Vol. XIII (2007), no 20 - The International Newsletter of Communist ...

The International Newletter of Communist Studies Online XIII (2007), no 20 136
The idea to found a newspaper in Oulu was not new in 1906, for the local labour association
had in many occasions since 1898 made plans of its own paper but they were miscarried
because of lack of money and editors, or by restrictions issued by the Russian authorities.
Thus, the local workers were ready to take quickly advantage of the change of the situation.
They were also very confident in starting a paper which came out six times a week, though it
was usual to start with three times.
Kansan Tahto began its life as an organ of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The abortive
revolution and the Civil War in 1918 and the orientation after them created basis for the
division of the labour movement in Finland. In spring 1920 Kansan Tahto decided to leave the
SDP which was re-founded in spring 1918 by those who had not participated in the revolution,
and to become an organ of the Socialist Workers’ Party of Finland (SSTP). Thus Kansan Tahto
wanted to belong to the left of the Finnish labour movement which, besides the SSTP,
consisted of the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) founded by the Red refugees in Moscow in
August 1918 and forbidden in Finland up to autumn 1944. At that time the left of the Finnish
labour movement was re-organised as the SKP became public and a new organisation,
People’s Democratic League of Finland (SKDL), was founded. Kansan Tahto was an organ of
the latter from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990 and since then an organ of the Left Union. Thus
Kansan Tahto has contributed to the large support of the leftist labour movement in Northern
Finland and its past is an essential part of the history of that movement in the area.
Though Kansan Tahto was born as a result of people’s active movement, it was not in the
habit of the paper to agitate people to direct actions. It has rather believed that the labour
movement can achieve results through representative organs. That road was paved by Yrjö
Mäkelin, the editor-in-chief of Kansan Tahto in 1907-1918 and one of the most famous
newspaper editors in the early Finnish labour movement. Kansan Tahto did, however,
occasionally give people’s direct actions preference. That was most evident in autumn 1917
when Yrjö Mäkelin called for the people to take the power from the degenerated bourgeois
class. That call was not afterwards expressed as clearly on the pages of the paper. After 1945
Kansan Tahto, as an organ of a government party, probably thought for a while that it was in
power, but the illusion was dispelled in 1948, at the latest, as the SKDL was left out of the
government. The newspaper was not haunted by similar expectations in the 1960s and 1970s
when the SKDL re-entered the government.
The traditions of the general strike of 1905 have rather been evident in the fact that
freedom of speech has been a very important issue for Kansan Tahto. Its importance has, of
course, grown as the paper itself has experienced the indifference of the authorities
concerning that right; the newspaper has been banned in 1914, 1918-19, 1923-24 and 1930-
45. The first ban was issued by the Russian authorities as the newspaper presented kind words
about Germans, the enemies of Russians in the war, the latter by the authorities of
independent Finland because of “preparation of the revolution”. A great number of editors
was also sentenced to prison for the same reason. The history of Kansan Tahto is thus full of
various difficulties but it also proves of the strong commitment of the workers in Northern
Finland to their newspaper.
The bans have contributed to the fact that Kansan Tahto has not been able to shake the
hegemony of the bourgeois press, though it has been of great importance for the working
people in Northern Finland. In the 1910s its circulation was not far from the largest bourgeois