Communist Party of Finland
Name in Finnish	Suomen kommunistinen puolue (yhtenäisyys)
Name in Swedish	Finlands kommunistiska parti
Leader	Yrjö Hakanen
Founded	1918, 1997
Headquarters	Haapaniemenkatu 7 - 9 B FIN-00530 HELSINKI
Political Ideology	Communist
European Affiliation	European Left (observer)
International Affiliation	World Communist Movement
Colours	Red
Website	www.skp.fi
See also	Finnish Politics Finnish Parliament Finnish Government Finnish President Political parties Elections Image File history File links Skplogo. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII in Roman) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... The European Left party is a political party at European level and an association of socialist and communist political parties in the European Union. ... The World Communist Movement is an informal community of certain Communist parties around the world. ... Red is a color at the lowest frequencies of light discernible by the human eye. ... Finland has a primarily parliamentary system, although the president also has some notable powers. ... The Eduskunta in Finnish, or the Riksdag in Swedish, is the Parliament of Finland. ... Finland is a republic with a representative democracy governed according to the principles of Parliamentarism. ... The President of Finland (Suomen Tasavallan Presidentti; Republiken Finlands President) is the Head of State of Finland. ... Political parties in Finland lists political parties in Finland. ... Politics of Finland See also [[List of political parties in Åland|political parties in Åland]]. Categories: Election related stubs | Elections in Finland | Finnish politics ...

Suomen kommunistinen puolue (yhtenäisyys) (SKPy) [Communist Party of Finland (Unity)] was a Finnish political party. It was founded in August 1986 by former opposition of Suomen kommunistinen puolue (SKP). The opposition and the organizations it had under its control were expelled from SKP led by Arvo Aalto in 1985-1986. The opposition, however, didn't accept those expulsions and it continued to function and consider itself as the real SKP. Before SKPy was formed they were known as Central Committee of SKP Organizations. Communist Party of Finland (Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, abbreviated SKP) is a political party endorsing communism in Finland. ...

History

The opposition of SKP

The internal conflict of SKP began in mid-1960's, when the party, with its new chairman Aarne Saarinen began to modernize the party line. One part of party supporters didn't accept this and accused SKP leadership of being revisionist. SKP didn't break up in the 1960's and it was formally united until mid-1980's. After SKP's 20th party congress in 1984 things changed as Arvo Aalto was elected chairman, after which the opposition didn't participate in (or was left out of) the central committee. The opposition, which was also known as “taistoists”, had already called supporters of Aalto “axe liners” for years. Revisionism is a word which has several meanings. ...

The founding of SKPy

The central committee of SKP expelled eight opposition district organizations from the party 13th of October 1985. 494 other party departments and 17 city or regional organizations were expelled 13th of June 1986, which the expelled then dubbed “black Friday”. The opposition didn't accept these moves and considered them against the law. They took the conflict to courts and because of minor technicalities Helsingin Hovioikeus court overruled SKP's decision 11th of June 1987. SKP then re-expelled these same organizations in its 21st party congress (12th-14th of June 1987). However, a week before this happened, the newly founded SKPy held its own “21th” party congress. The ambiguities of expelling process and opposition's firm belief in its own cause gave it the justification it needed and they considered SKPy to be the real SKP. They claimed Aalto had illegally seized the party with “paper members”. SKPy was never taken to the official party register of Finland as the party considered that to have been voluntary resignation and admission of SKPy not being the real SKP.

26th of April 1986 meeting of representatives of SKP organizations was held in Tampere and those present chose a central committee. Leader of the new central committee was Taisto Sinisalo, former vice chairman of SKP and the most well known figure of the opposition, who already had lead Committee of SKP Organizations found in November 1985. In SKPy's 21th party congress Sinisalo was re-elected. Yrjö Hakanen and Marja-Liisa Löyttyjärvi became vice chairmen while former SKP chairman Jouko Kajanoja was elected party secretary. In his congress speech, Sinisalo told the suffix “unity” meant “strong intention to gather all forces of SKP". The congress, however, also was heading to future and building of a new party, or “rebuilding” as they thought it. Before the name SKPy was adopted the party was known in media as the unity or Tiedonantaja group. Location within Finland Tampere (Swedish name Tammerfors) is a city in southern Finland located between two lakes: Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. ...

KTP withdraws from SKPy

In the late 1970's the opposition of SKP began to split as those supporting more traditional version of Marxism-Leninism began to criticize opposition leaders. When it was decided that SKPy would not be registered as an official party, some communists protested and demanded a new registered communist party. They thought SKPy was clinging to unity slogan in a situation where it no longer seemed realistic. In the 1987 party congress, these people were warned by the SKPy leadership but they chose to ignore those warnings and oriented themselves toward founding a new party. Rauhan ja sosialismin puolesta – Kommunistinen työväenpuolue (KTP) [For Peace and Socialism – Communist Workers Party] was founded early in the year 1988. Founders of KTP felt to be securing the existence of a Marxist-Leninist party in Finland while criticizing SKPy for being revisionist and supporting Mikhail Gorbachev. The most famous figure in the new party was probably Markus Kainulainen, a longtime SKP district secretary of Uusimaa. Vladimir Lenin in 1920 Leninism is a political and economic theory which builds upon Marxism; it is a branch of Marxism (and it has been the dominant branch of Marxism in the world since the 1920s). ... For Peace and Socialism - Communist Workers Party (in Finnish: Rauhan ja Sosialismin Puolesta - Kommunistinen Työväenpuolue, in Swedish: För Fred och Socialism - Kommunistiska Arbetarpartiet), a political party in Finland. ... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov (Gorbachev) (help· info) (Russian: ; pronunciation: ) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ...

The founding of Left Alliance

Esko-Juhani Tennilä, a member of Finnish parliament (Eduskunta), was elected new chairman of SKPy 22nd of October 1989 when Kajanoja decided to resign while strongly criticizing his comrades. Tennilä has later told he took the job to secure that the founding of a new united left party would not be sabotaged by his own party comrades many of which were quite critical of it. Vasemmistoliitto [Left Alliance] was founded in spring 1990 and members of SKPy and its electoral front Deva also joined even though prejudices were very high on both sides at this point. The Eduskunta in Finnish, or the Riksdag in Swedish, is the parliament of Finland. ... The Left Alliance or Vasemmistoliitto is a political party in Finland. ...

Dispute over double membership

Many people in Left alliance didn't like SKPy members coming to the party. It was thus decided that SKPy members couldn't participate in the LA's electoral lists, even though they could be members. Because of this, Tennilä also had to quit his job as party chairman when joining LA group in parliament. Yrjö Hakanen was chosen Tennilä's successor. The dispute over double membership, as it was called, led to many SKPy members leaving LA and relations between the two parties got even colder. On the other hand, many (if not most?) former SKPy members were actively participating in LA.

The “new” SKP

In its 1993 party congress (28th-29th of August) SKPy clearly oriented towards founding a new officially registered communist party and drafting of a new party program. New party logo was also introduced to mark renewal. It was suggested that a congress to continue SKP's work should be held and that happened next year (26th-27th of November). In that congress the suffix “unity” was dropped from the name as SKPy now considered to consist of all those comrades who wanted to have an independent communist party. An athletic club was made the basis of new organization and renamed SKP. The decision split the party as some supporters would have preferred SKP to have a lesser role as “Marxist forum” of some kind. Leadership of Left Alliance was also not pleased with those plans. SKP would have wanted to stay inside LA but that wasn't possible and the parties split already in spring 1994. SKP wasn't however “re-registered” until 1997. There was some confusion, as the new SKP didn't accept responsibility for debts of the old one, which had went bankrupt in the late 1980's.

SKPy and Soviet Union

SKPy was very committed to Soviet Union and the political line of its communist party (CPSU), which was going through great changes during Gorbachev's time. SKPy supported perestroika but criticized those who claimed to have been gorbachevist even before Gorbachev's time. SKPy claimed SKP to be anti-SU and tried to give Finnish people as positive a picture as possible of that country. When SKP split the monetary support from Soviet Union was halted and, for example, the very profitable publishing deals SKP had went to SKPy. Gorbachev's CPSU however had relations with both parties. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the All... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov (Gorbachev) (help· info) (Russian: ; pronunciation: ) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ... Poster showing Mikhail Gorbachev Perestroika ▶ (help· info) (Перестро́йка) is the Russian word (which passed into English) for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. ...

Publicity

The main organ of SKPy was Tiedonantaja, which had already served as opposition's main paper from the 1960's. Tiedonantaja was also an organ of Deva when it existed (1986-1990). The editor-in-chief was Erkki Susi, who still runs the paper. SKPy and Deva also had some local papers.

Organization

As SKPy considered itself to be the real SKP it also had the same organizational structure. It was based on Leninist principle of democratic centralism. Vladimir Lenin in 1920 Leninism is a political and economic theory which builds upon Marxism; it is a branch of Marxism (and it has been the dominant branch of Marxism in the world since the 1920s). ... In Liberalism, Democratic centralism is a political philosophy that forms the basis of building a democratic unitary state, as opposed to a democratic federal state. ...

Deva – SKPy's electoral front

While SKPy was never officially registered, its supporters founded Demokraattinen vaihtoehto (Deva) [Democratic Alternative], which participated in elections. Those MP's of Suomen kansan demokraattinen liitto (SKDL, a front organization dominated by SKP) [Finnish People's Democratic League] who were against expulsions were expelled from SKDL and they found parliamentary group of Deva. Deva was SKPy's SKDL and it was supposed to attract some democratic allies. The very small Sosialistinen työväenpuolue (STP) [Socialist Workers Party] did join Deva but it was closed down soon after that. Young supporters of SKPy founded Vallankumouksellinen nuorisoliitto (VKN) [Revolutionary Youth League] which was Deva's youth organization. SKDL's Sosialistinen opiskelijaliitto (SOL) [Socialist Student League] also joined. Deva was led by famous actress Kristiina Halkola. Demokraattinen Vaihtoehto (Democratic Alternative), a political group in Finland formed in 1986 by expelled members of the Suomen kommunistinen puolue (Communist Party of Finland) and its mass front SKDL. DeVa consisted of Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue (yhtenäisyys) (Communist Party of Finland (Unity), Vallankumouksellinen Nuorisoliitto (Revolutionary Youth League), Sosialistinen Työv... Finnish Peoples Democratic League (in Finnish: Suomen kansan demokraattinen liitto, SKDL, in Swedish: Demokratiska Förbundet för Finlands Folk, DFFF) was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic Party. ... Sosialistinen Työväenpuolue (STP) (Socialist Workers Party), a political party in Finland. ... Vallankumouksellinen Nuorisoliitto (Revolutionary Youth League), a political youth organization in Finland during the 1980s. ...

In 1987 parliamentary elections Deva got 4,3% of votes and four MP's. In 1988 presidential elections Deva candidate Jouko Kajanoja got 1,6%. Not even all members of SKPy supported Kajanoja who was the party chairman then. Deva was closed down in 1990 when Left Alliance was founded and its members joined the new party. The Left Alliance is the name of a number of political parties around the world. ...

Chairmen

• Taisto Sinisalo (1986-1988)
• Jouko Kajanoja (1988-1989)
• Esko-Juhani Tennilä (1989-1990)
• Yrjö Hakanen (1990-1994...)

External link

• Suomen kommunistinen puolue - The official site of "new" SKP.
• Tiedonantaja