Kullervo Achilles Manner (, Russian Куллерво Густавович Маннер, ''Kullervo Gustavovich Manner''; 12 October 1880 – 15 January 1939) was a Finnish politician and journalist, and later a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

politician. He was a member of the Finnish parliament, serving as its Speaker in 1917. He was also chairman of the

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 ...

between 1917 and 1918. During the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

, he led the

Finnish People's Delegation The Finnish People's Delegation ( fi, Suomen kansanvaltuuskunta sv, Finska folkdelegationen) was a governmental body, created by a group of members in the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP), to serve as the government of the Finnish Social ...

, a leftist alternative to the established Finnish government. After the war, he escaped to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, where he co-founded the Finnish Communist Party. It is said if the Red Guards had won the Civil War, Manner might have risen to the position of the "Leader of the

Red Finland The Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (FSWR), more commonly referred to as Red Finland, was a self-proclaimed Finnish socialist state that ruled parts of the country during the Finnish Civil War of 1918. It was outlined on 29 January 1918 by t ...

Early life

Manner was born a minister's son in

Kokemäki Kokemäki (; sv, Kumo) is a town and municipality in the Satakunta Region of Finland. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Finland is constitutionally bi-lingual with a Swedis ...

. His father Gustaf Manner worked in various parishes, including those of Lappi and Vampula. Kullervo's mother was Alma Limón, daughter of pastor Johannes Limón. After graduating from high school in 1900, Manner worked as a journalist in

Porvoo Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieva ...

and later in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. In 1906 he founded a newspaper called ''Työläinen'' (meaning "worker") in Porvoo, of which he was the editor-in-chief until 1909; an article published in the newspaper in 1909 brought him the following year, already as a Member of Parliament, a six-month prison sentence for a lèse majesté (a lesser crime similar to treason) against

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pol ...

in 1911. He was elected to the Finnish Parliament as a

Social Democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

from

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, ...

in 1910 and 1917. He was appointed Speaker of the Parliament in 1917. Manner's brother was governor of Viipuri and Kymi provinces from the 1920s to the 1950s. Manner married Olga Arjanne (Seger until 1906) on October 26, 1908, at the local register office of Porvoo. From 1906 they worked at the same time in the ''Työläinens editorial office and lived in the house where the editorial office was located.

Civil War

On 28 January 1918, during the

, Manner was appointed Chairman of the

. On 10 April the same year, Manner was appointed commander-in-chief of the Red Guards as well as head of state of its short-lived government, The People's Deputation. He was given dictatorial powers. At the time, the Red Guards led by Manner ruled for several months in

and other southern cities, while the White Guards led by General Mannerheim and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

had control of northern Finland.

In the USSR

After the Civil War, Manner fled to

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

where he became the second chairman of the Finnish Communist Party after

Yrjö Sirola Yrjö Elias Sirola (born Yrjö Elias Sirén; 8 November 1876 – 18 March 1936) was a Finnish socialist politician, writer, teacher, and newspaper editor. He was prominent as an elected official in Finland, as minister of foreign affairs in the ...

. He also became an official of the

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...

. In the 1930s, Manner and his wife Hanna Malm fell out of favor with Otto Wille Kuusinen. Manner was dismissed from most of his duties in May 1934. He continued to work as a Comintern rapporteur on Latin American affairs until July 1935.

Imprisonment and death

In 1935, Manner was arrested and sentenced to ten years hard labor. Manner was taken to a

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the State Political Directorate, GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= ...

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (espec ...

Ukhta Ukhta (russian: Ухта́; kv, Уква, ''Ukva'') is an important industrial town in the Komi Republic of Russia. Population: It was previously known as ''Chibyu'' (until 1939). History Oil springs along the Ukhta River were already known in ...

- Pechora in

Komi Republic The Komi Republic (russian: Республика Коми; kv, Коми Республика), sometimes simply referred to as Komi, is a republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. Its capital is the city of Syktyvkar. The population of th ...

, where he died on 15 January 1939. The official cause of death was

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

. According to professor of history Alexander Popov, the real cause of death could be attributed to radiation sickness, which Manner could have received, since he worked with water containing

radium Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rat ...

Rehabilitation

Manner was rehabilitated in 1962.

Political and military offices

, - , -

Sources

* Veli-Pekka Leppänen:
Herraspojan harharetki päättyi joukkohautaan Uralilla
' (in Finnish) – ''

Helsingin Sanomat ''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that o ...

'', July 18, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manner, Kullervo 1880 births 1939 deaths People from Kokemäki People from Turku and Pori Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Leaders of the Social Democratic Party of Finland Communist Party of Finland politicians Leaders of political parties Speakers of the Parliament of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (1910–11) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1911–13) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1913–16) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1916–17) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1917–19) Finnish People's Delegation members Finnish emigrants to the Soviet Union Finnish journalists Comintern people Executive Committee of the Communist International Great Purge victims from Finland Finnish people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Soviet detention 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Soviet rehabilitations Tuberculosis deaths in the Soviet Union Tuberculosis deaths in Russia