Lapua Movement
Encyclopedia
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...
radical nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
political movement founded in and named after the town of Lapua
Lapua
Lapua is a town and municipality of Finland.It is located next to the Lapua River in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water...
. After radicalisation it turned towards far-right politics and was banned after a failed coup-d'état in 1932. Anti-communist activities were then continued by Isänmaallinen Kansanliike
Patriotic People's Movement (Finland)
Patriotic People's Movement, abbreviated to IKL), was a Finnish nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapuan liike...
.
Background
Lapuan liike started in 1929 and was initially dominated by anti-communistAnti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
nationalists, emphasizing the legacy of the nationalist activism
Nationalist activism
The Nationalist activism was an elitist political movement of the early 20th century in Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic countries. The Activists advocated in brief a close cooperation with Imperial Germany, and active support of Germany's military aims — primarily directed against...
, the White Guards
White Guard (Finland)
The White Guard was a voluntary militia that emerged victorious over the socialist Red Guard as part of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918...
and the Civil War in Finland. The movement saw itself as the badly needed restorator of what was won in the Civil War, supporting Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
, nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, and anti-communism
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
.
Many politicians, and also high military officers, were initially sympathetic with 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.
In the Civil War Ostrobothnia
Ostrobothnia (historical province)
Ostrobothnia, and , is a historical province of Finland to the west and north in Finland. It borders on Karelia, Savonia, Tavastia and Satakunda in the south, and on Västerbotten in Sweden, and Laponia in the north...
was one of the most important strongholds and bases of the White army, and anti-Communist sentiments remained extremely strong in Ostrobothnia. Late in November 1929 the Young Communist League of Finland
Young Communist League of Finland
The Young Communist League of Finland was the youth organization of the Communist Party of Finland 1925-1936. The organization was clandestine, but had a significant impact in Finnish society...
arranged agitation, meetings and protests in Ostrobothnian Lapua
Lapua
Lapua is a town and municipality of Finland.It is located next to the Lapua River in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water...
. More specifically, they mocked God, the Lutheran Church, the bourgeois fatherland, the Finnish army and General Mannerheim (Niinistö, Jussi, Suomalaisia vapaustaistelijoita / Finnish Freedom Fighters, NIMOX KY/Ltd., 2003, pages 17-20; Siltala, Juha, Lapuan liike ja kyyditykset, Otava, 1985, pages 51-53; Virkkunen, Sakari, Suomen presidentit I / Finland's Presidents I, Otava, 1994, pages 192-193; Salokangas, Raimo, "Itsenäinen tasavalta" / "An Independent Republic," page 635 in Zetterberg, Seppo et al., eds., Suomen historian pikkujättiläinen / A Small Giant of the Finnish History, WSOY, 2003). This infuriated the locals, who violently made an end to the meeting. On December 1 an anti-communist meeting was held, attracting more than 1,000 people demanding and end to all communist activities.
Activities
Marches and meetings were arranged throughout the country. On June 16, 1930, more than 3,000 men arrived in OuluOulu
Oulu is a city and municipality of inhabitants in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is one of the northernmost larger cities in the world....
in order to destroy the printing press and office of the Communist newspaper Pohjan Voima. However, the last issue of Pohjan Voima had appeared on June 14. The same day, a Communist printing press in Vaasa
Vaasa
Vaasa is a city on the west coast of Finland. It received its charter in 1606, during the reign of Charles IX of Sweden and is named after the Royal House of Vasa...
was destroyed. A so-called "Peasant March" to 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...
was a major show of power. More than 12,000 men arrived in Helsinki on July 7. The government yielded under the pressure, and communist newspapers were outlawed in a "Protection of the Republic Act."
Meetings held by leftist and labour groups were also interrupted, often violently. More than 400 meeting locals owned by the labour movement were closed by Lapua activists.
One common treatment was "muilutus", which started with kidnapping and beating. After that the subject was thrown into a car and driven to the border 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....
. On October 14, 1930, the popular ex-president Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg
Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg
Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg was a Finnish jurist and academic, who played a central role in the drafting of the Constitution of Finland in 1919. He was the first President of Finland and a nationalist liberal.-Early life:...
and his wife were kidnapped and driven to Joensuu
Joensuu
Joensuu is a city and municipality in North Karelia in eastern Finland. It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of North Karelia region. It was founded in 1848...
(i.e., not really to the Soviet border this time). After this the general support of the movement collapsed. Moderate people left the movement, and extremists took the stage.
Nevertheless, a few months later the Lapua Movement was capable of not only demanding "their man" appointed President of Finland
President of Finland
The President of the Republic of Finland is the nation's head of state. Under the Finnish constitution, executive power is vested in the President and the government, with the President possessing extensive powers. The President is elected directly by the people of Finland for a term of six years....
by the Collegium of Electors, which only weeks before had been chosen in nation-wide voting, but a sufficient number of the electors followed the Lapua Movement's request, disregarding the intentions they had declared during the election campaign. The Movement's man, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
Pehr Evind Svinhufvud af Qvalstad , December 15, 1861 – February 29, 1944) was the third President of Finland from 1931 to 1937. Serving as a lawyer, judge, and politician in the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland, he played a major role in the movement for Finnish independence...
, was elected.
Failed rebellion
In February 1932 a Social Democrat meeting in MäntsäläMäntsälä
Mäntsälä is a municipality in the province of Southern Finland, and is part of the Uusimaa region. It has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water. The population density is....
was violently interrupted by armed Lapua activists. The event escalated to an attempted coup d'état known as the Mäntsälä rebellion
Mäntsälä rebellion
The Mäntsälä rebellion was a failed coup attempt by the Lapua Movement to overthrow the Finnish government.On February 27, 1932 some 400 armed members of the Suojeluskunta militia interrupted a meeting of Social Democrats in Mäntsälä with small arms fire...
(Mäntsälän kapina), led by the former Chief of Staff of Finland's army, General Wallenius
Kurt Martti Wallenius
Kurt Martti Wallenius was a Finnish Major General.Wallenius was a member of the Finnish Jäger troops trained in Germany prior to Finnish independence. In 1915 Wallenius travelled to Germany where he enrolled in the Royal Prussian 27th Jäger Battalion...
. 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. The rebellion ended after President Svinhufvud gave a radio speech to the rebels. After a trial, the Lapua Movement was banned on November 21, 1932. Wallenius and about 50 other leaders were sentenced to prison. Ironically, the banning was done under the Protection of the Republic Act, which originally was dictated by the Lapua Movement.
Legacy
In the Soviet Union, the actions of Lapuan liike were closely followed. Old deep-rooted misperceptions of Finland as a threat and as a continuation of the ancient tsarist régime were enhanced among ordinary citizens by the Bolshevist leadership, which further contributed to the conditions leading to the Winter WarWinter 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...
. In Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, the old tsarist capital, the old concerns over the close proximity of the border were kept alive. Over that border, invasion armies had arrived right at the doorstep of the capital twice in the 18th century and again in 1918, immediately after Finland's independence, during the ongoing world war, due to Finland's grudging and unpopular alliance with Germany, who threatened to bring war to the civilians of Leningrad. Russian newspapers propagandized these fears, covering events in Finland and interviewing victims that had been deported to Russia by the Lapua Movement as examples of terror in capitalist countries.
See also
- Patriotic People's Movement (Finland)Patriotic People's Movement (Finland)Patriotic People's Movement, abbreviated to IKL), was a Finnish nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapuan liike...
- Politics of FinlandPolitics of FinlandPolitics of Finland takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic and of a multi-party system. The President of Finland is the head of state, leads the foreign policy, and is the Commander-in-chief of the Defense Forces. The Prime Minister of Finland is the head...
- History of FinlandHistory of FinlandThe land area that now makes up Finland was settled immediately after the Ice Age, beginning from around 8500 BCE. Most of the region was part of the Kingdom of Sweden from the 13th century to 1809, when it was ceded to the Russian Empire, becoming the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. The...
- Vaps Movement (Estonia)