Santeri Alkio (born Aleksander Filander; 17 June 1862 – 24 July 1930) 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, author and journalist. He is also considered to be the ideological father of
Finnish Centre Party.
History
Alkio was born in
Laihia
Laihia ( sv, Laihela) is a municipality of Finland, founded in 1576 through a separation from Isokyrö and Korsholm.
It is located in the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. Th ...
; his parents were Juho and Maria (née Jakku) Filander. He married teacher Anna Augusta Falenius in 1896.
Initially Santeri Alkio was active in the
Young Finnish Party, but in the end decided it was too liberal for the farming population; urbanized parties did not, in his estimation, pay enough attention to the causes that were most important to farmers. To keep the agrarian folk from becoming ensnared by socialism, he founded the ''Etelä-Pohjanmaan Nuorsuomalainen Maalaisliitto'' ("Young-Finnish Countrymens' Union of Southern Ostrobothnia"), which he later fused into the less ideological ''
Maalaisväestön liitto'' ("Union of the Rural Population", later Centre Party of Finland). Alkio became the chief ideologue of the Maalaisliitto, and is still considered the father of the party in spirit. The party still refers to ''alkioish'' tendencies in some of its factions.
Alkio was a member of the Finnish House of Representatives from 1907 to 1908 and again from 1914 to 1922. He was vice-chairman of 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 ...
in 1917 and 1918. When the
October revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...
began in Russia, the Bolshevik
Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia led to controversy in the Finnish parliament on how to respond. Based on Alkio's proposal, the
Parliament of Finland
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 ...
assumed sovereignty in Finland on 15 November, eventually leading to the
Finnish Declaration of Independence on 6 December (
Independence Day of Finland).
After independence, Alkio continued in parliament as the minister of social affairs from 1919 to 1920. He was the minister of social affairs of the Vennola government from (15 August 1919 – 15 March 1920). An ardent temperance-movement activist, he participated in drafting the Finnish
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...
and also was the minister responsible for the confirmation of
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
K. J. Ståhlberg.
Alkio was an extremely prolific author. He founded the newspaper ''
Ilkka'' and was its editor through the years 1906–1930.
His likeness graced a Finnish stamp on 17 July 1962.
Alkio's views
Alkio was a fervent spokesman for democracy and Finnish national independence. He led the youth association movement, which above all wanted to defend the values of rural life and foster temperance and healthy living, a desire the movement held in common with the coeval
Christian revivalist and
labor movements.
Despite his Christian background, Alkio was a strong opponent of
state church. In 1906 Alkio wrote that "We want to liberate the beautiful and simple teachings of Jesus from the tyranny of theology and that is why we would like to withdraw the support of the state from one confession and to proclaim it to all."
As a nationalist, Alkio supported the independent Senate of Svinhufvud. During the summer of 1917, he had supported usurping the highest power in the land from Russia via the Power of Government Act (
Lex Tulenheimo) while the parties on the right still opposed it.
Alkio thought the red revolt supported by Russian soldiers was an attempt to return Finland to Soviet Russia: "It
he revoltis meant to set Finnish independence at nought." ("Sen
apinantarkoituksena on tehdä tyhjäksi Suomen itsenäisyys.")
Alkio was also a
pacifist. He attributed this to the influence of
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
. On 15 January 1920, he wrote in Maan Ääni newspaper that Europe should consider the question of the United States of Europe. This article made him one of the first important proponents of
European integration. He died in Laihia.
Bibliography
* Teerelän perhe (1887)
* Puukkojunkkarit – kuvauksia nyrkkivallan ajalta (1894)
full text
* Murtavia voimia (1896)
full text
* Jaakko Jaakonpoika (1913)
full text
* Uusi aika (1914)
* Patriarkka (1916)
* Ihminen ja kansalainen (1919)
* Yhteiskunnallista ja valtiollista (1919)
* Maalaispolitiikkaa I–II (1919, 1921)
* Kootut teokset I–XIII (1919–1928)
* Valitut teokset (1953)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alkio, Santeri
1862 births
1930 deaths
People from Laihia
People from Vaasa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland)
Young Finnish Party politicians
Centre Party (Finland) politicians
Ministers of Social Affairs of Finland
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1907–08)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1909–10)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1910–11)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1911–13)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1916–17)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1917–19)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1919–22)
People of the Finnish Civil War (White side)
Writers from Ostrobothnia (region)
Finnish temperance activists