Agnes Elvira Maria Willman (10 August 1875 – 17 April 1925) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and a revolutionary

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

who was one of the most prominent women of the early Finnish labour movement. Willman is also considered as the first female working-class writer in Finland, despite coming from a bourgeois background. After the 1918

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

Willman and her husband, Voitto Eloranta 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 ...

. They were both later accused of being involved with the

Kuusinen Club Incident 300px, The Kuusinen Club was located in Kamenno-ostrovski prospekt 26–28, in Saint Petersburg The Kuusinen Club Incident ( fi, Kuusisen klubin murhat) was the murder of eight members of the Finnish Communist Party in the Kuusinen Club (their Sai ...

, a murder of eight Finnish communists. Eloranta was executed in 1922 and Willman in 1925.

Life

Elvira Willman was born in the Western Finnish town of

Uusikaupunki Uusikaupunki (; sv, Nystad, ) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region, northwest of Turku and south of Pori. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is inland wate ...

. After her parents' divorce, Willman moved to

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

graduating from the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

speaking high school in 1894. She had studies of languages, history and literature in the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

and spent the season 1899–1900 in the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

. Back in Finland, Willman was active in the liberal

Young Finnish Party The Young Finnish Party or Constitutional-Fennoman Party ( fi, Nuorsuomalainen Puolue or ) was a liberal and nationalist political party in the Grand Duchy of Finland. It began as an upper-class reformist movement during the 1870s and formed as a ...

organizing resistance against the

Russification of Finland The policy of Russification of Finland ( fi, sortokaudet / sortovuodet, lit=times/years of oppression; russian: Русификация Финляндии, translit=Rusyfikatsiya Finlyandii) was a governmental policy of the Russian Empire aimed at ...

. She soon got interested of the labour movement. Willman joined the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

and worked as a writer in a leftist literary magazine. In August 1906, Willman was involved with the

Sveaborg rebellion The Sveaborg rebellion was an Imperial Russian military mutiny which broke out on the evening of 30 July 1906 amongst the garrison of the coastal fortress of Sveaborg in the coast of Helsinki in the Grand Duchy of Finland. The mutiny was part ...

, a mutiny of Russian sailors in the

Suomenlinna Suomenlinna (; until 1918 Viapori, ), or Sveaborg (), is an inhabited sea fortress the Suomenlinna district is on eight islands of which six have been fortified; it is about 4 km southeast of the city center of Helsinki, the capital of Finla ...

seafort near Helsinki. She was one of the mutineers contacts in

and Willman's apartment was used as a meeting place. During the 1918

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, Willman worked as a journalist as her husband was a member of the

Red Guard 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 ...

general staff at the Savo Front. As the war was turning against the Reds, Willman fled to the Soviet Russia with her children and Eloranta soon followed. Both joined the exiled

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and became affiliated with the party opposition standing against the central committee. On 31 August 1920, the conflict escalated as eight central committee members were murdered in their office. Russian court convicted Voitto Eloranta as the main instigator, although he denied his involvement. Eloranta was executed in November 1922, but Willman was released as no evidence was found against her. Willman moved to Moscow where she was arrested again in July 1924. She was convicted on 13 April 1925, and executed four days later.

Works

Wllman's work addresses issues of women's rights and even deals with queer issues. She debuted with the play ''Lyyli'', premiered in the

National Theatre of Finland National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

in 1903. It is a story of a working-class woman named, Lyyli who is first seduced and then left by an upper-class man. The 1907 play ''Kellarikerroksessa'' (In the Basement) focuses on prostitution and queerness. The novel ''Vallankumouksen vyöry'' (The Tide of Revolution) is partly autobiographical reflecting the days of the 1906 Sveaborg rebellion, although the story itself takes place in the 1917

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

. The novel includes a short scene of male-male attraction. *''Korpisuolaiset'' (1895) *''Lyyli'' (1903) *''Rhodon valtias'' (1904) *''Lucretia Borgia'' (1904) *''Kellarikerroksessa'' (1907) *''Juopa'' (1908) *''Rakkauden orjuus'' (1916) *''Veriuhrit'' (1917) *''Vallankumouksen vyöry'' (1918)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willman, Elvira 1875 births 1925 deaths People from Uusikaupunki People from Turku and Pori Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side) Finnish communists Finnish journalists Finnish feminists Finnish dramatists and playwrights Finnish women dramatists and playwrights Socialist feminists University of Helsinki alumni University of Paris alumni Executed Finnish women Finnish women journalists Executed communists Finnish people executed by the Soviet Union