Väinö Kallio (17 April 1897, Pihlajavesi – 9 February 1938) was a

Socialist Workers' Party of Finland Socialist Workers' Party of Finland () was a Finnish political party in the early 1920s. The SSTP consisted of radical leftists who split from the Social Democratic Party of Finland after the Finnish Civil War of 1918. The banned Communist Party ...

politician. He supported the Reds in 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 ...

of 1918. He served in 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 ...

from 1929 to 1930. In 1933, he was exiled by the

Government of Finland The Finnish Government (; ; ) is the executive branch and cabinet of Finland, which directs the politics of Finland and is the main source of legislation proposed to the Parliament. The Government has collective ministerial responsibility an ...

to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. During the

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 ...

, he was arrested and imprisoned on January 1, 1938 and later executed. After the death of

Joseph 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 ...

, he was rehabilitated in 1958.

Early years

Väinö Johannes Kallio was born with the surname Suni on April 17, 1897 in Pihlajavesi to Aapo Eemil Vilhelminanpoika and Hilda Maria Miinantytär. He attended public school for three grades and then worked as a carpenter in Kaskis. In 1917, Kallio was a carpenter in

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Central Finland. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Jyväskylä is approximately , while the Jyväskylä sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately ...

and joined the

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 ...

at the start of the

Political career

After the war, Kallio was imprisoned for political reasons, but escaped from prison to Sweden. From 1920, Kallio was a member 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 ...

(SKP) and in 1921 he studied illegally at SKP propagandists' courses in St. Petersburg. Kallio returned to Finland in 1921, completed his military service in Vaasa in 1922–1923, and then worked as a carpenter in Pietarsaari. Kallio was a Socialist Workers' Party of Finland member of parliament in 1929–1930, representing the northern electoral district of

Vaasa Province The Province of Vaasa ( ; , , Sweden ; ) was a province of Finland, established in 1775 when Finland was an integrated part of Sweden from the southern part of Ostrobothnia County and disbanded in 1996. The province was named after the city of V ...

. Kallio was arrested for distributing communist literature and was imprisoned again in 1930, when his term as a member of parliament ended. Kallio was also a

Pietarsaari Jakobstad (; , ) is a town in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Jakobstad is situated in Ostrobothnia (administrative region), Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Jakobstad is approximately , while the Jako ...

city councilor and a member of SKP's Pietarsaari district committee and the representative board of Osuusliike Varma.

Exile, purge and rehabilitation

After being released from prison in November 1932, Kallio moved to the Soviet Union in December, where he worked as a foreman in Petrovskoye. He became a Soviet citizen in 1934 and was then a party worker at Sunu state farms in 1934 and as a carpenter in 1936. In the years 1935–1938 he worked at the Kontupohja paper mill at the Kulmuksa forestry site. Kallio was imprisoned on January 1, 1938, accused of counter-revolutionary nationalist activity. Kallio was sentenced to be shot and executed near Petroskoi on February 9, 1938. He was rehabilitated in 1958.

Family

Kallio was married from 1923 to Anna Taipalee. They had one son.

Sources

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KASNTn NKVDn vuosina 1937–1938 rankaisemien Suomen Eduskunnan entisten jäsenten luettelo
() {{DEFAULTSORT:Kallio, Vaino 1897 births 1938 deaths People from Keuruu Politicians from Vaasa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Socialist Electoral Organisation of Workers and Smallholders politicians Political prisoners in Finland Communist Party of Finland politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (1929–1930) People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side) Great Purge victims from Finland Soviet rehabilitations Executed communists Naturalized citizens of the Soviet Union