee
Central Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
has 41 members and the politbyro 10. The organ of SKP is Tiedonantaja
Tiedonantaja
Tiedonantaja is a Finnish leftist weekly newspaper. It is currently the party organ of the new Communist Party of Finland . Tiedonantaja was founded in 1968 and it served as the paper of the taistoist minority faction of the old SKP until the opposition was expelled in the mid-1980s. In the late...
, which was founded in the 1960s. Tiedonantaja was also the organ of Deva during 1986-1990. The editor-in-chief is Erkki Susi who has led the paper since the 1980s. SKP also has some local papers.
As the SKPy considered itself to be the real SKP it also had the same organizational structure. It was based on Leninist principle of democratic centralism
Democratic centralism
Democratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties, and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist policy inside a political party...
and the party rules of 1958 (modified in 1978).
Deva – SKPy's electoral front
While SKPy was never officially registered, its supporters founded an electoral front Democratic AlternativeDemocratic Alternative (Finland)
Democratic Alternative was a political party in Finland. Deva was formed in 1986 by expelled members of the Communist Party of Finland and its mass front Finnish People's Democratic League...
(, Deva). Those MPs of Finnish People's Democratic League
Finnish People's Democratic League
Finnish People's Democratic League was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic Party...
(, SKDL, a front organization dominated by SKP) who were against expulsions were expelled from SKDL and they found the parliament group of Deva. Deva was SKPy's SKDL and it was supposed to attract some democratic allies. The small Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Finland)
Socialist Workers' Party was a political party in Finland. The STP was founded in 1973 as split from Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders...
(, STP) didn't join Deva but it had members on the DEVA list. Young supporters of SKPy and Deva founded Revolutionary Youth League
Revolutionary Youth League (Finland)
Vallankumouksellinen Nuorisoliitto , a political youth organization in Finland during the 1980s. VKN was the youth wing of Demokraattinen Vaihtoehto . VKN had 3,250 members at one point....
(, VKN) which was Deva's youth organization. SKDL's Socialist Student League (, SOL) also joined. Deva was led by actress Kristiina Halkola.
In 1987 parliamentary elections
Finnish parliamentary election, 1987
The Finnish parliamentary election of 1987 moved the country somewhat to the right. It was uncertain how far, because the voter participation rate--at a comparatively low 75 percent, 5 percent lower than usual--hurt the left more than the right and had a varying impact...
Deva got 4.3% of votes and four MPs. In 1988 presidential elections
Finnish presidential election, 1988
Presidential elections were held in Finland in 1988. They were the first elections held under the new system. Previously the public had elected an electoral college that in turn elected the President...
Deva candidate Jouko Kajanoja got under 2 per cent of the votes. Not even all members of SKPy supported Kajanoja who was the party chairman. Deva was closed down in 1990 after Left Alliance
Left Alliance
The Left Alliance is the name of a number of left wing political parties around the world.These include:* Democratic Left Alliance in Poland* Left Alliance * Leeds Left Alliance, now part of the Alliance for Green Socialism...
was founded and most of its members joined the new party.
Party congresses
| 21st party congress of the SKP(y) | 5–7.6.1987 | Espoo |
| Party congress of the SKP(y) (party conference) | 27.8–28.8.1988 | Turku |
| Party congress of the SKP(y) | 18–19.5.1991 | Lahti |
| Party congress of the SKP(y) (party conference) | 28–29.8.1993 | Helsinki |
| Party congress for the continuation of SKP | 26–27.11.1994 | Helsinki |
| Extraordinary party congress of the SKP | 31.8.1996 | Helsinki |
| Party congress of the SKP | 6–7.6.1998 | Helsinki |
| Party congress of the SKP | 19–20.5.2001 | Turku |
| Party congress of the SKP | 15–16.5.2004 | Vantaa |
| Party congress of the SKP | 9–10.6.2007 | Helsinki |
| Party congress of the SKP | 15–16.5.2010 | Vantaa |
Elections
| Results | |||
| Parliament | |||
| Year | MPs | Votes | |
| 1999 Finnish parliamentary election, 1999 The 1999 Finnish parliamentary election was held on March 21, 1999. Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen's Social Democrats remained the largest party of the Eduskunta, despite significant losses... |
0 | 20,442 | 0.76% |
| 2003 Finnish parliamentary election, 2003 The Finnish parliamentary election of 2003 was the 34th election to the Eduskunta , held on 16 March 2003 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term... |
0 | 21,079 | 0.76% |
| 2007 Finnish parliamentary election, 2007 The Finnish parliamentary election of 2007 was the 35th election to the Eduskunta , held on 18 March 2007 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Early voting was possible from the 7–13 March. Two hundred MPs were elected from 15 constituencies.Election themes included a reduction... |
0 | 18,277 | 0.66% |
| 2011 Finnish parliamentary election, 2011 An election to the Eduskunta was held on 17 April 2011 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Advance voting, which included voting by Finnish expatriates, was held between 6 and 12 April with a turnout of 31.2%.... |
0 | 9 232 | 0,31% |
| European parliament | |||
| Year | MEPs | Votes | |
| 1999 European Parliament election, 1999 (Finland) The European Parliament election of 1999 in Finland was the election of the delegation from Finland to the European Parliament in 1999.-Results:-References:... |
0 | 7,556 | 0.61% |
| 2004 European Parliament election, 2004 (Finland) The European Parliament election of 2004 in Finland was the election of MEP representing Finland constituency for the 2004-2009 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 2004 European election. The vote took place on June 13... |
0 | 10,134 | 0.61% |
| 2009 European Parliament election, 2009 (Finland) The European Parliament election of 2009 in Finland was the election of the delegation from Finland to the European Parliament in 2009.Finland uses the open list d'Hondt method, where voters vote for an individual, but the individual's vote is counted primarily for the party and secondarily for the... |
0 | 8,089 | 0.49% |
| Municipal council | |||
| Year | Councillors | Votes | |
| 2000 | 14 | 10,460 | 0.47% |
| 2004 | 16 | 12,844 | 0.53% |
| 2008 | 9 | 13,986 | 0.55% |
The SKP participates in parliamentary-, European parliament- and municipal. The party has not put up candidates in recent presidential elections. No national representatives has been elected from the SKP lists but the party has a few local councillors. The SKP also participates in trade union and cooperative elections.
The SKP first took part in parliamentary elections in 1999. The party had electoral alliances with small parties of Muutos 99 -coalition. It was the first time the Finnish electorate had an opportunity to vote for a list named Communist Party of Finland. In 2003 the vote-puller for the party was rock-musician Kari Peitsamo
Kari Peitsamo
Kari Juhani Valdemar Peitsamo is a Finnish musician whose style has changed over the years from acoustic avant-garde pop to electric rock...
(1 803 votes) and in 2007 rap-artist Seppo "Steen1" Lampela (1 842).
In the local elections the SKP has had elected councillors in about ten different municipalities. The party has got its strongest support in Nokia, where there are three SKP councillors. Communists also briefly had three councillors in the Jyväskylä
Jyväskylä
Jyväskylä is the capital of Central Finland and the largest city on the Finnish Lakeland, north-east of Tampere and north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. The city has been continuously one of the most rapidly growing cities in Finland since World War II. The city is surrounded...
city council until early 2008.
The SKP has made electoral coalitions with other small parties, especially the Communist Workers Party (KTP). Communist League members were on SKP lists before they in 2006 founded the Workers Party of Finland
Workers Party of Finland
Workers' Party of Finland is a left-wing political party in Finland. The STP was founded in 2006 as a successor to the Alternative League .In the 2007 parliamentary election the party obtained 1,764 votes...
(STP). The SKP condemned the STP for scattering communist forces. The parties have made some limited electoral cooperation since. The Left Alliance has never been interested in coalitions with the communists, although the parties have had coalitions in few municipalities.
The SKP chairman Yrjö Hakanen is an elected member of HOK-Elanto cooperative council since 1999. The SKP represented joint list with the KTP.