Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S99285, Berlin, III

Hertta Elina Kuusinen (14 February 1904 – 18 March 1974) 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 ...

Communist politician. She was a member of the central committee (1944–1971) and the

political bureau A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist party, communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian language, Russian ''Pol ...

of the

Communist Party of Finland The Communist Party of Finland ( fi, Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, SKP; sv, Finlands Kommunistiska Parti) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944. The SKP was banned ...

; member of Finland's parliament, the

Eduskunta 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 ...

(1945–1972); general secretary (1952–1958); and leader of the parliamentary group of the

Finnish People's Democratic League Finnish People's Democratic League ( fi, Suomen Kansan Demokraattinen Liitto, SKDL; sv, Demokratiska Förbundet för Finlands Folk, DFFF) was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic P ...

Early life

Born in

Luhanka Luhanka ( sv, Luhanka, also ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. In relation to its population Luhanka is not just the small ...

on 14 February 1904, she was the daughter of Soviet politician and one-time Finnish communist leader

Otto Ville Kuusinen Otto Wilhelm "Wille" Kuusinen (; russian: О́тто Вильге́льмович Ку́усинен, Otto Vilgelmovich Kuusinen; 4 October 1881 – 17 May 1964) was a Finnish-born Soviet communist and, later, Soviet politician, literary hi ...

. Hertta Kuusinen moved to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

after her father in the 1920s. She worked for the Comintern beginning in 1922, witnessed Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany during 1932–1933, and taught in the

International Lenin School The International Lenin School (ILS) was an official training school operated in Moscow, Soviet Union, by the Communist International from May 1926 to 1938. It was resumed after the Second World War and run by the Communist Party of the Soviet Uni ...

from 1933 to 1934. Kuusinen returned to Finland in 1934 to work underground for the illegal communist party. Instead she ended up in prison for over ten years.

Career

Kuusinen became known for being the leading female communist in post-war Finland. In 1948, she became only the second woman to serve as a Finnish cabinet minister. Hertta Kuusinen neuvostoliittolaisen valtuuskunnan kanssa

Hertta Kuusinen neuvostoliittolaisen valtuuskunnan kanssa

The political climate in Finland changed after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Kuusinen was released; and in the first post-war elections held in 1945, she was elected to the

from the

(SKDL) list. She was General Secretary of the SKDL from 1952 to 1958, when the SKDL became the largest party in the Eduskunta with 50 of 200 seats. She was a member of Parliament until 1972, and also held the record in personal votes (58 770 / 1948) received in parliamentary elections that stood until the 2007 election.Pirkko Kotila, ''Hertta Kuusinen - the leading communist woman in Finland in the post-war era'', ''People of a special mould?'' International conference on comparative communist biography and prosopography Manchester, 6th - 8 April 2001: http://www.kansanarkisto.fi/pirkkoma.htm Between 1969 and 1974, Kuusinen served as the chairperson of the

Women's International Democratic Federation Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) is an international organization with the stated goal of working for women's rights. It was established in 1945 and was most active during the Cold War. It initially focussed on anti-fascism, worl ...

Personal life

Kuusinen was married to communist politicians Tuure Lehén (1923–1933) and Yrjö Leino (1945–1950).

Death

She died in Moscow on 18 March 1974, aged 70.

References

Early life

Career

Personal life

Death

References

Further reading