Finnish labour leader who became the world’s first Social Democratic head of government and then joined the Red government
Born in Kannus in Central Ostrobothnia in 1873, he emigrated to America at 17, worked in the mines and joined the radical Western Federation of Miners. Back in Finland from 1900, he entered Parliament for the Social Democrats in 1907, chaired the Finnish Trade Union Federation in 1912–1917 and was Speaker in 1913. In 1917 he became vice-chairman of the Senate’s economic department, the world’s first social democratic prime minister. In the civil war he was commissar for supply in the People’s Delegation, signed the 1 March treaty with Soviet Russia and fled to Russia after the defeat. In 1919–1920 he advised the British-organised Murmansk Legion, for which the Communist Party of Finland sentenced him to death. From 1922 to 1949 he edited the social democratic paper Raivaaja in the United States, and the 1944 Lex Tokoi cleared him of the civil war charges.
Career timeline
- 1907–1918Social Democratic member of the Parliament of Finland
- 1912–1917Chairman of the Finnish Trade Union Federation
- 1913Speaker of the Parliament of Finland
- 1917Vice-chairman of the Senate’s economic department (head of government)
- 1918Commissar for supply, Finnish People’s Delegation
- 1919–1920Political adviser to the Murmansk Legion
- 1922–1949Editor of Raivaaja in the United States
Finnish forest scientist and statesman who built forest-type theory and led the cabinet on the eve of war
During the Winter War the poorly equipped reservists, sent out with little beyond civilian clothes, a belt and a rifle, were popularly nicknamed 'Model Cajander'. The label stuck to him as premier, though responsibility for the defence shortfalls was not his alone.
Finnish forest scientist and politician. Born in Uusikaupunki, he took a botany doctorate in 1903 based on Siberian fieldwork, became docent in botany at Helsinki in 1904 and professor of silviculture in 1911. Acting director-general of the Forest Board (Metsähallitus) in 1918 and director-general in 1934, he led state forest administration until his death. He was prime minister three times, in 1922, 1924 and 1937, and chaired the National Progressive Party from 1933. He resigned after the Winter War began and died at the Parliament House on 21 January 1943.
Career timeline
- 1903Doctorate in botany based on Siberian fieldwork
- 1904Docent in botany, University of Helsinki
- 1911–1934Professor of silviculture, University of Helsinki
- 1918–1943Led the Forest Board (Metsähallitus): acting director-general 1918, permanent 1927, director-general 1934
- 1922Prime Minister of Finland, heading independent Finland's first caretaker cabinet
- 1924Prime Minister of Finland, second cabinet
- 1928–1929Minister of Defence
- 1929–Progressive Party MP for the western Vaasa/Viipuri constituency
- 1933–1943Chairman of the National Progressive Party, regarded as leader of its left wing
- 1937–1939Prime Minister of Finland, first Social Democrat–Agrarian coalition (third cabinet), resigned after the Winter War began
Head of Finland's 1918 Red revolutionary government, who later led the exiled Communist Party and served the Comintern
In July 1917, as Manner cried 'To free Finland!', the Eduskunta passed the Supreme Power Act and the gallery answered with the Finnish national anthem.
Finnish socialist revolutionary who led Finland's 1918 Red government as chairman of the People's Delegation. After the civil war's defeat, he fled to Soviet Russia, co-founded the Finnish Communist Party, and led it for fourteen years while serving on the Comintern executive committee.
Career timeline
- 1900Graduated from Helsinki University; journalist at Porvoo newspaper
- 1906Joined SDP; founded and edited the workers' paper Työläinen
- 1910–1914Member of Parliament for Uusimaa
- 1917Member of Parliament for Uusimaa
- 1917Speaker of Parliament and chairman of the SDP
- 1918.01–04Chairman of the Finnish People's Delegation (head of the Red government); also Commander-in-Chief of the Red Guards from April
- 1918.08Co-founded the Finnish Communist Party (SKP) in Moscow
- 1920–1934Chairman of the SKP; member of the ECCI (elected 1920, 1928)
- 1934–1935Reassigned as Comintern rapporteur for Latin American affairs
- 1935–1939Arrested, sentenced to 10 years; died in the Ukhta-Pechora camp
The Social Democratic realist who faced Stalin as Finland's Winter War foreign minister, rising from the cooperative movement
At the final meeting on 9 November 1939, when Finland refused even the reduced demands, 'the eyes of our opposite numbers opened wide.' Stalin asked: 'You don't even offer Ino?'
The politician who rebuilt Finland's Social Democratic Party from the ashes of the 1918 civil war into a parliamentary-democratic force. He became prime minister of Finland's first leftist government in 1926, and during the Moscow negotiations on the eve of the Winter War he joined Paasikivi at the table, urging Helsinki to accept a territorial exchange. It was Tanner who later recorded that when Finland rejected even the reduced Soviet demands at the final meeting of 9 November 1939, Stalin's and Molotov's 'eyes opened wide.' After the war he served a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence under Soviet pressure, but returned to parliament and led the party into the early 1960s.
Career timeline
- 1907Member of Parliament, SDP
- 1917Senator for Finance
- 1926–1927Prime Minister
- 1927–1945President, International Co-operative Alliance
- 1937–1939Minister of Finance
- 1939–1940Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1942–1944Minister of Finance
- 1957–1963Chairman, Social Democratic Party
