Hannes Einari Sula (29 June 1894

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

– 21 November 1955

Sudbury, Ontario Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the fifth largest in Canada. It is a ...

) was a Finnish-Canadian revolutionary who fought in the

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 ...

. During the

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

North Russia Intervention The North Russia intervention, also known as the Northern Russian expedition, the Archangel campaign, and the Murman deployment, was part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution. The intervention brought ...

he was one of the leading Finns of the British organized

Murmansk Legion The Murmansk Legion, also known as the Finnish Legion, was a British Royal Navy organized military unit during the 1918–1919 Allied North Russia Intervention. It was composed of Finnish Red Guards who had fled after the Finnish Civil War from ...

. In 1920, Sula exiled

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

where he worked as a newspaperman and trade unionist.

Life

Sula was born to a carpenter's family in TAmpere and raised in

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 ...

. He worked as an office clerk and was active in 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 ...

since the early 1910s. Sula was also a talented athlete. In 1916, he won the Finnish Championship in 100 meter run. During the 1918 Civil War, Sula served in the Red administration. In late March, he joined the Helsinki

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 ...

and fought in the

Battle of Tampere The Battle of Tampere was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in Tampere, Finland from 15 March to 6 April between the Whites and the Reds. It is the most famous and the heaviest of all the Finnish Civil War battles. Today it is particularl ...

. After 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 ...

, Sula was a member of a delegation sent to the

Murman Railway Railway between Murmansk on the Baltic_Sea.html"_;"title="Arctic_Ocean_and_Saint_Petersburg_on_the_Baltic_Sea">Arctic_Ocean_and_Saint_Petersburg_on_the_Baltic_Sea_ Kirov_Railway_(russian:_Кировская_железная_дорога,_''Kiro ...

to organize Red troops in the north. In June 1918, Sula joined the Murmansk Legion serving as a company leader in

Knyazhaya Guba Knyazhaya Guba (russian: Княжа́я Губа́, fi, Knäsöi) is a rural locality (a '' Selo'') in Kandalakshskiy District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. The village is located beyond the Arctic circle, on the Kola Peninsula The Kola Peninsul ...

. With

Aarne Orjatsalo Aarne Alarik Orjatsalo (13 October 1883 – 1 January 1941) was a Finnish actor, theater manager, writer, revolutionary and soldier. He fought for the Finnish Red Guards in the 1918 Civil War and in the 1918–1919 Allied North Russia Inte ...

and

August Wesley August Anselm Wesley ( Wesslin; born 3 August 1887; last rumoured to be alive 1942) was a Finnish journalist, trade unionist, and revolutionary who was the chief of the Red Guards general staff in the 1918 Finnish Civil War. He later served as ...

he formed an opposition against the pro-Bolshevik

Verner Lehtimäki Verner Lehtimäki (8 June 1890 – 5 April 1938), was a Finnish socialist, soldier, pilot, aerospace engineer and revolutionary. Early life Lehtimäki was born as a peasant's son in Vahto, a small rural municipality in the province of Southwe ...

, the Finnish commander of the Murmansk Legion. As the Murmansk Legion was disbanded, Sula was one of the legionnaries the Finnish Government banned of returning Finland despite the amnesty. Finally in November 1920, the group of 40 men received an asylum in

. Sula settled Sudbury, Ontario where he became a trade union organizer in the mining and lumber communities. Sula joined the

Communist Party of Canada The Communist Party of Canada (french: Parti communiste du Canada) is a federal political party in Canada, founded in 1921 under conditions of illegality. Although it does not currently have any parliamentary representation, the party's can ...

and was active in the Communist occupied

Finnish Organization of Canada Finnish Organization of Canada (FOC, fi, Kanadan Suomalainen Järjestö) is a Finnish Canadian cultural organization. It was established in 1911 as the Finnish Socialist Organization of Canada (''Kanadan Suomalainen Sosialistinen Järjestö''). FOC ...

. He was also a newspaperman in the Finnish-Canadian ''Metsätyöläinen'', published by the

Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada The Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada was a trade union of lumberjacks in Canada. LWIUC was founded in Sault Ste. Marie 1924 by Finnish communists, who were dissatisfied with the Lumber Workers Industrial Union of the Industrial Workers ...

, and '' Vapaus''. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

Sula was the secretary of the National Unemployed Workers' Association. As the Communist Party of Canada was banned in 1940, Sula joined the

Labor-Progressive Party The Labor-Progressive Party (french: Parti ouvrier-progressiste) was the legal Front organization, front of the Communist Party of Canada from 1943 to 1959. Origins and initial success In the 1940 Canadian federal election, 1940 federal elect ...

. For his last 10 years Sula was the editor of ''Vapaus''. He died in November 1955 following a

cerebral infarction A cerebral infarction is the pathologic process that results in an area of necrotic tissue in the brain (cerebral infarct). It is caused by disrupted blood supply ( ischemia) and restricted oxygen supply ( hypoxia), most commonly due to thromboemb ...

. Sula is buried to the Park Lawn Cemetery in

Greater Sudbury Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sula, Hannes 1894 births 1955 deaths People from Tampere Canadian people of Finnish descent People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side) People of the Russian Civil War Canadian journalists Canadian communists Finnish refugees Finnish male sprinters