Young Finnish Party
청년핀란드당
A liberal party in the Grand Duchy of Finland, formally the Constitutional-Fennoman Party. It began in 1894 as a faction with its own programme inside the Finnish Party and became an independent party in 1905, defending the constitution and passive resistance against Russification. In 1918 it split over the form of government, its republicans joining the National Progressive Party and its monarchists the National Coalition Party, and it ceased to operate.
In depth
According to the Finnish source, Young Finnish thought had its roots in the artistic circles of the 1880s (the Ahos, the Järnefelts, Kasimir Leino). In 1894 it became a tendency with its own programme inside the Finnish Party, and in 1905 it organised as an independent party led by Eero Erkko and K. J. Ståhlberg. Members of the Finnish Party who rejected the compliance policy joined it, and during the first period of oppression the Young Finns and the Swedish Party together resisted Russification and defended the constitution under the leadership of the non-party Leo Mechelin.
The 1894 programme aimed at universal and equal suffrage and was economically liberal, favouring freedom of trade and rejecting protective tariffs. It also called for abolishing prior censorship, reducing bureaucracy, progressive taxation, compulsory accident insurance for workers and compulsory elementary schooling throughout the country. After the end of the period of oppression in 1905, the Mechelin Senate enacted freedom of speech, the press, association and assembly and a parliamentary reform replacing the Diet of Estates with a unicameral parliament, with the franchise extended to all adults, including women.
In the first parliamentary election of 1907 the Young Finns expected around 70 of 200 seats but won only 26; the strict constitutionalist P. E. Svinhufvud was elected Speaker. In its last decade the party had two wings: the social-liberal “sparrows” (Ståhlberg, Eero Erkko) and the constitution-first, partly conservative-nationalist “swallows” (Jonas Castrén, Svinhufvud). According to the English source, under German hegemony in 1918 a clear majority of Young Finns voted for the German prince Friedrich Karl to become King of Finland.
The question of the independent state’s form of government split the party in 1918. The majority, mainly the sparrows, joined the new republican National Progressive Party, while most swallows moved to the monarchist National Coalition Party. According to the English source, after the monarchist policy collapsed with Germany’s defeat, Ståhlberg was elected the first President of Finland on 25 July 1919.