Introduction

The Finns are in many ways a special people. They do not fit into any neat category. Their Finno-Ugrian language is not related to those of their Scandinavian or Slavonic neighbours. For almost seven centuries they were under the rule of the Swedish crown, but the proportion of Finns whose first language is Swedish has been falling steadily from over 10 per cent at the time of independence in 1917 to under 6 per cent today. They were linked to Tsarist Russia for over a century after 1809, but they retained a degree of autonomy which enabled them to nurture an independent spirit, based on a distinctive culture, and to emerge from the chaos of the Russian revolution as a fully fledged nation-state. In 1919 they adopted a republican constitution which incorporated the radical, democratic reforms conceded by the Tsarist government in 1906, which had established an elected, single-chamber parliament (Eduskunta), and which made Finland the first country in Europe to give equal voting rights to men and women.

In March 1917 the first democratically elected socialist prime minister in the world, Oskari Tokoi, took office in Helsinki – albeit in charge of a government whose authority was disputed. Finland began its independent life under the shadow of a disastrous civil war, which raged during the first half of 1918. In the 1930s its democratic way of life was challenged by an extreme right wing movement, but the challenge was successfully resisted.