Parliamentary Speaker Niinistö: 1918 strengthened Finnish democracy

President conspicuously absent from commemoration

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By Arto Astikainen
     
      The importance of the battles of 1918 in preserving Finnish democracy and freedom was emphasised by both Päiviö Tommila, Member of the Academy of Finland, and Speaker of Parliament Sauli Niinistö at an event in Helsinki on Friday, commemorating the 90th anniversary of the end of the Finnish Civil War, or “War of Freedom”, as it is called in some circles*.
      Tommila delivered a presentation at the event in Finlandia Hall, and Niinistö brought greetings from the Finnish state leadership.
      Organisers had also hoped that President Tarja Halonen might have attended. Her absence from the commemoration organised by groups carrying the torch of the victorious Whites over the Reds raised a good deal of attention in advance.
      The President had said that scheduling was a problem.
      During the War of Freedom Commemoration the President was meeting with MPs from a security policy follow-up group and, held nearly two hours of discussions on the upcoming government security policy report.
     
In his speech Niinistö noted that already before independence in 1906, the Parliamentary reform gave Finland the world’s most democratic political system, but that this was not enough to guarantee social peace alone. The excessive expectations for democracy had brought disappointments, which lead to the use of weapons.
      “The War of Freedom was the most difficult step on our nation’s road to independence, but the final result was the freedom that most Finns had sought. The Parliamentary institution and the democratic system were preserved”, Niinistö said.
      “If the final outcome of the war had been different, it is hard to see that Finland would not have ended up in the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union”, the Speaker of Parliament concluded.
      The return of the Social Democratic Party into government in 1926 was, in Niinistö’s view, an indication that the scars of 1918 were beginning to heal.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 17.5.2008
     
*Note: The different ways that Finns of different backgrounds still view the traumatic war of 1918 is reflected in the vast array of names given to the conflict, which include “Civil War”, “War of Freedom”, “Fraternal War”, “Revolt”, “Red Revolt”, and even “Class War”.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  In search of Miss E., student and gun-runner (26.3.2008)
  After 90 years, the Finnish Civil War remains a sensitive subject (29.1.2008)

Links:
  Finnish Civil War (Wikipedia)

ARTO ASTIKAINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
arto.astikainen@hs.fi