Karelo-Finnish SSR
Encyclopedia
The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was a short-lived republic that was a part of the former Soviet Union
. The republic existed from 1940 until it was merged back into the Russian SFSR in 1956 (as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic).
The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was set up on March 31, 1940 by merging the KASSR with the Finnish Democratic Republic
(created in territory ceded by Finland
in the Winter War
by the Moscow Peace Treaty, namely the Karelian Isthmus
and Ladoga Karelia, including the cities of Viipuri and Sortavala
). The entire Karelian population of the ceded areas, about 422,000 people, was evacuated
to Finland
, and the territories were settled by people from other parts of the Soviet Union
.
Creating a new Republic of the Union
for an ethnic group that neither was large in absolute terms, nor constituted anything close to a majority in its territory, nor had been a separate independent nation prior to its incorporation into the USSR, was unprecedented in the history of the USSR. Some later historians explained the elevation of Soviet Karelia from an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (within the RSFSR) to a SSR by political reasons, as a "convenient means for facilitating the possible incorporation of additional Finnish territory" (or, possibly, the whole of Finland) into the USSR.
In the ensuing Continuation War
, in 1941 Finland reannexed the territory that it had lost in 1940; and occupied
most of the Karelian lands that had been within the USSR prior to 1940, including the capital Petrozavodsk
(Petroskoi). In 1944 the Soviet Union recaptured the area, which was recognized by Finland in the Moscow Armistice
and Paris Peace Treaty
. The Finnish Karelians were evacuated to Finland again.
In September 1944, the Karelian Isthmus
with Vyborg
(Viipuri) was transferred from the Karelo-Finnish SSR to the Leningrad Oblast
of the RSFSR, but Ladoga Karelia remained a part of the republic.
On July 16, 1956, the republic was incorporated into the Russian SFSR as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. This move can perhaps be explained in the context of the general post-war improvement of Finno-Soviet relations
, which also included such steps as the Soviets' return of the Porkkala
Naval Base leased territory to full Finnish sovereignty (January 1956), and leasing Maly Vysotsky Island
and the Soviet section of the Saimaa Canal
(conquered by the USSR in 1940 and 1944) back to Finland (1963).
The abolition of the Karelian SSR in 1956 was the only case in the history of the USSR (1922–1991) of merging a member republic
of the USSR into another republic.
In the waning days of the USSR, the Karelian ASSR became the Republic of Karelia, a subdivision of the Russian Federation
, on November 13, 1991.
(1940–1956) was Finnish communist Otto Ville Kuusinen
. In the republic there was also a separate Karelo-Finnish Communist Party led in the 1940s by G.N. Kupriyanov.
Yuri Andropov
served for some years as the first secretary of the republic's Komsomol
branch, the Leninist Communist Youth League of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The republic existed from 1940 until it was merged back into the Russian SFSR in 1956 (as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic).
History
Finnish Democratic Republic
The Finnish Democratic Republic was a short-lived government dependent on and recognised only by the Soviet Union. It nominally operated in those parts of Finnish Karelia that were occupied by the Soviet Union during the Winter War....
(created in territory ceded by Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
in the Winter War
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
by the Moscow Peace Treaty, namely the Karelian Isthmus
Karelian Isthmus
The Karelian Isthmus is the approximately 45–110 km wide stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva . Its northwestern boundary is the relatively narrow area between the Bay of Vyborg and Lake Ladoga...
and Ladoga Karelia, including the cities of Viipuri and Sortavala
Sortavala
Sortavala is a town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga. Population: It is an important station of the Vyborg-Joensuu railroad.-History:...
). The entire Karelian population of the ceded areas, about 422,000 people, was evacuated
Evacuation of Finnish Karelia
As a result of the 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty that concluded the Winter War, Finland ceded the area of Finnish Karelia and other territories to the Soviet Union...
to Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, and the territories were settled by people from other parts of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Creating a new Republic of the Union
Republics of the Soviet Union
The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...
for an ethnic group that neither was large in absolute terms, nor constituted anything close to a majority in its territory, nor had been a separate independent nation prior to its incorporation into the USSR, was unprecedented in the history of the USSR. Some later historians explained the elevation of Soviet Karelia from an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (within the RSFSR) to a SSR by political reasons, as a "convenient means for facilitating the possible incorporation of additional Finnish territory" (or, possibly, the whole of Finland) into the USSR.
In the ensuing Continuation War
Continuation War
The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War...
, in 1941 Finland reannexed the territory that it had lost in 1940; and occupied
Finnish military administration in Eastern Karelia, 1941–1944
Finnish military administration in Eastern Karelia was an interim administrative system established in those areas of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union which were occupied by the Finnish army during the Continuation War. The military administration was set up on July...
most of the Karelian lands that had been within the USSR prior to 1940, including the capital Petrozavodsk
Petrozavodsk
Petrozavodsk is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. It stretches along the western shore of the Lake Onega for some . The city is served by Petrozavodsk Airport. Municipally, it is incorporated as Petrozavodsky Urban Okrug . Population:...
(Petroskoi). In 1944 the Soviet Union recaptured the area, which was recognized by Finland in the Moscow Armistice
Moscow Armistice
The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on September 19, 1944, ending the Continuation War...
and Paris Peace Treaty
Paris Peace Treaties, 1947
The Paris Peace Conference resulted in the Paris Peace Treaties signed on February 10, 1947. The victorious wartime Allied powers negotiated the details of treaties with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland .The...
. The Finnish Karelians were evacuated to Finland again.
In September 1944, the Karelian Isthmus
Karelian Isthmus
The Karelian Isthmus is the approximately 45–110 km wide stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva . Its northwestern boundary is the relatively narrow area between the Bay of Vyborg and Lake Ladoga...
with Vyborg
Vyborg
Vyborg is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Bay of Vyborg, to the northwest of St. Petersburg and south from Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland...
(Viipuri) was transferred from the Karelo-Finnish SSR to the Leningrad Oblast
Leningrad Oblast
Leningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It was established on August 1, 1927, although it was not until 1946 that the oblast's borders had been mostly settled in their present position...
of the RSFSR, but Ladoga Karelia remained a part of the republic.
On July 16, 1956, the republic was incorporated into the Russian SFSR as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. This move can perhaps be explained in the context of the general post-war improvement of Finno-Soviet relations
Finlandization
Finlandization is a term used to describe the influence that one powerful country may have on the policies of a smaller neighboring country.It is generally considered to be pejorative, originating in West German political debate of the late 1960s and 1970s...
, which also included such steps as the Soviets' return of the Porkkala
Porkkala
Porkkala is a peninsula in the Gulf of Finland located at Kirkkonummi in Southern Finland.The peninsula had great strategic value, as coastal artillery based there would be able to reach more than halfway across the Gulf of Finland...
Naval Base leased territory to full Finnish sovereignty (January 1956), and leasing Maly Vysotsky Island
Maly Vysotsky Island
Maly Vysotsky is an island in northwest Russia, currently leased to Finland. It is located in Vyborg Bay, next to Vysotsk, 12 km southwest of Vyborg....
and the Soviet section of the Saimaa Canal
Saimaa Canal
The Saimaa Canal is a transportation canal that connects lake Saimaa with the Gulf of Finland near Vyborg, Russia. The canal was built from 1845 to 1856 and opened on 7 September 1856 .It was overhauled and widened in 1963–1968....
(conquered by the USSR in 1940 and 1944) back to Finland (1963).
The abolition of the Karelian SSR in 1956 was the only case in the history of the USSR (1922–1991) of merging a member republic
Republics of the Soviet Union
The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...
of the USSR into another republic.
In the waning days of the USSR, the Karelian ASSR became the Republic of Karelia, a subdivision of the Russian Federation
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, on November 13, 1991.
Politics
The chairman of the Karelo-Finnish Supreme SovietSupreme Soviet
The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union was the Supreme Soviet in the Soviet Union and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments...
(1940–1956) was Finnish communist Otto Ville Kuusinen
Otto Ville Kuusinen
Otto Wilhelm Kuusinen was a Finnish-born Soviet politician, literary historian, and poet, who, after the defeat of the Reds in the Finnish Civil War, fled to the Soviet Union, where he worked until his death.- Early life :Kuusinen was born to the family of village tailor Wilhelm Juhonpoika...
. In the republic there was also a separate Karelo-Finnish Communist Party led in the 1940s by G.N. Kupriyanov.
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.-Early life:...
served for some years as the first secretary of the republic's Komsomol
Komsomol
The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
branch, the Leninist Communist Youth League of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic.
Chairmen of the Supreme Soviet
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Nikolai Sorokin | August 7, 1940-? |
| Adolf Taimi Adolf Taimi Adolf Taimi was a Finnish Communist leader, member of the red government 1918, during the Finnish Civil War, after which he fled to the Russian SFSR. April 15, 1947-1955 he served as the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic.-References:... |
April 15, 1947–1955 |
Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Mark Vasilyevich Gorbachev | 31 March 1940-11 July 1940 |
| Otto Kuusinen Otto Ville Kuusinen Otto Wilhelm Kuusinen was a Finnish-born Soviet politician, literary historian, and poet, who, after the defeat of the Reds in the Finnish Civil War, fled to the Soviet Union, where he worked until his death.- Early life :Kuusinen was born to the family of village tailor Wilhelm Juhonpoika... |
11 July 1940-16 July 1956 |
Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars (1946– Chairmen of the Council of Ministers)
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| I. P. Babkin (acting) | 31 March 1940-1940 |
| Pavel Prokkonen Pavel Prokkonen Pavel Stepanovich Prokkonen was a Karelian Soviet politician. He was appointed as the Minister of Karelian Affairs for the Finnish Democratic Republic in 1940... |
1940-February 1947 |
| Voldemar Virolainen | February 1947-24 February 1950 |
| Pavel Prokkonen Pavel Prokkonen Pavel Stepanovich Prokkonen was a Karelian Soviet politician. He was appointed as the Minister of Karelian Affairs for the Finnish Democratic Republic in 1940... |
1950-16 July 1956 |
See also
- Winter WarWinter WarThe Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
- Finnish KareliaFinnish KareliaKarelia is a historical province of Finland. It refers to the Western Karelia that during the second millennium has been under western dominance, religiously and politically. Western, i.e. Finnish Karelia is separate from Eastern, i.e...
- KareliaKareliaKarelia , the land of the Karelian peoples, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden...
- Republics of the Soviet UnionRepublics of the Soviet UnionThe Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...
- Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
- Karelian question in Finnish politicsKarelian question in Finnish politicsThe Karelian question or Karelian issue is a dispute of Finnish politics over whether or not to try to regain sovereignty over the Finnish Karelia and other territories ceded to the Soviet Union in the Winter War and the Continuation War...