For Peace and Socialism - Communist Workers Party
Encyclopedia
Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism (KTP) is a political party
in Finland
. It was founded in 1988 to secure the existence of an independent Marxist-Leninist party. Since its founding, it has not gained seats in the parliament, and as a result, has been removed from the party register and re-registered twice.
(SKP) formed the Communist Party of Finland (Unity) (SKPy) which, however, itself soon split into different factions. KTP was founded in 1988 by one part of Finnish Communists who thought the SKPy had ventured too far from the principles of Marxism-Leninism
. The final decision to found a new registered Communist party was made in the autumn 1987 seminar held at Matinkylä
. The Marxist-Leninists behind the project felt themselves neglected since the Dipoli congress of the SKPy in 1986. Many of the KTP cadres came from the (expelled) Uusimaa
district of the SKP which, since the late 1970s, had had its disputes with the opposition of the SKP led by the Tiedonantaja society
.
In 2002 the KTP split over question of alliances possible for a Communist party. The Central Committee of the KTP rejected after voting (18–9) a proposed membership in a new (electoral) party, Forces for Change in Finland
(MVS), in which clearly right-wing elements were also going to participate. MVS was supported especially by the Helsinki
district organization of the KTP which then decided to enter the MVS without their comrades. KTP answered by expelling the above mentioned organization and many leading members of the party, including Heikki Männikkö (the party secretary), Reijo Katajaranta (the editor-in-chief of the KTP organ) and Pekka Tiainen (the former presidential candidate in 1994), had to go. The Communists expelled then found their own organization, which was at first called plainly Communists, but later changed to League of Communists
(or Communist League). The KTP has avoided contacts to their ex-members.
The KTP got some unexpected nationwide, and even international, publicity ahead the local elections in 2004 when the Turku
and Raisio
branches of the party made an electoral alliance with the far-right racist Finnish People's Blue-whites
(SKS). The party leadership reacted strongly and condemned the manoeuvres. The alliances were, however, already signed and the KTP candidates stood in the two west coast cities with no success, although the KTP didn't advertise their rebel candidates. The man behind the alliances, Esko Luukkonen, was discharged from all party responsibilities, and he (and the KTP Turku district organization) later joined the League of Communists.
tradition of Marxism-Leninism. The critique of the late Soviet Union
has been, however, included in the party ideology from the beginning. In 1998, for example, the KTP announced that the estimations made on the nature of the era, during the 1970s and the 1980s, were no longer realistic or correct. Yet the Marxism-Leninism of the KTP is far from Eurocommunism
. The party leaders may quote Joseph Stalin
and traditional Leninist rhetoric is required.
The existence of an independent Communist party, which is not buried in any unprincipled coalition, has always been one of the central political issues in the KTP. Markus Kainulainen, probably the best known politician in the KTP, was one of those who, already in 1969, in the then SKP, was in favor of a new party unlike the majority of the party opposition. In the 1980s, the KTP used to criticise the SKPy for not officially registering the party.
The KTP is strictly against the European Union
, the Euro
currency and Finland's participation in these capitalist formations. The party has consistently boycotted the elections of European Parliament
.
The KTP wholeheartedly supports the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and its current leadership. The party has published writings of Kim Jong-Il
and many members of the KTP are actively participating in The Society for the Study of the Juche Idea.
The KTP has been a small party all its life and it currently has some 200 members. The candidates of the KTP in the parliamentary elections have failed to get the attention of voters and the party has managed to gather only a few thousand votes. The KTP has some local strongholds, like the city of Kemi
in northern Finland where Pirkko Ezewuzie is the lone KTP councillor. The party, with its own lists, has also participated in the elections of some trade unions and cooperatives.
The KTP has international contacts even though the party is not a member of any international organization. The Russian Communist Workers' Party – Revolutionary Party of Communists
has warm relations with the KTP as well as the Nordic Communist Party of Sweden
(SKP), Communist Party in Denmark
(KPiD) and Communist Party of Norway
(NKP).
Työkansan Sanomat (TKS), which appears fifteen times a year, is the organ of the KTP. The current editor-in-chief of TKS is Hannu Tuominen. In local (Helsinki area) Lähiradio radio station the KTP has a weekly program called Työväen puolituntinen.
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. It was founded in 1988 to secure the existence of an independent Marxist-Leninist party. Since its founding, it has not gained seats in the parliament, and as a result, has been removed from the party register and re-registered twice.
History
The Finnish Communist movement was split in the mid-1980s after years of infighting. Those expelled from the Communist Party of FinlandCommunist Party of Finland
The Communist Party of Finland was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944.SKP did not participate in any elections with its own name. Instead, front organisations were used...
(SKP) formed the Communist Party of Finland (Unity) (SKPy) which, however, itself soon split into different factions. KTP was founded in 1988 by one part of Finnish Communists who thought the SKPy had ventured too far from the principles of Marxism-Leninism
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
. The final decision to found a new registered Communist party was made in the autumn 1987 seminar held at Matinkylä
Matinkylä
Matinkylä or Mattby is one of the major urban areas of Espoo, a city on the southern coast of Finland. Matinkylä is understood as the area between the Helsinki-Hanko highway and the coast of the Gulf of Finland, between the areas of Haukilahti and Iivisniemi.About 30 000 people live in the...
. The Marxist-Leninists behind the project felt themselves neglected since the Dipoli congress of the SKPy in 1986. Many of the KTP cadres came from the (expelled) Uusimaa
Uusimaa
Uusimaa, or Nyland in Swedish, is a region in Finland. It borders the regions Finland Proper, Tavastia Proper, Päijänne Tavastia and Kymenlaakso...
district of the SKP which, since the late 1970s, had had its disputes with the opposition of the SKP led by the Tiedonantaja society
Tiedonantaja
Tiedonantaja is a Finnish leftist weekly newspaper. It is currently the party organ of the new Communist Party of Finland . Tiedonantaja was founded in 1968 and it served as the paper of the taistoist minority faction of the old SKP until the opposition was expelled in the mid-1980s. In the late...
.
In 2002 the KTP split over question of alliances possible for a Communist party. The Central Committee of the KTP rejected after voting (18–9) a proposed membership in a new (electoral) party, Forces for Change in Finland
Forces for Change in Finland
The Forces for Change in Finland was a Finnish election cartel formed for the 2003 parliamentary election...
(MVS), in which clearly right-wing elements were also going to participate. MVS was supported especially by the Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
district organization of the KTP which then decided to enter the MVS without their comrades. KTP answered by expelling the above mentioned organization and many leading members of the party, including Heikki Männikkö (the party secretary), Reijo Katajaranta (the editor-in-chief of the KTP organ) and Pekka Tiainen (the former presidential candidate in 1994), had to go. The Communists expelled then found their own organization, which was at first called plainly Communists, but later changed to League of Communists
League of Communists (Finland)
League of Communists is a Finnish Marxist-Leninist political organization. The League of Communists was founded in 14.9.2002 by the Communists who were expelled from the For Peace and Socialism - Communist Workers Party...
(or Communist League). The KTP has avoided contacts to their ex-members.
The KTP got some unexpected nationwide, and even international, publicity ahead the local elections in 2004 when the Turku
Turku
Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...
and Raisio
Raisio
Raisio is a town and municipality in south-western Finland and an important junction of major roads. The town has a population of and is located in the region of Finland Proper, neighbouring the region's capital, Turku...
branches of the party made an electoral alliance with the far-right racist Finnish People's Blue-whites
Finnish People's Blue-whites
The Finnish People's Blue-whites was a Finnish political party with a far-right nationalist agenda, led by the controversial political figure Olavi Mäenpää. It was founded in 1993 as Independent People's Front , and was known as National Front from 1997 until 2001...
(SKS). The party leadership reacted strongly and condemned the manoeuvres. The alliances were, however, already signed and the KTP candidates stood in the two west coast cities with no success, although the KTP didn't advertise their rebel candidates. The man behind the alliances, Esko Luukkonen, was discharged from all party responsibilities, and he (and the KTP Turku district organization) later joined the League of Communists.
Politics
The founders of the KTP were former supporters of the SKP opposition and as such came from the brezhnevistLeonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
tradition of Marxism-Leninism. The critique of the late Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
has been, however, included in the party ideology from the beginning. In 1998, for example, the KTP announced that the estimations made on the nature of the era, during the 1970s and the 1980s, were no longer realistic or correct. Yet the Marxism-Leninism of the KTP is far from Eurocommunism
Eurocommunism
Eurocommunism was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties to develop a theory and practice of social transformation that was more relevant in a Western European democracy and less aligned to the influence or control of the Communist Party of the Soviet...
. The party leaders may quote Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
and traditional Leninist rhetoric is required.
The existence of an independent Communist party, which is not buried in any unprincipled coalition, has always been one of the central political issues in the KTP. Markus Kainulainen, probably the best known politician in the KTP, was one of those who, already in 1969, in the then SKP, was in favor of a new party unlike the majority of the party opposition. In the 1980s, the KTP used to criticise the SKPy for not officially registering the party.
The KTP is strictly against the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, the Euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
currency and Finland's participation in these capitalist formations. The party has consistently boycotted the elections of European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
.
The KTP wholeheartedly supports the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and its current leadership. The party has published writings of Kim Jong-Il
Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim born 16 February 1941 or 16 February 1942 , is the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
and many members of the KTP are actively participating in The Society for the Study of the Juche Idea.
Organization
Every year, the KTP holds its party congresses in which the official delegates choose the members of the important Central Committee. Little change usually happens and Hannu Harju has led the party since the 1997 congress. He was preceded by Timo Lahdenmäki.The KTP has been a small party all its life and it currently has some 200 members. The candidates of the KTP in the parliamentary elections have failed to get the attention of voters and the party has managed to gather only a few thousand votes. The KTP has some local strongholds, like the city of Kemi
Kemi
Kemi is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located very near the city of Tornio. It was founded in 1869 by royal decree, because of its proximity to a deep water harbour....
in northern Finland where Pirkko Ezewuzie is the lone KTP councillor. The party, with its own lists, has also participated in the elections of some trade unions and cooperatives.
The KTP has international contacts even though the party is not a member of any international organization. The Russian Communist Workers' Party – Revolutionary Party of Communists
Russian Communist Workers' Party – Revolutionary Party of Communists
The Russian Communist Workers' Party – Revolutionary Party of Communists is a communist party in Russia. It was established in October 2001, through the unification of the Russian Communist Workers' Party and the Russian Party of Communists, with the aim of resurrecting socialism and the USSR.The...
has warm relations with the KTP as well as the Nordic Communist Party of Sweden
Communist Party of Sweden (1995)
The Communist Party of Sweden is the continuation of Workers' Party – The Communists .- History :...
(SKP), Communist Party in Denmark
Communist Party in Denmark
Communist Party in Denmark , a political party in Denmark. KPiD was founded in 1990, as a split from the Communist Party of Denmark . The founders of KPiD opposed the merger of DKP into the Unity List. KPiD can be seen as more ideologically orthodox than DKP....
(KPiD) and Communist Party of Norway
Communist Party of Norway
The Communist Party of Norway is a political party in Norway without parliamentary representation. It was formed in 1923, following a split in the Norwegian Labour Party. The party played an important role in the resistance to German occupation during the Second World War, and experienced a brief...
(NKP).
Työkansan Sanomat (TKS), which appears fifteen times a year, is the organ of the KTP. The current editor-in-chief of TKS is Hannu Tuominen. In local (Helsinki area) Lähiradio radio station the KTP has a weekly program called Työväen puolituntinen.
Electoral performance
Parliamentary elections
|
Local elections
|