Communist Party of Finland

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This article is about the historical Communist Party of Finland. For the current party, see Communist Party of Finland (Unity)

The Communist Party of Finland (Finnish: Suomen kommunistinen puolue, Swedish: Finlands kommunistiska parti, abbreviated SKP) was a communist political party in Finland.

[edit] Early stages

In 1918 the "Reds" lost the Finnish Civil War resulting in the end of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic. The Social Democratic Party of Finland had supported the losing side, and several of its leaders were refugees in the Soviet Union. Some of these refugees founded the Communist Party of Finland in Moscow.

The SKP was suppressed in 1923 and again in 1930. After the Continuation War the SKP dominated the Finnish People's Democratic League, which was founded in 1944 as an umbrella organization of the political extreme left wing.

[edit] Cold War

The era of the Cold War was the "golden age" of Communists in Finland. Between 1944 and 1990 support of the SKP was in the range of 15%-20%. Communists participated in several cabinets, but Finland never had a communist Prime Minister or President. The SKP received substantial financial support from the Soviet Union during the Cold War.^{[citation needed]} Soviet threats to withdraw support were the main reason why reformists didn't expel the hardline Stalinist minority (Taistolaiset, after Taisto Sinisalo) from the party leadership or membership.

The youth wing of the SKP was the Democratic Youth League of Finland (SDNL).

The SKP's main rival for domination of the political left was the Social Democratic Party of Finland. The competition was very bitter in trade unions and other leftist organizations. The Communists gradually lost ground and were weakened by internal disputes. An orthodox minority faction (Taistoists, after their leader Taisto Sinisalo) often attacked the more Eurocommunist party leadership. In practice, the party consisted of two parallel structures. In 1985-1986 a large number of Taistoists were expelled. They regrouped as Communist Party of Finland (Unity) (SKPy).

[edit] Collapse

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to ideological conflicts within the party, and bitter internal disputes plagued the party. The depression that started in 1989 resulted in financial bankruptcy the following year. The SKP never recovered. A majority of the party members, with other member organizations of People's Democratic League, formed the Left Alliance (Finland).

SKPy, originally the faction of the party expelled in 1985-1986, outlasted its parent and registered itself as the Communist Party of Finland in 1997 but has been unable to regain the former Communist Party's parliamentary representation. Its vote share in the elections of 2003 was 0.8%.