The Red Insurrection in Finland in 1918/Part 1/Chapter 2
2. FROM THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR TO
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.
The world-war brought Finland into a peculiar position. Without an army, with conscription not legally done away with but put out of practice by the Russians themselves, she stood as a portion of the Russian Empire which did not take part in the war. So severe was the discontent which the Russian policy of repression had aroused in Finland that Russia did not even deem it advisable to attempt to enlist military here. On the other hand, only one wish was prevalent in all classes and factions: the defeat of Russia. For the experience of the Russo-Japanese war, as well as ordinary common-sense, told them that the present regime must come to an end with a defeat, and the way thus be opened to liberty for Finland, whereas a victory would get fresh wind into the sails of the reaction and destroy all our hopes. Even the leaders of the Labour Party were of this opinion, all the more so as it was held by the Russian revolutionary extremists.
Already at the beginning of the war an imperial manifesto had, however, been issued which boded a complete assimilation of Finland. And the further the war proceeded the more severely the Russian pressure was felt. Huge masses of Russian troops were garrisoned here, the Russian Baltic fleet filled the ports, the country was declared to be in a state of war. Through this a practical Russification of the country was begun Street life took on a Russian aspect, the best customers in the shops were Russians, the erotic successes of the Russian uniform exposed the community to dangers of a particular kind. The Russian gendarmery—the political police showed energetic activity, arrests and the searching of houses was the order of the day, nay, Russian soldiers even executed Finnish citizens without as much as asking the permission of the Finnish authorities. The pressure was insufferable, and the yearning for deliverance from the yoke of Russia became stronger and stronger. It was obvious enough that the passive method would not in these circumstances lead to the goal. Once—in 1905—it had brought victory to us, now another vista was before us, and the time for action seemed to have come. Now at least a more or less complete liberation from Russian suzerainty might be thought of and dreamt of. Endeavours of such a kind could not be called treasonable, for, on the one hand, Russia had time after time broken her pledges to Finland, and, on the other hand, it was quite clear of what military importance Finland was as the sole bridge to Western Europe, as a port to the fleet, and as the owner of Åland, and this was tantamount to the future exposure of Finland to a policy of Russification still more intense, if possible, than hitherto. Ways and means of interfering were considered, and several proposals cropped up. The plainest illustration of this natural effort of Finland to get out of the connection with Russia which was so destructive to her nationality and culture, was given already in the first year of the war by a number of volunteers joining the German army, where they formed a special battalion of chasseurs which, after having been drilled, was placed on the Eastern front.
For the rest, the war carried with it in Finland the same difficulties, the same shortage of food and abundance of money, the same change of values and fortunes as in the rest of the world. But one more phenomenon must be pointed out: the Russian fortification work in the country. This stupendous enterprise, directed against an eventual Swedish invasion or a German landing, consisted both in the surrounding of the most important cities by belts of forts, blasted into the mountains, by lines of trenches and barbed wire defences, as well as in the building of lines of defence virtually throughout the whole of the country. How much work these fortifications have cost is best seen from the observations of an officer of the German general staff on the defences round Helsingfors. He says that these fortifications surpassed everything German soldiers had seen during the world-war, as well Liège as Verdun, as well Kovno as Warsaw, nay, even the mountain fortresses in the Italian Alps. These huge positions were built by Finnish labourers under Russian command. Enormous crowds of working-men overran the parts where the work was carried on, the pay was good, discipline there was none, the claims made on individual effort were the least possible. Innumerable were the anecdotes related about bribes, cheating, faked pay-bills, etc., in connection with this work. But one melancholy result they had. The labourers became corrupted, and were thought to fraternise with the Russian soldiers. A friendship was struck up between the worst elements within each group, and the compact was soon sealed by pillage, theft, robbery and murder, all in concert. The tracts where the fortification-work had been carried on became the worst haunts of Finno-Russian bands of ruffians in the winter of 1917–1918, and, from the ranks of those fortification workers who had been led astray, the most licentious bands of the reviving Red Guard were recruited.
During the war Finland's Lantdag had not been permitted to assemble. But in the summer of 1916 the new general elections took place. These were not able to create any very great interest, as it was impossible to foresee under what conditions the assembly would meet, and what problems would then be set before it. Only the Labour Party succeeded as before in rallying its constituents round the old familiar catchwords, and thus it obtained the power in parliament it had so eagerly coveted. The results of the election were 103 Labour representatives and 97 Bourgeois. The Labour Party was now in absolute majority.