Central Workers' Council of Finland ( fi, Työväen pääneuvosto, sv, Arbetarnas centralråd) was the

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

of the Red side of the 1918 Civil War of Finland. It was appointed by the Workers' Council of People's Representatives to serve as a parliamentary body and supervise the

Finnish People's Delegation The Finnish People's Delegation ( fi, Suomen kansanvaltuuskunta sv, Finska folkdelegationen) was a governmental body, created by a group of members in the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP), to serve as the government of the Finnish Social ...

. Central Workers' Council was composed of 40 members who represented the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP), the Finnish Trade Union Federation (SAJ), the

Red Guards Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...

and the Helsinki Workers' Council. SDP had 15 representatives, SAJ and the Red Guards 10 each and the Helsinki Workers' Council 5. The chairman was Valfrid Perttilä, a former member of the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

. Central Workers' Council had 5 standing committees; the Constitution Committee, Legal Affairs Committee, Finance Committee, War and Economy Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee. The Central Workers' Council was active from 14 February to 10 April 1918. Sessions took place at the House of Estates in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, and in April in

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus n ...

where the Red administration was evacuated prior to the

Battle of Helsinki The Battle of Helsinki was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in 12–13 April between the German troops and Finnish Whites against the Finnish Reds in Helsinki, Finland. Together with the battles of Tampere and Vyborg, it was one of the ...

. Likewise the People's Delegation, the Central Workers' Council was planned as a contemporary body as the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

was to be passed on a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

. However, the Red power collapsed in late April and most of the leading Reds fled to the

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

Selected representatives

The complete list of members of the Central Workers' Council is unknown as the documents are missing or destroyed. According to the historian Osmo Rinta-Tassi, at least 48 persons, including the deputy representatives, took part on the sessions. The full assemblies of Finance and Foreign Affairs Committees are also missing. ;Leadership * Valfrid Perttilä (chairman) *August Lehto (1st vice chairman) *Kaarlo Tuominen (2nd vice chairman) * Väinö Jokinen (secretary) ;Constitution Committee *

Matti Airola Matti Aleksanteri Ariel (18 March 1882, in Ruokolahti – 12 October 1939, in Leningrad; born ''Mats Alexander Bruus''; name as a Soviet citizen ''Матвей Матвеевич Айрола'') was a Finnish journalist, attorney and politician. He ...

(chairman),

Erkki Härmä Erkki is a Finnish and Estonian given name (derived from Erik). Notable people with the name include: * Erkki Aadli (born 1974), Estonian orienteer * Erkki Aaltonen (1910–1990), Finnish composer * Erkki Ala-Könni (1911– 1996), Finnish et ...

, Ida Aalle-Teljo, Väinö Jokivirta, Väinö Toikka ;Legal Affairs Committee *

Aura Kiiskinen Auroora Maria ('Aura') Kiiskinen (March 9, 1878 – December 12, 1968) was a Finnish politician and member of parliament. She was first elected from the Kuopio West electoral district (now Northern Savonia) in the 1908 election, serving until 1 ...

(chairman),

Taavetti Lapveteläinen Daavid (Taavetti) Latveteläinen (19 November 1860 in Maaninka – 1 July 1919 in Helsinki) was a Finnish construction worker and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1911 to 1918, representing the Social Democratic Par ...

, Anni Savolainen, Mikko Aaltio, A. Veijola ;Finance Committee * Heikki Jalonen (chairman), Aino Forsten, Juho Komu, E. Karhunen ;War and Economy Committee *Valter Vihriä (chairman), Emil Peltonen (chairman), Hanna Malm, Akseli Kokkola, Karl Emil Hypén, Erik J. Salo ;Foreign Affairs Committee * Aatto Sirén (chairman), Anton Huotari ;Other * Kustaa Ahmala, Aapo Harjula, Hilda Herrala,

Hanna Karhinen Hanna Karhinen (née Johanna Sofia Andelin) (16 June 1878, Vyborg – 27 September 1938) was a Finnish Social Democratic Party and later Communist Party politician and activist. She served in the Parliament of Finland from 1913 to 1916. During the ...

, Adam Laakkonen, Onni Tuomi

References

Finnish Civil War Historical legislatures {{legislature-stub