The National Socialist Union of Finland (
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 ...
: , SKSL), later the Finnish-Socialist Party () was a Finnish
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
political party active in the 1930s, whose driving force and ideologue was Professor
Yrjö Ruutu
Yrjö Oskar Ruutu (until 1927 Ruuth; 26 December 1887 Helsinki – 27 August 1956 Helsinki) was a Finnish social scientist and politician. Ruutu was the first principal of the School of Social Sciences (current University of Tampere) 1925–1 ...
. With an ideology based on Ruutu's theories, the party came to reject orthodox German
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
.
A minor fringe party, it received 1,406 votes in the
1933 Finnish parliamentary election.
Several prominent politicians of the right-wing faction of the post-war
Social Democratic Party of Finland
The Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP, fi, Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolue ; sv, Finlands socialdemokratiska parti), shortened to the Social Democrats ( fi, link=no, Sosiaalidemokraatit; sv, link=no, Socialdemokrater) and commonly kno ...
began their political careers in Ruutu's party.
History
SKSL was founded on September 7, 1932. In addition to Ruutu, who was elected chairman and declared the party "chief" (analogous to Führer), the first party board included Paavo Virtanen, and
Juhani Konkka
Juhani Konkka (September 4, 1904, Konkkala, Saint Petersburg Governorate – June 22, 1970, Kuhmoinen, Finland) was an Ingrian Finnish writer, translator, screenwriter and politician.
Biography
Juhani Konkka was born in the village of Konkkal ...
. The new organization had been planned for several years and had its roots in the Vasama Association, founded by Ruutu in 1924. In the autumn of 1932, the organisation's name was changed to the Helsinki National Socialist Association, and it became the local branch of SKSL. (''National Socialist''), a party organ, also began to appear in September.
[Ekberg 1991, s. 51–59.] SKSL received support from, among others, the Free Workers' Union, from which a group led by Einar Lindholm split. In the winter of 1932–1933, SKSL organized numerous events that attracted hundreds of people.
The party used uniforms, the
Roman salute
The Roman salute, alternatively called the Fascist salute, is a gesture in which the right arm is fully extended, facing forward, with palm down and fingers touching. In some versions, the arm is raised upward at an angle; in others, it is held ...
and swastikas. Ruutu was also the first to introduce the concept of ''
Volksgemeinschaft
''Volksgemeinschaft'' () is a German expression meaning "people's community", "folk community",Richard Grunberger, ''A Social History of the Third Reich'', London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971, p. 44. "national community", or "racial community", ...
'' to the Finnish political lexicon. Ruutu was attracted to fascism by the promise of removing class conflict and an economic theory that puts the "national whole" first. Ruutu's ideology was closer to the
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
of the Nazi party. However, this was no obstacle to joining prominent Finnish orthodox Nazis such as and
Ensio Uoti
Ensio Ilmari Uoti (5 September 1897 Pori – 1966 Aachen) was a Finnish politician and Nazi who in the 1930s was the leader of the Finnish-Socialist Workers' Party (SSTP).
Life
Ensio Uoti's parents were pastor Juho Henrik Uoti, a known anarc ...
and party members were later recruited to the Waffen SS.
After Hitler came to power in 1933, Ruutu began to criticize the German Nazis, especially after Hitler had destroyed the Strasserists and the
Sturmabteilung
The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ral ...
in 1934. For Ruutu, Hitler and Goebbels were traitors of true National Socialism who had sold out to big business. Ruutu expelled the supporters of Hitlerite Nazism from his party and adopted the new name ''Finnish-Socialist Party''.
The party's newspaper published articles praising Turkish President
Kemal Atatürk Kemal may refer to:
;People
* Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a Turkish politician and the first president of Turkey
* Kemal (name), a common Turkish name
;Places
* Kemalpaşa, İzmir Province, Turkey
* Mustafakemalpaşa, Bursa Province, Turkey
;See als ...
and his "Turkish socialism" or
Kemalism
Kemalism ( tr, Kemalizm, also archaically ''Kamâlizm''), also known as Atatürkism ( tr, Atatürkçülük, Atatürkçü düşünce), or The Six Arrows ( tr, Altı Ok), is the founding official ideology of the Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurche ...
.
The SKSL competed with the
Finnish People's Organisation
The Finnish People's Organisation (Finnish: , SKJ) (Swedish: , FFO) was a bilingual Nazi party founded by Jaeger Captain Arvi Kalsta. Supporters of the movement were also called Kalstaites after the leader. The inaugural meeting of the organization ...
(, SKJ) led by Captain
Arvi Kalsta
Arvi Kalsta (until 1927 Arvid Daniel Grönberg, 14 October 1890 Joensuu – 25 May 1982 Helsinki) Mikko Uola: Kalsta, Arvi (1890 - 1982Kansallisbiografia-verkkojulkaisu (maksullinen) Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. was a Finnish Jaege ...
, another major Finnish Nazi organisation. The SKSL and the SKJ disagreed about the language question. While the SKSL insisted on Finnish-language nationalism, the SKJ was bilingual, had many prominent Swedish-speaking Finnish Nazis such as
Hjalmar von Bonsdorff Hjalmar von Bonsdorff (26 November 1869 in Helsinki, Finland – 5 April 1945 in Stockholm, Sweden) was a Finnish admiral.[Thorvald Oljemark
Hjalmar Thorvald Oljemark (24 March 1900 - 25 April 1938) was a Finnish manor owner and a Nazi. He was one of the founders of the Nazi party called the Finnish People's Organisation and also worked as its propaganda chief and editor-in-chief of t ...](_blank)
and was popular among the Swedish-speaking population of
Uusimaa
Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, He ...
.
Ideology
Ruutu had developed the idea of uniting nationalism and socialism in the early 1920s and concluded that the Finnish national interests required the abandonment of both
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
and
laissez-faire capitalism
''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. A ...
. Of the contemporary European Fascists and Nazis who presented similar ideas, Ruutu's thinking differed, for example, in that he supported parliamentarism and did not believe in establishing a dictatorship.
The party demanded the
nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
of large companies and other assets vital for national interests, a
self-sufficient planned economy
A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, part ...
and parliament controlled by
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
s, the appointment of
technocrats
Technocracy is a form of government in which the decision-maker or makers are selected based on their expertise in a given area of responsibility, particularly with regard to scientific or technical knowledge. This system explicitly contrasts wi ...
to ministers, the removal of Swedish as an official language of Finland and the removal of Swedish-language education from universities. It also demanded the creation of a
Greater Finland
Greater Finland ( fi, Suur-Suomi; et, Suur-Soome; sv, Storfinland), an irredentist and nationalist idea, emphasized territorial expansion of Finland. The most common concept of Greater Finland saw the country as defined by natural borders enc ...
, achieved through international cooperation.
Legacy
Some former members of Ruutu's party, such as
Yrjö Kilpeläinen
Yrjö Kaarle Kilpeläinen (3 October 1907, Leppävirta – 30 January 1955) 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
...
and
Unto Varjonen
Unto Uuno Mikael Varjonen (22 August 1916, Turku – 11 February 1954 Washington D.C. United States) was a Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ...
, became prominent figures in the right-wing faction of the post-war
Social Democratic Party of Finland
The Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP, fi, Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolue ; sv, Finlands socialdemokratiska parti), shortened to the Social Democrats ( fi, link=no, Sosiaalidemokraatit; sv, link=no, Socialdemokrater) and commonly kno ...
.
Another prominent former member
Vietti Nykänen became the vice chairman of the
Radical People's Party. Member of the board of the party
Heikki Waris later became Minister of Social Affairs in
Von Fieandt Cabinet
Rainer von Fieandt's cabinet was the 42nd government of Republic of Finland. Cabinet's time period was from November 29, 1957 to April 26, 1958. It was a caretaker government. Cabinet fell by Interpellation (politics), interpellation of the opposi ...
.
[Autio, Veli-Matti (toim.): Professorimatrikkeli 1918–1996 Professorsmatrikel, s. 598–599. Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto, 1997. ISBN 951-45-7818-X.]
After the end of his party, Ruutu initially joined the SDP, and afterwards, in post-war Finland, made a political career in the far left
Socialist Unity Party. He was also the chairman of the
secularist
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations.
Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...
Union of Freethinkers of Finland.
References
External links
The party program(in Finnish)
{{Fascism
Defunct political parties in Finland
Nationalist parties in Finland
Nazi parties
Political parties established in 1932
Nazism in Finland
Anti-communist organisations in Finland
Strasserism