Finnish Project: Karelian Workers’ Commune

• Published in: Journal of Finnish Studies
• Main Author: Kangaspuro, Markku
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Illinois Press 2011
• Subjects: karelia*; karelian
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5406/28315081.15.1.2.05; https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jfs/article-pdf/15/1-2/40/1609038/40kangaspuro.pdf

Abstract The establishment of Soviet Karelia in 1920 resulted from a captivating mix of factors: the Russian Civil War, the normalization of Finnish-Russian state relations, the institutionalization of the Soviet Union's state structure, and the emancipation of the minority nations of the former Russian empire. After the independence of Finland, Soviet Russia met Finnish demands to expand its borders to eastern Karelia. The establishment of Karelian national autonomy was a compromise that both parties could accept in order to clear a path to the Tartu peace negotiations of 1920. Karelia's Finnish leadership needed American Finns to meet the demand for a qualified workforce in its timber industry and to ensure that the Finnish-Karelian proportion of the republic's population would not drop below 40 to 50 percent. It was the misfortune of American Finns that they arrived in Karelia at a moment when the Soviet Union turned toward Stalinism, resulting in purges and the removal of Finns from the leadership of Karelia.