Viewed from America, Finland still looks like a frontier land

Jason Lavery writes pithy survey Finnish history

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By Juha Sihvola
     
      Lalli, Mikael Agricola, and C.G.E. Mannerheim can be found in their familiar locations in the fresh survey of Finnish history by Jason Lavery.
      When examining more recent times, he gives space for how Finnishness was analysed by rock musician Juice Leskinen, by the multicultural aspects of Lola Odusoga, (a Finn with a Nigerian father who won the title Miss Finland), and the detective stories of Leena Lehtolainen, whose criminals "emerge from the context created by globalisation".
      Lavery, a professor of history at Oklahoma State University, combines the knowledge of the Finnish collective psyche which he absorbed during the year that he was in Finland as an exchange student, and the attitude of an outside observer, in a refreshing manner.
      General presentations of Finnish history have their own trends. A few years ago massive volumes were written on the subject (Jouko Vahtola, Pentti Virrankoski). Now the trend is for condensed summaries of about 200 pages.
      Within a period of a few months, short histories of Finland written by Lavery, as well as by David Kirby, Professor Emeritus at University College, London, and by Professor Henrik Meinander of the University of Helsinki, have all appeared. The group will soon be joined by another Finnish researcher, Heikki Ylikangas.
     
The works of Kirby, Meinander, and Lavery complement each other in an intriguing manner. All three deviate from the tradition of national history writing by emphasising the dependence of Finnish development on external conditions, which mapped out the space that Finnish domestic choices had to adapt to.
      Kirby emphasises the mentality of respect for authority and the integration of minorities as a special style of Finnish adaptation. Meinander, meanwhile, underscores the political and cultural significance of language.
     
Lavery’s starting point, on the other hand, is the random nature of history. In his opinion, many turning points of the past might have led to a situation in which Finland’s place in the family of nations would have been quite different from what it is today.
      Historical coincidences are more than a mere starting points
      in Lavery’s view; he feels that these coincidences are what gave birth to Finnishness, allowed it to develop, and helped it achieve new expressions.
      His book, The History of Finland, describes how the national ideology of one mind and one language morphed into a congenial bilingualism, how the rebellious working class was integrated, and how this marginal area, which visualised itself as being external to Europe, re-interpreted its identity to become a model student in the EU.
     
Nevertheless, Lavery feels that Finland has remained a frontier land between East and West from the stone age all the way to the time of globalisation.
      Lavery is not interested in mentalities and national characters as explanations of history. It is almost with a sense of annoyance that he comments on the invocation of the mythical concept of Sisu as a way of explaining the "miracle fo the Winter War" to foreigners.
      In his view, suggesting that Finns possess a unique internal courage insults both the target audience of the boast, as well the veterans of the Winter War.
      Lavery himself explains, with a good deal of expertise, the relative strengths of the two sides, and the Finnish secret weapons - the motti tactic of encirclement, and the Molotov Cocktail. He certainly does not dispute the exceptional willingness of the Finns to pay any price to defend their country.
     
Finns have not always welcomed external commentators of their history. War history is an especially sensitive area. Most recently, the ire of the Finns was raised by a debate in Sweden sparked by Henrik Arnstad over the relations between Finland and Hitler’s Germany during the Continuation War.
      However, Lavery’s pithily analytical presentation of the sensitive spots of Finnish history is useful to read.
      With respect to the Continuation War, the writer shows that Finland struggled in a difficult situation and tried to distance itself from Germany’s aims in the war, and from the persecution of the Jews. However, he does not see the results as flawless. He mentions the deportation of Jewish refugees and prisoners of war, as well as the ethnic cleansing in East Karelia.
      Lavery notes perceptively that outsiders still interpret Finland’s actions in the broader context of the fight between Germany and the Allies. Many forget the separate war, and the lack of options, when they think about Finland as the only democracy to have fought alongside Hitler’s Germany.
     
In his evaluation of the presidency of Urho Kekkonen, Lavery wighs the achievements and the negative aspects against each other.
      Although Kekkonen used relations with the Soviet Union to boost his own quest for power, he also struggled against the most flagrant attempts at changing Finland’s position, enhanced the nation’s prosperity by promoting trade between East and West, and tried to turn Finland into a mediator in the Cold War.
      As for the most disagreeable characteristics of Finlandisation, Lavery does not blame pressure from Moscow, or Kekkonen himself. Instead, he attributes them to the attitudes of appeasement prevailing in Finland’s elite.
      Lavery is at his best when he writes about the core questions of political history. On questions of Finnish culture, the economy, and demographic history, his presentation dwindles to being something of a catalogue. His bibliographical notes demonstrate that the writer has acquainted himself with the latest research on the history of Finland.
     
The book also contains a few minor errors and inaccuracies. These include the characterisation of the result of the Continuation War, which was itself described in a rather competent manner, as a capitulation by Finland, and by referring to Tarja Halonen, who has been active in the Settlement Movement, as being an open atheist.
      However, these shortcomings do not spoil the successful overall impression. As a representative of a distinctly American point of view, Lavery’s work is a welcome addition to the array of general presentations of Finnish history.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 9.1.2007
     
The writer is the Director of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies.


Links:
  The History of Finland – New Book by Historian Jason Lavery, Ph.D.

Helsingin Sanomat