AKS poster

The Academic Karelia Society (AKS) (Akateeminen Karjala-Seura) was a Finnish elitist nationalist organization aiming at the growth and improvement of newly independent Finland, founded by academics and students of the University of Finland in 1922. Its members retained influential positions in the academic life of the era. The Karelia Society was suppressed in 1944, in the aftermath of the Continuation War, that to a great extent had been planned and fought in accordance with AKS' agenda. Image File history File links AKS1. ... Image File history File links AKS1. ... Elitism is a belief or attitude that an elite — a selected group of persons whose personal abilities, specialized training or other attributes place them at the top of any field (see below) — are the people whose views on a matter are to be taken most seriously, or who are alone... Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix Nationalism is an ideology that holds that (ethnically or culturally defined) nations are the fundamental units for human social life, and makes certain cultural and political claims based upon that belief; in particular, the claim that the nation is the only legitimate... University of Helsinki is not to be confused with Helsinki University of Technology. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The Karelia Society's program was centered around their main demand: the acquisition of East Karelia from Soviet Russia. East Karelia and West Karelia with borders of 1939 and 1940/1947. ...

AKS also organized aid to Finnic minorities in Soviet Russia and refugees from there. Domestically it was an emphatic proponent for a strengthened army and for strict restrictions against Socialists. Finnic peoples (Fennic, sometimes Baltic-Finnic) refers to a group of related ethnic groups and nations speaking Finnic languages (also known as Balto-Finnic languages). ... The neutrality of this introduction is disputed. ...

In the 1930s, the AKS was an ally of the ultra-right Patriotic People's Movement party. AKS also maintained close ties with a militant secret society called Vihan Veljet. Some authors claim that Vihan Veljet was actually a group inside the AKS, not a separate organization, but there is not much evidence in either way. The archives of AKS were hidden or destroyed in 1944. This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ... In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... The Finnish Patriotic Peoples Movement, Isänmaallinen kansanliike (usually abbreviated to IKL), was the successor to the semi-fascist Lapua Movement. ... A secret society is an organization that requires its members to conceal certain activities—such as rites of initiation—from outsiders. ... Vihan Veljet (literal translation from Finnish: Brothers of Hatred) was a militant clandestine group within the Akateeminen Karjala-Seura (AKS). ...

Prominent former members include several academics, bishops, business leaders and politicians ( e.g. president Urho Kekkonen ). Urho Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (September 3, 1900–August 31, 1986) was a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland (1950-1953, 1954-1956) and later as President of Finland (1956–1981) and is many times referred as first dictator of Finland. ...