Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders ( fi, Työväen ja Pienviljelijäin Sosialidemokraattinen Liitto, TPSL) was a political party in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. TPSL originated as a fraction of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, headed by

Emil Skog Emil Albert Skog (30 June 1897, Helsingin maalaiskunta – 20 September 1981, Helsinki) was a Finnish telephone worker, civil servant and politician. During the Finnish Civil War, Skog fought at the Battle of Tampere as an artilleryman on the Red ...

and Aarre Simonen. Skog was the former chairman of SDP and was in dispute with the incumbent chairman, Väinö Leskinen. The party was founded in 1959, had seats in the parliament in 1959–1970 and was dissolved in 1973. It was generally identified as being politically between SDP and

SKDL 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 ...

(a Communist-dominated organization).

History

The fraction split from SDP in 1959 after few years of infighting, and retained SDP's party platform until 1967, opining that SDP didn't follow its own platform. The main cause for the rift was that SDP's party leadership, particularly

Väinö Tanner Väinö Alfred Tanner (; 12 March 1881 – 19 April 1966; surname until 1895 ''Thomasson'') was a leading figure in the Social Democratic Party of Finland, and a pioneer and leader of the cooperative movement in Finland. He was Prime Minister ...

and

Väinö Leskinen Väinö Olavi Leskinen (8 March 1917, in Helsinki – 8 March 1972, in Helsinki) was a Finnish politician, minister and a member of the parliament from Social Democratic Party of Finland. He is perceived as one of the major Finnish social democra ...

wanted to develop the party towards a "general party" appealing to the entire public. TPSL in contrast, as the name suggests, wanted SDP to be a special interest party for the workers and small farmers. Leskinen wanted to co-operate with the right wing, based SDP politics on the general population, and his economic policy was conservative and deflatory, and he criticised

agricultural subsidies An agricultural subsidy (also called an agricultural incentive) is a government incentive paid to agribusinesses, agricultural organizations and farms to supplement their income, manage the supply of agricultural commodities, and influence the ...

. In contrast, Skog's fraction wanted to co-operate with the agrarians and other leftists in

popular front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

governments (''kansanrintamahallitus''), and base their politics exclusively on the trade unions. For example, Heikki Laavola has written that the disagreement was not over left vs. right ideology; all of Tanner, Leskinen, Skog and Simonen had been formerly active in anti-Communist pursuits. Disagreements between and about individuals played a role; Tanner had actually been convicted (under Soviet pressure) for being responsible to the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

, and as such, he being the leader of SDP was a problem to the Soviets. The rift was accompanied by a division in associated societies and the trade unions. The main trade union,

Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions, usually referred to by the acronym SAK ( fi, Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö; sv, Finlands Fackförbunds Centralorganisation, FFC) is the largest trade union confederation in Finland. Its ...

, was controlled mostly by Skog's men, as was the youth league,

sports federation A sports governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sports governing bodies come in various forms and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule i ...

and women's league. The first example was that SDP's leadership wanted the worker's sports federation to associate with the right-wing sports federation in order to qualify for entry to Olympics, which Skog's fraction disputed as bourgeoise. TPSL had 13-15 representatives of 200 in the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

after the split in 1959, gained only two in 1962 elections, got seven representatives in 1966 and permanently dropped out of the parliament in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

. Significantly, TPSL co-operated with the especially powerful President

Urho 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 was a partner in coalition cabinets (Karjalainen I, Paasio I, Koivisto I). In 1963, SDP changed its policy such that good relations with Kekkonen and Soviet Union were a new priority, thus removing a significant cause for disagreement. Skog himself returned to SDP in 1965. TPSL radicalized and became more Soviet-friendly, but lost its popular support, and was dissolved in 1973. The decision was made in December 1972 as TPSL board voted 10–3 for the return to the SDP.Kevin Devlin
Death of a Splinter Party: Finland's Left-Socialists Give Up
(Radio Free Europe 5.12.1972) A minority faction, including Simonen and some other former MPs, formed the Socialist Workers Party.

Members of Parliament

:in 1958–1959 ''Parliamentary Group of Social Democratic Opposition'' *

Laura Brander-Wallin Laura Irene Brander-Wallin (née ''Brander''; 5 April 1909 – 1 January 1994) was a Finnish seamstress and politician, born in Pori. She was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1948 to 1958 and again for a short time in 1962. She was at fir ...

1962 *

Vappu Heinonen Vappu Linnea Heinonen (1 May 1905, Turku – 10 January 1999) was a Finnish social worker and politician. She was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1951 to 1962 and from 1966 to 1970, representing first the Social Democratic Party of Finl ...

^SDP→1958–1962, 1966–1970 *

Mikko Hult Mikko Olavi Hult (22 March 1915 in Rautalampi – 6 May 1993) was a Finnish smallholder and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1954 to 1962. Hult first represented the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP), and la ...

^SDP→1958–1962 *

Armas Härkönen Armas Härkönen (1 October 1903, Joroinen - 2 September 1981) was a Finnish agricultural consultant, smallholder and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1958 to 1962. He was at first a member of the Social Democratic Part ...

1958–1962 *

Urho Kulovaara Urho Albinus Kulovaara (1 March 1889 – 15 June 1964) was a Finnish schoolteacher and politician, born in Kaarina. He was a Member of the Parliament of Finland, representing the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) from 1930 to 1958, the Socia ...

^SDP→1958–1962 *

Tyyne Leivo-Larsson Tyyne Lilja Leivo-Larsson (née Leivo; 3 March 1902 Uusikirkko – 1 August 1977 Helsinki) was a Finnish Ambassador and MP. She was the first Finnish woman to serve as Ambassador in Oslo from 1958 to 1966 and as Envoy to Reykjavík in 1958–1964 ...

1966–1970 *

Valdemar Liljeström Valdemar (Vladimir) Liljeström (26 February 1902 in Saint Petersburg – 11 November 1960, Geneve, Switzerland) was a Finnish trade union activist and politician. He was at first a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland and, after 1 ...

^SDP→1958–1960 * Impi Lukkarinen ^SDP→1958–1970 * Aino Malkamäki 1960–1961 * Viljo Pousi 1966–1970 * Eeno Pusa 1961–1962 *

Olavi Saarinen Olavi Saarinen (18 October 1923, in Dragsfjärd – 30 November 1979) was a Finnish trade union activist and politician. He was at first a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland and, after 1959, of the Social Democratic Union of Workers a ...

1966–1970 * Martta Salmela-Järvinen ^SDP→1958–1966 *

Aili Siiskonen Aili Siiskonen (9 February 1907 in Mikkeli – 15 January 1983) was a Finnish journalist, civil servant and politician. She was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1958 to 1962 and from 1966 to 1970. She was at first a member of the Soci ...

1958–1962, 1966–1970 * Aarre Simonen ^SDP→1958–1962 *

Arvo Sävelä Arvo Päiviö Sävelä (30 June 1908, Kankaanpää - 17 November 1976; surname until 1936 ''Sjöviiki'') was a Finnish smallholder and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1948 to 1962, representing first the Social Democra ...

^SDP→1958–1962 * Arvi Turkka ^SDP→1958–1962 * Vilho Turunen 1958–1962 * Heikki Törmä ^SDP→1959–1962 * Olli J. Uoti 1959–1962, 1966–1967

Election results

References

{{Authority control Political parties established in 1959 Political parties disestablished in 1973 Defunct political parties in Finland Social democratic parties 1959 establishments in Finland 1973 disestablishments in Finland Political schisms

History

Members of Parliament

Election results

See also

References