Finnish communism visited

Finnish communism was one of the largest communist movements in Europe. It was born in two countries, Finland and Soviet Russia, and in 1918–1944 active in both of them. It was a movement deeply rooted in Finnish society and the traditions of the Finnish labour movement, but also a movement with strong ties with the Soviets. This collection of articles by Tauno Saarela gives a glimpse of this tension within Finnish communism. The articles discuss the contacts between the Communist International and Finnish communism, the relations between Finnish and Scandinavian communists, the American impact on Finnish communism. They also touch the importance of cemeteries for Finnish communism, characters in the short stories published in the Finnish communist magazines in the 1920s, and the attitude of the Finnish communist youth towards jazz, rock and roll and pop songs in 1944–1969. The articles address the cult of the individual within Finnish communism, too. *** Tauno Saarela is Senior Lecturer in Political History, Department of Political and Economic Studies, University of Helsinki. He is the author of Suomalaisen kommunismin synty 1918–1923 [Birth of Finnish communism, 1918–1923] (1996), Kansan Tahto. Pohjolan työtätekevien lehti (2006), Suomalainen kommunismi ja vallankumous 1923–1930 [Finnish communism and revolution, 1923–1930] (2008), and the co-author of Communism: National and International (1998), Коминтерн и Финляндия 1919–1943 (2003), and several books in Finnish