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Title: Anarchism in Finland Author: Jukka Laitinen Date: 2009 Language: en Topics: Finland, history Source: Laitinen, Jukka. “Anarchism, Finland.” In The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to the Present, edited by Immanuel Ness, 118–119. Vol. 1. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
Anarchist views and practices became popular in Finland in the radical
grassroots activism of the 1990s. This new wave of social protest on
such issues as racism, the power of corporations, or the exploitation of
animals etched the term “activist” indelibly in Finnish public
discourse.
The organizational form of the social movements among the 1990s
activists was usually a small, autonomous and leaderless group, even
when a group was considered as a local section of a wider network, such
as Suomen Anarki-stiliitto (SAL, Finnish Anarchist Federation) or
Oikeutta Eläimille (Justice for Animals). This anarchic organization was
in many ways a direct challenge to the Finnish establishment. Some
Finnish authorities considered these anti-hierarchical organizational
habits and activists’ new methods of direct action as a conspiracy led
by “foreign anarchist leaders.” They demanded more power for police
forces and harsh sentences for those activists who were performing
illegal actions such as animal liberation.
Anarchists launched annual “happenings” and demonstrations, which
received nationwide publicity, often because of wrangles between police
and activists. Kuokkavierasjuhlat (Party of Gatecrashers, 1996–2003) was
first organized by an anarcho-syndicalist federation, Solidaarisuus
(Solidarity). This was a happening against the power elite and for
social justice. Emphasizing the antagonist attitude of its organizers,
it took place next to the Finnish President’s Palace in Helsinki, during
the official ceremonials of independence. Mustavihreät päivät (Black and
Green Days, 1998–2002) in Tampere marked the shift toward more
ecological themes in the Finnish anarchist movement.
In the history of Finland, social and political protests have been
mostly tied to centralist organizations, official statuses, and to the
state. Even rebellious sixties radicals were quickly assimilated into
official institutions and state structures. Against this, most of the
1990s activists and self-styled anarchists were consciously against
party politics and against the idea of working “within the system.” Yet,
anarchist ideas waned and most local anarchist groups dissolved by the
turn of the millennium. Some former anarchists adopted autonomist
Marxist views and some even joined political parties. After the big
international demonstrations against global capitalism, anarchism in
Finland was at its nadir. However, in recent years anarchism in Finland
has been slowly growing among a new generation of activists and
dissidents.
Finnish anarchism did not spring up from nowhere in the 1990s. In the
1960s there were some small anarchist groups and publications, since
when different anarchist views have existed within the larger
alternative scene and counterculture. There have been individual
anarchists among feminists and environmental activists, among
underground artists and labor activists, among lifestyle experimenters,
punks, and conscientious objectors. In the early twentieth century,
Finnish proponents of the work of Tolstoy became a culturally effective
movement. Arvid Järnefelt, who is sometimes called the Tolstoy of
Finland, held strict anarchist positions against state institutions.
Besides Leo Tolstoy, Peter Kropotkin was another Russian anarchist whose
writings had a lasting impact on some Finnish intellectuals and workers.
In the United States, Finnish immigrants joined the syndicalist
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Their daily newspaper, published
in Finnish, had a circulation of 13,500 at its peak. But in Finnish
historiography, particularly in the history of the labor movement,
“anarchist” has usually been a name given for a violent activist,
whatever ideology he or she represents. While 1990s activism received a
lot of academic interest, the history of anarchism in Finland remains
unwritten.
SEE ALSO: Anarchism, Russia ; Anarchosyndicalism ; Eco-anarchism ;
Finland, Civil War and Revolution, 1914–1918 ; Industrial Workers of the
World (IWW) ; Kropotkin, Peter (1842–1921) ; Tolstoy, Leo N. (1828–1910)
Häkli, P. (1955) Arvid Järnefelt ja hänen lähimaailmansa [Arvid
Järnefelt and His Inner Circle]. Porvoo: WSOY.
Juppi, P., Peltokoski, J., & Pyykkönen, M. (Eds.) (2003) Liike-elämää.
Vastakulttuurinen radikalismi vuosituhannen vaihteessa [Movement Life:
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Kopijyvä.
Konttinen, E. & Peltokoski, J. (2004) Ympäristöprotestin neljds aalto.
Eläinoikemliike ja uuden sukupohen ympäristöradikalismi 1990–luvulla
[Fourth Wave of an Environmental Protest: Animal Rights Movement and the
New Generation of Environmental Radicalism in the 1990s]. Jyväskylä:
Minerva.
Lindfors, J. & Salo, M. (1988) Ensimmäinen aalto. Helsingin Underground
1967–1970 [The First Wave: Helsinki Underground 1967–1970]. Helsinki:
Odessa.
Nokkala, A. (1958) Tolstoilaisuus Suomessa. Aatehistoriallinen tutkimus
[Tolstoyism in Finland: A Study in the History of Ideas]. Helsinki:
Tammi.