Jaakko Mäki (; 2 January 187814 January 1938) was a Finnish

coppersmith A coppersmith, also known as a brazier, is a person who makes artifacts from copper and brass. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. The term "redsmith" is used for a tinsmith that uses tinsmithing tools and techniques to make copper items. Hi ...

, politician and member of the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral and Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that ...

, the national

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

of Finland. A member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, he represented Vaasa Province South between August 1908 and September 1918. Mäki went to

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during the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

and was executed there in January 1938 during

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

Early life

Mäki was born on 2 January 1878 in Kokkola in

Ilmajoki Ilmajoki (; ) is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. Ilmajoki is a town and municipality situated in Finland's South Ostrobothnia region, founded in 1865. Ilmajoki has a population of 12,165 (28. February 2017)and covers an are ...

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in western

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed from 1809 to 1917 as an Autonomous region, autonomous state within the Russian Empire. Originating in the 16th century as a titular grand duchy held by the Monarc ...

. He was the son of a farmer and attended public school for a couple of years as well as

vocational A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. Though now often used in non-religious contexts, the meanings of the term originated in Christianity. A calling, in the reli ...

evening class. Mäki moved to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

where he worked as a labourer on

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s and joined the copper-tin-roofing

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. He was later an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

at M. F. Hätinen's

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

in Helsinki and received a

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in the vocation in 1900. He also received a degree from the Central School of the Arts. Mäki worked as a coppersmith in Helsinki and Ilmajoki. He became involved in the protests against the policies of Russian

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Nikolay Bobrikov. In April 1902 he was involved in the street

riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

s in Senate Square, Helsinki in which he threw a stone at a police officer, rendering him unconscious. Mäki fled to the USA where he held various jobs between 1902 and 1905. Returning to Finland on the eve of the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, Mäki acquired a plot of land in Huissinkylä in Ilmajoki and worked as a

farmhand A farmworker, farmhand or agricultural worker is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including har ...

and

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

from 1905 until 1918. He was active in the

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

movement in Huissinkylä and was a founding member of the Huissinkylä labour association.

Politics and civil war

Mäki joined the

(SDP) in 1899. He was considered a good

orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14 ...

and was a regular speaker at party events. He was elected to the

at the 1908 parliamentary election. He was re-elected at the 1909,

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...

1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored ...

and

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

parliamentary elections. His main focus in parliament was

reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

crofting Crofting (Scottish Gaelic: ') is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th-century townships, individual crofts were est ...

law and was willing to work with

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

(

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

) parties to achieve political consensus for change. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Finland became dependent on

import An importer is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. Import is part of the International Trade which involves buying and receivin ...

ed grain from Russia but these imports were interrupted by the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

of 1917. Thus, when agricultural strikes began in Finland in May 1917, parties across the

political spectrum A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different Politics, political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more Geometry, geometric Coordinate axis, axes that represent independent political ...

recognised the importance of resolving them. 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 ...

appointed Mäki to a committee to mediate in labour disputes between agricultural workers and employers. In the summer of 1917, as the grain shortage and inflation worsened, particularly in cities, the relationship between urban workers and rural landowners/farmers became more antagonistic, inside and outside parliament. Workers accused farmers of

hoarding Hoarding is the act of engaging in excessive acquisition of items that are not needed or for which no space is available. Civil unrest or the threat of natural disasters may lead people to hoard foodstuffs, water, gasoline, and other essentials ...

food and landowners of

profiteering Profiteering is a pejorative term for the act of making a profit by methods considered unethical. Overview Business owners may be accused of profiteering when they raise prices during an emergency ( especially a war). The term is also applied to ...

from the war. In a parliamentary speech, Mäki accused Agrarian League leader Santeri Alkio of encouraging farmers to hoard and warned that workers wouldn't be allowed to die of hunger whilst granaries remained full. Mäki was chairman of the SDP

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

from 1917 to 1918. When parliament reconvened in November 1917 following the parliamentary election, the parliamentary leadership, which consisted solely of bourgeoisie parties despite the SDP being the largest party in parliament, suggested that the powers of the Russian Tsar be transferred to a three-member regency council. Mäki strongly objected to this and instead presented the '' Me vaadimme'' (We Demand) programme which, amongst other things, called for the publication of the Valtalaki

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

, eight-hour working laws and the abolition of the

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

guardianship councils (the precursor to the White Guards). Mäki participated in the meetings of the Workers' Revolutionary Central which had been formed in November 1917 by the SDP,

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

and Helsinki Workers Council. He did not however take part in the council vote that called a

general strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...

for 14 November 1917. Just prior to the general strike, Mäki and Aleksanteri Vasten travelled to

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

to procure weapons for the Red Guards but returned to Finland empty handed. Mäki had been highly critical of the

fire brigade A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and ...

s established by right-wing independence activists and had wanted the Red Guards established to protect workers. These fire brigades were the precursors to the paramilitary guardianship councils. Mäki, like many SDP MPs, had opposed armed conflict and in January 1918 gave a speech in Ilmajoki in which he condemned all violence. The White Guard in Ilmajoki tried to arrest him but Mäki hid in

Jurva Jurva is a List of former municipalities of Finland, former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated to Kurikka on 1 January 2009. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia ...

before making it to the

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

side. His son-in-law was amongst the White Guards pursuing him. On 28 January 1918, a number of MPs including Mäki were arrested by the Red Guards as they were on their way to a meeting of parliament at the House of the Estates and taken to Aleksanterinkatu

police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...

for questioning. Following the Finnish Revolution in January 1918, Mäki was appointed commissioner of the Agricultural Affairs Department in the Finnish People's Delegation's (the revolutionary government). He was also appointed to the board of the Bank of Finland. In March 1918, after the delegate ( minister) for agriculture Evert Eloranta was transferred to the Red Guards, Mäki was appointed as Eloranta's deputy to take over his duties. The tide of the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

turned against the Reds in March 1918:

withdrew from Finland in accordance with the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

and the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...

invaded Finland to support the

Whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

. Mäki and Feliks Kellosalmi tried unsuccessfully to start peace negotiations, going against the official policy of the revolutionary government. As the Reds faced defeat, the revolutionary government moved from Helsinki to Viipuri in April 1918. The number of commissioners was reduced and Mäki was reassigned to the maintenance department. He was also appointed deputy head of the department for evacuation.

Exile and death

Mäki arrived in Petrograd in Soviet Russia on 29 April 1918. He was accepted as a member of the

Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

(RKP(b)). He was also a member of the Provisional Central Committee of the

Communist Party of Finland The Communist Party of Finland (, SKP; ) 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 the state from its founding and did not participate in any elec ...

. He was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. Mäki moved to Petroskoi (Petrozavodsk) in 1920 and was head of the Agricultural Affairs Department for the Karelian Labor Commune. He was director of the Finnish-speaking department of the RKP(b)'s regional committee in the Karelian Labor Commune from October 1921. He was director of an agitation school (1921) and an interrogator for the Petroskoi Maintenance Commission (1921). He was on the

editorial board The editorial board is a group of editors, writers, and other people who are charged with implementing a publication's approach to editorials and other opinion pieces. The editorials published normally represent the views or goals of the publicat ...

s of the ''Kommunisti'' (1922) and ''Vapaus'' (1924) magazines. Mäki was secretary of the RKP(b)'s committee in Uhtua District (Kalevalsky District) from 1924 to 1929 and a member of the party's Executive Central Committee in

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

. From 1930 to 1934 he was party leader of the reform administration of the

People's Commissariat A People's Commissariat (; Narkomat) was a structure in the Soviet state (in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in other union and autonomous republics, in the Soviet Union) from 1917–1946 which functioned as the central executive ...

in Petroskoi and a representative of the Urban District Committee of the Central Bureau of the

All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

VKP(b). He was chairman of the VKP(b)'s executive committee in Uhtua District from 1934 to 1935. He was also director of the

state farm State Farm Insurance is a group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois. Founded in 1922, it is the largest property and casualty insurance, property, casualty and auto i ...

in Besovets and a

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...

Olonets Olonets (; , ; ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Olonetsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the Olonka River to the east of Lake Ladoga. Geography Olonets is located ...

. With the onset of

, Mäki was expelled from the communist party and dismissed from all positions in 1935. He was imprisoned on 29 July 1937 for

counter-revolutionary A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution has occurred, in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "c ...

activities and on 4 January 1938 sentenced to death by shooting. He was executed on 14 January 1938 in the outskirts of Petroskoi. He was posthumously rehabilitated in September 1956 and his communist party membership restored in December 1969. Mäki's grandon Pertti Mäki has published two books about his grandfather - ''Jaakko Mäen kova kohtalo Stalinin terrorissa'' (1996) and ''Karjalan tasavalta 100 vuotta'' (2019).

Personal life

Mäki had four children in Finland - Veikko, Toivo, Helmi and Hilda. He was later married to Soviet citizen Eeva.

References

Citations

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mäki, Jaakko 1878 births 1938 deaths Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture alumni Bolsheviks Coppersmiths Emigrants from the Grand Duchy of Finland to the United States Finnish blacksmiths Finnish communists Great Purge victims from Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (1908–1909) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1909–1910) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1910–1911) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1911–1913) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1913–1916) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1916–1917) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1917–1919) People from Vaasa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side) Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians Soviet Army personnel Soviet rehabilitations