What if Finland won the Winter War? — according to me, some bozo who hardly knows anything about the Winter War or Finnish politics in the 20th century
As the Winter War raged on into its eighth year, the Finnish proletariat had only grown stronger from increased wartime industrial production. Finland had not had an election since the outbreak of the war, and what was initially favor towards the nation’s strong leader “bravely resisting the spread of Bolshevism”, had by this point grown into disdain for an undemocratic, pathetic, incompetent leader, seemingly more concerned with the perverse irredentism of conquering Karelia, than with feeding the Finnish people. Innumerable Finns had died in cold and misery just so that the nation may annex a territory that it didn’t even control at the outbreak of the war, for apparently no reason other than simply boosting the president’s approval ratings. Every Finn had a story of losing someone to the war, and no Finn could now see the war as any sort of valiant defense of national sovereignty — only pure and simple cruelty.
Finland’s allies in Nazi Germany had long since abandoned support to focus on their own wartime needs, and by this point the Nazis had capitulated in righteous humiliation already several years ago; the Soviet Navy now dominated the Baltic Sea, blockading not only key Finnish ports, but strictly monitoring all marine traffic through the straights of the Danish People’s Republic. Few Finns now, seeing the fall in just twelve years of the “Thousand Year Reich”, could see any sort of annexation of “ancestral territory” as honorable or sustainable.
News quickly spread across the country of the peace treaty: “FINNISH VICTORY! SOVIETS CEDE KARELIA, KOLA”. The nation breathed a sigh of relief; the Hell of war was finally over. But the rights of Finnish citizens stripped away as “national security measures” or “wartime logistical concerns” during the protracted and pyrrhic Winter War — the elections, the opposition newspapers, the (legal) labor unions — did not return. Many Finns were willing to accept “reconstruction measures” at first, but discontent towards the Finnish government only grew stronger and stronger, as Soviet-aided radical, revolutionary fervor continued to sweep the nation. Opposition newspapers continued to be printed in secret; labor unions continued to be organized illegally. And buildings abandoned in wartime were now occupied by revolutionaries, becoming kitchens for the needy, daycare centers for war orphans, beds for the internally displaced, and so forth.
Revolutionary sentiment was centered in Karelia, and quickly spread to Sámi people in the far north. The Finnish government sponsored settlement programs into Karelia and Kola in order to solidify the nation’s control of these new territories. Clashes between sponsored settlers and the original inhabitants were frequent and bloody; settlers isolated from the horrors of the Winter War quickly learned about them, and saw their impacts more directly than ever before in Bleeding Karelia. Settlers’ ideas of a “Greater Finland” with their “Karelian brethren” were shattered upon learning that the Karelians preferred Soviet rule and saw Finnish rule as illegitimate and systemically dispossessive.
October 13th, 1952. Women, who in the Winter War had become widely employed in industrial manufacturing, were being increasingly laid off in the postbellum economy. On top of this, Finland’s women had been complaining about wage discrimination, sexual harassment, and other sexism in the workplace for years. Following a series of scandals in the past year involving women being fired from workplaces on unfair grounds, the Finnish Women’s Association had decided to sponsor a “women’s day off” — circumventing anti-strike laws. An estimated four-fifths of Finnish women participated in this women’s strike, and the largest crowd in Finnish history assembled in Senate Square to hold speeches and sing protest songs. This event became known as “the day Finland stood still”.
Despite the effectiveness of the one-day women’s strike at temporarily shutting down the Finnish economy, the government did not meet the Women’s Association’s demands on constitutional and legal protections for women workers. Therefore, one week after the first women’s strike, the Women’s Association declared a “women’s month off”, whereby women would continue to refuse to participate in any and all economic activity or housework for 30 days straight or until the Finnish government met the Association’s demands. This long-term women’s strike ended up being great news for the revolutionary squats, as war orphans’ daycare centers were filled with children from families with striking mothers; and kitchens for the needy were filled with husbands who never learned to cook for themselves. In this way, even more Finns were exposed to revolutionary sentiment. Many of the fathers and husbands ended up volunteering for these programs, learning vital skills in the process and completely reevaluating their feelings towards women.
After the second day of the Women’s Month Off, the Finnish government began cracking down on protesters in a desparate attempt to stop the strike. In the wake of this crackdown, a Men’s Solidarity Movement quickly spread through the male-dominated labor unions, who called on a general strike of all Finnish workers, until repression of the women’s movement ended, and pardons and compensation was issued to the women affected by the crackdown. The Men’s Solidarity Movement was promptly repressed as well, and together with the Women’s Month Off was referred to as the Twin Movements.
As repression increased, more and more Finnish soldiers were beginning to break ranks, and the air of Finland began to feel different, as the pressure of the Twin Movements only increased.
On October 24th, the Regional Assembly of the Åland Islands issued a statement condemning the Finnish government’s repression of the Twin Movements of Men and Women Workers. On October 31st, Åland explicitly threatened secession if repression of the Twin Movements did not stop within the coming day. On November 1st, the Åland People’s Republic was declared with full Soviet backing. Finland, fearing another protracted conflict with the USSR, did not attempt to reconquer the Åland Islands. Åland officially became an ASSR of the Estonian SSR on New Year’s Day, 1953. Mariehamn quickly became a major naval port for the USSR, and much aid for the Finnish revolutionary movement passed through it.
By this point, what was initially supposed to be a month-long display of women’s power had lasted for over two months, and the men’s movement likewise. Armed worker’s councils were now widespread across Finland. Bombing campaigns and assassinations against bosses and government institutions were increasingly common, and sabotage of infrastructure likewise. Rioters won several battles against humiliated and demoralized police and even military, often using crude and improvised weaponry like rocks, logs, and fireworks.
Over the course of 1953, several free territories and soviet republics were declared in areas dominated by indigenous minorities hoping to replicate what had happened with Åland, and hoping to get away from the tyranny of the Finnish government. These territories and republics would often cut down trees, in order to block roads using logs as a makeshift border wall. Over the course of 1953, even as the President of Finland resigned, even as the government agreed to hold elections, even as strikers’ demands were met one by one, revolutionary sentiment in Finland could no longer be contained. Revolutionary organizations were increasingly cooperative and intertwined. On January 29th, 1954, a Congress on the Future of the Socialist Movement in the Territory of the Republic of Finland convened, calling together representatives from all the major organizations and movements. The Congress declared a Second Finnish Socialist Workers’ Republic, thus officially beginning the Second Finnish Civil War.
The Red Army launched a full-scale multi-front invasion of Finland in order to aid the Second Republic. Helsinki capitulated on February 3rd, and Finland was shortly thereafter incorporated into the USSR as the Finnish SSR, including within its territory the Karelian ASSR and Lapland ASSR.
Nice alternate history take, I’m now imagining an alternate timeline where the US and rest of rhe West’s “news outlets” are probably demonizing the Finnish Socialist Workers’ Republic/Finnish SSR as some hotbed full of hypocritical traitors or something like that.
What if Finland won the Winter War? — according to me, some bozo who hardly knows anything about the Winter War or Finnish politics in the 20th century
As the Winter War raged on into its eighth year, the Finnish proletariat had only grown stronger from increased wartime industrial production. Finland had not had an election since the outbreak of the war, and what was initially favor towards the nation’s strong leader “bravely resisting the spread of Bolshevism”, had by this point grown into disdain for an undemocratic, pathetic, incompetent leader, seemingly more concerned with the perverse irredentism of conquering Karelia, than with feeding the Finnish people. Innumerable Finns had died in cold and misery just so that the nation may annex a territory that it didn’t even control at the outbreak of the war, for apparently no reason other than simply boosting the president’s approval ratings. Every Finn had a story of losing someone to the war, and no Finn could now see the war as any sort of valiant defense of national sovereignty — only pure and simple cruelty.
Finland’s allies in Nazi Germany had long since abandoned support to focus on their own wartime needs, and by this point the Nazis had capitulated in righteous humiliation already several years ago; the Soviet Navy now dominated the Baltic Sea, blockading not only key Finnish ports, but strictly monitoring all marine traffic through the straights of the Danish People’s Republic. Few Finns now, seeing the fall in just twelve years of the “Thousand Year Reich”, could see any sort of annexation of “ancestral territory” as honorable or sustainable.
News quickly spread across the country of the peace treaty: “FINNISH VICTORY! SOVIETS CEDE KARELIA, KOLA”. The nation breathed a sigh of relief; the Hell of war was finally over. But the rights of Finnish citizens stripped away as “national security measures” or “wartime logistical concerns” during the protracted and pyrrhic Winter War — the elections, the opposition newspapers, the (legal) labor unions — did not return. Many Finns were willing to accept “reconstruction measures” at first, but discontent towards the Finnish government only grew stronger and stronger, as Soviet-aided radical, revolutionary fervor continued to sweep the nation. Opposition newspapers continued to be printed in secret; labor unions continued to be organized illegally. And buildings abandoned in wartime were now occupied by revolutionaries, becoming kitchens for the needy, daycare centers for war orphans, beds for the internally displaced, and so forth.
Revolutionary sentiment was centered in Karelia, and quickly spread to Sámi people in the far north. The Finnish government sponsored settlement programs into Karelia and Kola in order to solidify the nation’s control of these new territories. Clashes between sponsored settlers and the original inhabitants were frequent and bloody; settlers isolated from the horrors of the Winter War quickly learned about them, and saw their impacts more directly than ever before in Bleeding Karelia. Settlers’ ideas of a “Greater Finland” with their “Karelian brethren” were shattered upon learning that the Karelians preferred Soviet rule and saw Finnish rule as illegitimate and systemically dispossessive.
October 13th, 1952. Women, who in the Winter War had become widely employed in industrial manufacturing, were being increasingly laid off in the postbellum economy. On top of this, Finland’s women had been complaining about wage discrimination, sexual harassment, and other sexism in the workplace for years. Following a series of scandals in the past year involving women being fired from workplaces on unfair grounds, the Finnish Women’s Association had decided to sponsor a “women’s day off” — circumventing anti-strike laws. An estimated four-fifths of Finnish women participated in this women’s strike, and the largest crowd in Finnish history assembled in Senate Square to hold speeches and sing protest songs. This event became known as “the day Finland stood still”.
Despite the effectiveness of the one-day women’s strike at temporarily shutting down the Finnish economy, the government did not meet the Women’s Association’s demands on constitutional and legal protections for women workers. Therefore, one week after the first women’s strike, the Women’s Association declared a “women’s month off”, whereby women would continue to refuse to participate in any and all economic activity or housework for 30 days straight or until the Finnish government met the Association’s demands. This long-term women’s strike ended up being great news for the revolutionary squats, as war orphans’ daycare centers were filled with children from families with striking mothers; and kitchens for the needy were filled with husbands who never learned to cook for themselves. In this way, even more Finns were exposed to revolutionary sentiment. Many of the fathers and husbands ended up volunteering for these programs, learning vital skills in the process and completely reevaluating their feelings towards women.
After the second day of the Women’s Month Off, the Finnish government began cracking down on protesters in a desparate attempt to stop the strike. In the wake of this crackdown, a Men’s Solidarity Movement quickly spread through the male-dominated labor unions, who called on a general strike of all Finnish workers, until repression of the women’s movement ended, and pardons and compensation was issued to the women affected by the crackdown. The Men’s Solidarity Movement was promptly repressed as well, and together with the Women’s Month Off was referred to as the Twin Movements.
As repression increased, more and more Finnish soldiers were beginning to break ranks, and the air of Finland began to feel different, as the pressure of the Twin Movements only increased.
On October 24th, the Regional Assembly of the Åland Islands issued a statement condemning the Finnish government’s repression of the Twin Movements of Men and Women Workers. On October 31st, Åland explicitly threatened secession if repression of the Twin Movements did not stop within the coming day. On November 1st, the Åland People’s Republic was declared with full Soviet backing. Finland, fearing another protracted conflict with the USSR, did not attempt to reconquer the Åland Islands. Åland officially became an ASSR of the Estonian SSR on New Year’s Day, 1953. Mariehamn quickly became a major naval port for the USSR, and much aid for the Finnish revolutionary movement passed through it.
By this point, what was initially supposed to be a month-long display of women’s power had lasted for over two months, and the men’s movement likewise. Armed worker’s councils were now widespread across Finland. Bombing campaigns and assassinations against bosses and government institutions were increasingly common, and sabotage of infrastructure likewise. Rioters won several battles against humiliated and demoralized police and even military, often using crude and improvised weaponry like rocks, logs, and fireworks.
Over the course of 1953, several free territories and soviet republics were declared in areas dominated by indigenous minorities hoping to replicate what had happened with Åland, and hoping to get away from the tyranny of the Finnish government. These territories and republics would often cut down trees, in order to block roads using logs as a makeshift border wall. Over the course of 1953, even as the President of Finland resigned, even as the government agreed to hold elections, even as strikers’ demands were met one by one, revolutionary sentiment in Finland could no longer be contained. Revolutionary organizations were increasingly cooperative and intertwined. On January 29th, 1954, a Congress on the Future of the Socialist Movement in the Territory of the Republic of Finland convened, calling together representatives from all the major organizations and movements. The Congress declared a Second Finnish Socialist Workers’ Republic, thus officially beginning the Second Finnish Civil War.
The Red Army launched a full-scale multi-front invasion of Finland in order to aid the Second Republic. Helsinki capitulated on February 3rd, and Finland was shortly thereafter incorporated into the USSR as the Finnish SSR, including within its territory the Karelian ASSR and Lapland ASSR.
Excellent 10/10
Also I would love to hear more about the Danish People’s Republic
Not much to say: Soviets got to Berlin quicker than expected and took a quick swing north.
Nice alternate history take, I’m now imagining an alternate timeline where the US and rest of rhe West’s “news outlets” are probably demonizing the Finnish Socialist Workers’ Republic/Finnish SSR as some hotbed full of hypocritical traitors or something like that.