Taisto Kalevi Sorsa (21 December 1930 – 16 January 2004) 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 ...
politician who served as
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
of Finland three times: 1972–1975, 1977–1979 and 1982–1987. At the time of his death he still held the record for most days of incumbency as prime minister. He was also a long-time leader of the
Social Democratic Party of Finland.
Early years
Taisto Kalevi Sorsa was born on 21 December 1930 in
Keuruu
Keuruu (; sv, Keuru) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The popul ...
. Sorsa's surname literally means "
anatid" in Finnish.
Sorsa attended school in
Jyväskylä
Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...
and
Lappeenranta
Lappeenranta (; sv, Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about from the Russian border and from the town of Vyborg (''Viipuri''). It is situated on the shore of the Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, and ...
. At the age of 18, Sorsa's involvement with the SDP started in Lappeenranta. Prior to his political career, Sorsa worked in Paris for
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
from 1959 to 1965 and served as Secretary-General of the Finnish UNESCO board from 1965 to 1969. In the late 1960s, he also served as an official in the Ministry of Education.
In 1969, he was brought in from relative obscurity by
Rafael Paasio, a former
Prime Minister of Finland
The prime minister of Finland ( fi, Suomen pääministeri; ) is the leader of the Finnish Government. The prime minister and their cabinet exercise executive authority in the state. The prime minister is formally Finnish order of precedence, r ...
, to assume the influential post of party secretary, despite not having much previous experience of national politics.
A 2008 book by historian Jukka Seppinen suggested that Sorsa was at this date already receiving support from Soviet backers in the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
.
Prime Minister and Foreign Minister (1972-1989)
Sorsa and domestic politics
Sorsa was a leading political figure during the presidencies of
Kekkonen
Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as prime minister ...
and
Koivisto.
[Matti Huuhtane]
Finns hold state funeral for longest serving, Cold War prime minister
(paywall) Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
31 January 2004, via High Beam, retrieved 28 March 2013 He served as the chairman of the Social Democratic Party from 1975 to 1987 and was
Prime Minister of Finland
The prime minister of Finland ( fi, Suomen pääministeri; ) is the leader of the Finnish Government. The prime minister and their cabinet exercise executive authority in the state. The prime minister is formally Finnish order of precedence, r ...
in four cabinets for a total of ten years (1972–1975, 1977–1979, 1982–1983, 1983–1987). He remains Finland's longest-serving prime minister.
After his premiership he served as the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament from 1989 to 1991. During his career he also served twice as
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...
, from 1975 to 1976 and from 1987 to 1989. From 1987 to 1996, Sorsa served on the governing board of the
Bank of Finland.
He was also known for his participation as the convener in the economic policy seminar at Hotel Korpilampi in
Lahnus
Lahnus is a district in the city of Espoo and administratively belongs to the Northern Espoo area. It is located near the municipality of Nurmijärvi and its largest village, Klaukkala. The most famous places in Lahnus are the and Hotel Korpi ...
,
Espoo
Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...
, in September 1977.
Sorsa is regarded as one of Finland's most influential prime ministers, making major contributions to schools and health care, and increasing social security for families with children and pensioners. His governments strengthened the welfare state in Finland, by enacting many reforms—child care laws, longer maternity leave, the annual vacation benefit act, as well as the public health act.
In domestic politics, Sorsa had a particularly difficult relationship with
Paavo Väyrynen, the strong-willed head of the
Center Party. Another notable conflict was his rivalry with young rising politician
Paavo Lipponen
Paavo Tapio Lipponen (; born 23 April 1941) is a Finnish politician and former reporter. He was Prime Minister of Finland from 1995 to 2003, and Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland from 1993 to 2005. He also served as Speaker of t ...
.
In June 1984, Sorsa gave a speech on "infocracy" (i.e. the power of the
mass media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit informati ...
) at the Social Democratic party convention. Infocracy challenges
parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...
, is unintelligent and avoids discussing social problems, he said: it takes more interest in individual politicians than political issues and is never critical of its own actions.
Sorsa and foreign affairs
![WillyBrandtPenttiVaananenKaleviSorsa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/WillyBrandtPenttiVaananenKaleviSorsa.jpg)
Three times Kalevi Sorsa served as
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Finland)
The minister for foreign affairs (, ) handles the Finnish Government's foreign policy and relations, and is in charge of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The minister for foreign trade and development is also associated with this ministry.
Th ...
: in 1972; in 1975–1976; and from 1987 to 1989.
Sorsa supported the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, pro ...
after its creation in 1975, as well as projects to bridge the gap between the world's richest and poorest countries. In the 1970s, despite opposition from far-left parties, he championed a hard-won, free-trade agreement with the
European Economic Community (EEC), which boosted ties between Finland and the countries of Western Europe.
Sorsa was also active in the international social democratic movement, and in the mid-1970s was elected vice-president of the
Socialist International
The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations ...
.
In the late 1970s and in the 1980s the Socialist International had extensive contacts and discussion with the two leading powers of the Cold War period, the United States and the Soviet Union, on issues concerning East–West relations, arms control and Afghanistan. The Socialist International supported détente and disarmament agreements, such as SALT II, START and INF. They had several meetings and discussion in Washington, D.C., with President Jimmy Carter and Vice-President George Bush and with CPSU Secretaries General Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow. Sorsa led the Socialist International's delegations to these discussions.
Later years (1989-2004)
In 1993, Sorsa entered the Social Democratic Party's primary elections as a presidential candidate, but was forced to withdraw after revelations of his long-standing covert relations with the Soviet leadership.
[''The Bukovsky Archives'', 16 December 1980* (St 241/108), K. Sorsa's 50th birthday and his work for detente and disarmament](_blank)
.
In 1992 Kalevi Sorsa announced that he would stand in the coming 1994 presidential elections. However, documents found in the
CPSU Central Committee
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, – TsK KPSS was the executive leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, acting between sessions of Congress. According to party statutes, the committee directe ...
archive in Moscow during the trial of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union indicated that Sorsa had long maintained "confidential contacts" with the Soviet authorities.
When news of this information finally broke in the Finnish press, Sorsa issued a public apology and withdrew his candidacy.
Martti Ahtisaari
Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (; born 23 June 1937) is a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland (1994–2000), a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work.
Ahtisa ...
took his place as the candidate of the Social Democratic Party and won the election.
He was replaced as SDP candidate by
Martti Ahtisaari
Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (; born 23 June 1937) is a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland (1994–2000), a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work.
Ahtisa ...
, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1977 to 1981, who went on to become Finnish President. Ahtisaari was supported by a small but significant group of Finnish politicians who had long been hostile to Kaleva:
Erkki Tuomioja,
Lasse Lehtinen and
Matti Ahde.
Later years
Kalevi Sorsa continued to participate in discussions of social policy until the end of his life, his last column being published posthumously.
He died of cancer on 16 January 2004 at his home in Helsinki at the age of 73.
He was survived by his wife; the couple had no children.
The Kalevi Sorsa Foundation
The Kalevi Sorsa Foundation
is a social democratic think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
, established in 2005 and named in his honour.
As head of government and foreign ministry
* Minister of Foreign Affairs (Finland)
The minister for foreign affairs (, ) handles the Finnish Government, Finnish Government's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, and is in charge of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Finland), Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Minister ...
, 1972
* Sorsa I Cabinet, 1972-1975
* Minister of Foreign Affairs (Finland)
The minister for foreign affairs (, ) handles the Finnish Government, Finnish Government's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, and is in charge of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Finland), Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Minister ...
, 1975-1976
* Sorsa II Cabinet
Sorsa's second cabinet was the 60th government of Finland. The majority cabinet was in office from 15 May 1977 to 26 May 1979. The prime minister was Kalevi Sorsa (sd.).
The second Sorsa cabinet started its term during a time of financial hards ...
, 1977-1979
* Sorsa III Cabinet
The third cabinet of Kalevi Sorsa was the 62nd government of Finland. The majority government lasted from 19 February 1982 to 6 May 1983. The cabinet's prime minister was Kalevi Sorsa. The Finnish People's Democratic League
Finnish People's De ...
, 1982-1983
* Sorsa IV Cabinet
Sorsa's fourth cabinet was the 63rd government of Finland, which existed for 1 456 days, from 6 May 1983 to 30 April 1987. The government’s Prime Minister was Kalevi Sorsa. It was a majority government based on the ”red-soil government” mode ...
, 1983-1987
* Minister of Foreign Affairs (Finland)
The minister for foreign affairs (, ) handles the Finnish Government, Finnish Government's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, and is in charge of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Finland), Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Minister ...
, 1987-1989
Honours
* Commander Grand Cross in the Order of the White Rose of Finland
The Order of the White Rose of Finland ( fi, Suomen Valkoisen Ruusun ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Vita Ros’ orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty, and the Order of the Lion of Finland. ...
* Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Orange-Nassau
The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands.
The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...
, Netherlands
* Grand Cross in the Order of the Falcon
The Order of the Falcon ( is, Hin íslenska fálkaorða) is the only order of chivalry in Iceland, founded by King Christian X of Denmark and Iceland on 3 July 1921. The award is awarded for merit for Iceland and humanity and has five degrees. N ...
, Iceland
* Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the North Star
The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden'') is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Order of the Seraphim.
The Order of the ...
, Sweden
* Grand Cross in the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
The Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Order Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) is a Polish order of merit created in 1974, awarded to persons who have rendered great service to Poland. It is granted to foreigners or Poles resident a ...
* Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Dannebrog, Denmark
* Grand Cross in the National Order of Merit, France
* Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Isabella the Catholic
The Order of Isabella the Catholic ( es, Orden de Isabel la Católica) is a Spanish civil order and honor granted to persons and institutions in recognition of extraordinary services to the homeland or the promotion of international relations a ...
, Spain
* Grand Cross in the Order of the Southern Cross
Emperor Pedro I of Brazil founded the National Order of the Southern Cross ( pt, Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul) as a Brazilian order of chivalry on 1 December 1822. The order aimed to commemorate the independence of Brazil (7 September 18 ...
, Brazil
See also
*Politics of Finland
The politics of Finland take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy. Finland is a republic whose head of state is President Sauli Niinistö, who leads the nation's foreign policy and is the supreme commander of ...
*Socialist International
The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations ...
*Minister of Foreign Affairs (Finland)
The minister for foreign affairs (, ) handles the Finnish Government, Finnish Government's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, and is in charge of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Finland), Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Minister ...
*Martti Ahtisaari
Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (; born 23 June 1937) is a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland (1994–2000), a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work.
Ahtisa ...
References
External links
Kalevi Sorsa Foundation
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorsa, Kalevi
1930 births
2004 deaths
Burials at Hietaniemi Cemetery
People from Keuruu
Leaders of the Social Democratic Party of Finland
Prime Ministers of Finland
Deputy Prime Ministers of Finland
Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Finland
Speakers of the Parliament of Finland
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1970–72)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1972–75)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1975–79)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1979–83)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1983–87)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1987–91)
Central bankers