Patriotic People's Movement (Finland)
Encyclopedia
Patriotic People's Movement, abbreviated to IKL), was a Finnish
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...

 nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapuan liike
Lapua Movement
The Lapua Movement , was a Finnish radical nationalist and anti-communist political movement founded in and named after the town of Lapua. After radicalisation it turned towards far-right politics and was banned after a failed coup-d'état in 1932...

. It existed from 1932 to 1944 and had an ideology
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...

 similar to its predecessor, except that IKL participated in elections — with limited success.

Formation

The IKL was founded at a conference on 5 June 1932 as a continuation of the Lapua Movement. The three major founding members were Herman Gummerus
Herman Gummerus
Herman Gregorius Gummerus was a leading Finnish classical scholar, diplomat, and one of the founders of the Patriotic People's Movement ....

, Vilho Annala
Vilho Annala
Vilho Annala was a Finnish civil servant, academic and far right politician.-Early years:...

 and Erkki Räikkönen
Erkki Räikkönen
Erkki Aleksanteri Räikkönen was a Finnish nationalist leader.Born in St. Petersburg to a cantor, he attended the University of Helsinki before taking part in the ill-fated mission to secure independence for Karelia in 1921...

. Lapua leader Vihtori Kosola
Vihtori Kosola
Iisakki Vihtori Kosola was the leader of the Finnish right-wing radical Lapua Movement.Kosola was born in Ylihärmä, Southern Ostrobothnia. His family's farmhouse burnt down the next year, and the family moved to Lapua...

 was imprisoned for his part in the Mäntsälä rebellion
Mäntsälä rebellion
The Mäntsälä rebellion was a failed coup attempt by the Lapua Movement to overthrow the Finnish government.On February 27, 1932 some 400 armed members of the Suojeluskunta militia interrupted a meeting of Social Democrats in Mäntsälä with small arms fire...

 at the time of formation but the leadership was officially kept in reserve for him and other leading rebels, notably Annala and Bruno Salmiala
Bruno Salmiala
Bruno Aleksander Salmiala was a Finnish legal theorist and a far-right politician.-Legal career:...

, were involved in the formation of IKL.

Structure

Ideologically, IKL was ardently nationalist and anti-Communist, and endorsed an aggressive foreign policy against the 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....

 and hostility towards the Swedish language
Finland's language strife
The language strife was one of the major conflicts of Finland's national history and domestic politics. It revolved around the question of what status Swedish—the language which since the Middle Ages had been the main language of administration and high culture in Finland—and, on the other hand,...

. The creation of a Greater Finland
Greater Finland
Greater Finland was an idea which was born in some irredentist movements emphasizing pan-Finnicism and expressed a Finnish version of pre-World War II European nationalism. It was imagined to include Finland as well as territories inhabited by ethnically-related Finnic peoples: Finns, Karelians,...

 was an important goal for the party. Many of its leaders were priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

s or participants of the mainly Ostrobothnia
Ostrobothnia (region)
Ostrobothnia is a region of Finland. It is located in Western Finland. It borders the regions Central Ostrobothnia, Southern Ostrobothnia, and Satakunta and is one of the four regions making up the historical province of Ostrobothnia....

n Pietist
Pietism
Pietism was a movement within Lutheranism, lasting from the late 17th century to the mid-18th century and later. It proved to be very influential throughout Protestantism and Anabaptism, inspiring not only Anglican priest John Wesley to begin the Methodist movement, but also Alexander Mack to...

 movement called Herännäisyys
Awakening (religious movement)
The Awakening is a Lutheran religious movement in Finland which has found followers in the provinces of Savo and Ostrobothnia. The origins of the movement are in the 18th century. It has functioned inside the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland throughout its existence...

.
Its manifested purpose was to be the Christian-moral conscience of the parliament. A more hard-line tendency was also active, centred on Bruno Salmiala
Bruno Salmiala
Bruno Aleksander Salmiala was a Finnish legal theorist and a far-right politician.-Legal career:...

.

The IKL uniform
Political uniform
A number of political movements have involved their members wearing uniforms, typically as a way of showing their identity in marches and demonstrations...

 was a black shirt with blue tie, inspired by the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 fascists, and also by the Herännäisyys movement, which had a tradition for black clothing. Members greeted each other with a Roman salute
Roman salute
The Roman salute is a gesture in which the arm is held out forward straight, with palm down, and fingers touching. In some versions, the arm is raised upward at an angle; in others, it is held out parallel to the ground. The former is a well known symbol of fascism that is commonly perceived to be...

.

The IKL had its own youth organization, called Sinimustat (Blue-blacks), members of which were trained in combat. It was led by Elias Simojoki
Elias Simojoki
Lauri Elias Simojoki was a Finnish clergyman who became a leading figure in the country's far right movement....

, a charismatic priest. Sinimustat were banned in 1936 (although they were immediately reformed as Mustapaidat ('Blackshirts')).

The party received its main support from wealthy farmers, the educated middle-class, civil servants, the Lutheran
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is the national church of Finland. The church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, and is a member of the Porvoo Communion....

 clergy and university students.

Relationship to mainstream politics

IKL participated in parliamentary elections. In 1933
Finnish parliamentary election, 1933
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland between 1 and 3 July 1933. The Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in Parliament with 78 of the 200 seats...

 its election list was pooled with the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus)
National Coalition Party (Finland)
The National Coalition Party is a liberal conservative political party in Finland founded in 1918.The National Coalition Party is one of the four largest parties in Finland, along with the Social Democratic Party, the Centre Party and the True Finns...

, and got 14 seats out of 200. Kokoomus collapsed from 42 to 18 seats. After the collapse, Juho Kusti Paasikivi
Juho Kusti Paasikivi
Juho Kusti Paasikivi was the seventh President of Finland . Representing the Finnish Party and the National Coalition Party, he also served as Prime Minister of Finland , and was generally an influential figure in Finnish economics and politics for over fifty years...

 was elected chairman of Kokoomus. He converted his party to the voice of big business and as such had no interest in the direct action tactics of IKL, and thus weeded out the most outspoken IKL sympathizers from the party.

IKL came under increasing scrutiny from government and was subject to two laws designed to arrest its progress. In 1934 a law passed allowing the suppression of propaganda which brought government or constitution into contempt and this was used against the movement, whilst the following year a law banning political uniforms and private uniformed organisations came in, seriously impacting on the Sinimustat in particular.

IKL kept its 14 seats in the elections of 1936
Finnish parliamentary election, 1936
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1936.-Background:Finland had clearly recovered from the Great Depression since 1933, and unemployment had been almost eliminated. Prime Minister Kivimäki wanted to continue in office and to broaden his narrow right-wing minority government...

 but was weakened by the overwhelming win for the social democrat-agrarian coalition of Toivo Mikael Kivimäki
Toivo Mikael Kivimäki
Toivo Mikael Kivimäki , J.D., was head of the department of civil law at Helsinki University 1931–1956, Prime Minister of Finland 1932–1936, and Finland's ambassador to Berlin 1940–1944 ....

. The strong new government soon moved against the IKL, with Urho Kekkonen
Urho Kekkonen
Urho Kaleva Kekkonen , was a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland and later as the eighth President of Finland . Kekkonen continued the “active neutrality” policy of his predecessor President Juho Kusti Paasikivi, a doctrine which came to be known as the “Paasikivi–Kekkonen...

, then Minister of the Interior, bring legal proceedings against the movement late in 1938. The courts did not feel that there were sufficient grounds to allow for a banning however. Despite this the prosperity experienced under Cajander's government hit the IKL and in the 1939 elections
Finnish parliamentary election, 1936
Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 1 and 2 July 1936.-Background:Finland had clearly recovered from the Great Depression since 1933, and unemployment had been almost eliminated. Prime Minister Kivimäki wanted to continue in office and to broaden his narrow right-wing minority government...

 they managed only 8 seats. Strangely Kekkonen was one of two leading government opponents of the IKL who would later go on to serve as presidents of Finland
President of Finland
The President of the Republic of Finland is the nation's head of state. Under the Finnish constitution, executive power is vested in the President and the government, with the President possessing extensive powers. The President is elected directly by the people of Finland for a term of six years....

, the other being Juho Kusti Paasikivi
Juho Kusti Paasikivi
Juho Kusti Paasikivi was the seventh President of Finland . Representing the Finnish Party and the National Coalition Party, he also served as Prime Minister of Finland , and was generally an influential figure in Finnish economics and politics for over fifty years...

.

Final years

The Winter War
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...

, and particularly the Moscow Peace, were seen by IKL and its sympathizers as the ultimate proof of the parliamentary government's failed foreign policy
Foreign policy
A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...

. After the Winter War, Finland's foreign policy was drastically changed, by and large to correspond with that of IKL, and Annala was even included in the Cabinet where all parties of the parliament were present at December 1940. The price of this recognition however was an end to IKL attacks on the system and as such an effective end to the very reason it had support. After the initial enthusiasm of the Continuation War
Continuation War
The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War...

 in 1941 waned during the first winter, IKL wasn't included in Edwin Linkomies
Edwin Linkomies
Edwin Johannes Hildegard Linkomies was Prime Minister of Finland March 1943 to August 1944, and one of the seven politicians sentenced to 5½ years in prison as allegedly responsible for the Continuation War, on the demand of the Soviet Union...

' cabinet in spring 1943.

In the aftermath of the Continuation War
Continuation War
The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War...

, IKL was banned, on the insistence of the Soviet Union, four days after the armistice between Finland and the 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....

 was signed 19 September 1944.

The IKL initials returned to the far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...

 political scene in 1993 with the foundation of the Isänmaallinen Kansallis-Liitto by Matti Järviharju. The new movement has remained insignificant to date.

Notable IKL supporters

  • Arne Somersalo
    Arne Somersalo
    Arne Sakari Somersalo was a Finnish officer and anti-communist activist....

    , Commander of the Finnish Airforce 1920-26, IKL MP
  • Paavo Susitaival
    Paavo Susitaival
    Lieutenant Colonel Paavo Susitaival , born Paavo Sivén, was a Finnish author, soldier and politician. Paavo Sivén and his brother, Bobi Sivén were prominent figures in the Finnish interwar Nationalist movement. Paavo had acquired his reputation smuggling volunteers to Germany to enlist in the 27...

    , Lt. Col., IKL MP
  • Rolf Nevanlinna
    Rolf Nevanlinna
    Rolf Herman Nevanlinna was one of the most famous Finnish mathematicians. He was particularly appreciated for his work in complex analysis.- The Nevanlinna family :...

    , Mathematician, Professor, Rector of the University of Helsinki
    University of Helsinki
    The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but was founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available...

  • Vilho Lampi
    Vilho Lampi
    Vilho Henrik Lampi was a Finnish painter who is best known for his self-portraits and paintings of Liminka and the people who lived there.Lampi was born in Oulu but lived the most of his life in Liminka...

    , painter
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