Yrjö Aleksanteri Murto (24 August 1899 – 17 December 1963) 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 and trade unionist. Born to a working-class family, Murto became a saw mill worker, and joined both the Finnish Woodworkers' Union and the

Finnish Communist Party 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 by ...

(SKP). In 1927, he became president of the union, and in 1930 he briefly served as president of the

Finnish Trade Union Federation Finnish Trade Union Federation ( fi, Suomen Ammattijärjestö, SAJ, sv, Finlands Landsorganisation, FLO) was the first central organisation of trade unions in Finland, established in 1907. It was a part of the Social Democratic Party of Finland ...

, to which the union was affiliated. The federation and its affiliates were banned, and Murto moved to the Soviet Union to study at the

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 Unio ...

. Murto returned to Finland in 1935, intending to resume political activity, but he was arrested and imprisoned for seven years. On completing his sentence, he was immediately sent to an internment camp, and was finally released in 1944. Murto was appointed as the SKP's organising secretary for Oulu. In 1945, he entered government as the Deputy Minister of Transport and Public Works, with responsibility for communications, moving in 1946 to become the Deputy Minister of Public Services, with responsibility for social services. The SKP left the government in 1948, Murto being elected as vice-president of the party. He also won a seat in Parliament, and served there for the remainder of his life. From 1949 until 1952, he additionally served as the general secretary of the

Trade Union International of Building, Wood, Building Materials and Allied Industries The Trade Unions International of Building, Wood, Building Materials and Industries, also known as the Trade Unions International of Construction, Wood, Building Materials and Industries, or by its French acronym UITBB (''Union internationale des sy ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murto, Yrjö 1899 births 1963 deaths Communist Party of Finland politicians Finnish trade union leaders Government ministers of Finland International Lenin School alumni Members of the Parliament of Finland (1948–51) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1951–54) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1954–58) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1958–62) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1962–66) Finnish expatriates in the Soviet Union