An Uneliminated Enemy: the Social Democratic Party of Finland from 1944 to 1949

Abstract

The Armistice Agreement signed in September 1944 did not entail any serious changes in the political structure of Finland. However, the access of the banned Communist Party to public life in the country and the liquidation of a number of structures and organizations created the preconditions to develop the internal political situation in the country in a direction favorable to the Soviet Union. This was the reason for the fairly quiet attitude of the Soviet delegation to the Allied Control Commission in 1944—1945 towards the activities of the Social Democratic Party. This attitude was maintained in spite of the fact that this party was seen as the main political enemy, creating a split in the labour movement and preventing the strengthening of the positions of the Communists and the Democratic Union of the People of Finland. The retention of the dominant positions in the SDP leadership by V. Tanner’s supporters and nominees (U. Varjonen, V. Leskinen and others) came as a surprise to the Soviet side. All the more unexpected was the well-organized struggle of the new Party leadership against the Communists. The success accompanying this anti-communist campaign was largely due to the attitude of President J. K. Paasikivi. The formation of a Social-Democratic government, headed by K. -A. Fagerholm, must indirectly have been an indication that the dangerous years had passed, as far as Finland’s political elite was concerned. Paasikivi and the Fagerholm government made it clear that in relations with the Soviet Union the Communists as intermediaries were an unnecessary link. For the Soviets, the Social Democratic Party was a key ideological opponent, and its participation in the Government was to be prevented or at least minimized. This task was not possible.