Finns fared better in the Russian Empire than in the EU

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Suomi had its own currency, and the laws were not subject to European directives

The best time for Finland is a century in the Russian Empire. It fell on 1809-1917. Such an unexpected conclusion was made by young Finnish historians. Unexpected, first of all, for the current government of his country. After all, in recent years, she has lived mainly on prompts from overseas. And from there, not for the first year, an insistent has been heard: "Do not believe, Finns, Russians, they are not good neighbors to you, but potential enemies."

The Suomi government went even further, declaring those of their compatriots who have dual Russian-Finnish citizenship as enemies. For some time now, state-owned media have regularly published materials in which they are called nothing other than "potentially dangerous, posing a threat to the national security of Finland" (no more, no less!).

In such a situation, Alex Snellman's initiative looks almost a feat. A recent graduate of the University of Helsinki, where he studied the history of Finland and Scandinavia, together with fellow young scientists, he developed a research project called the "Imperial period". The task they set themselves is to find out as much as possible about how Russia in the 19th - first twenty years of the 20th century helped the formation of Finnish statehood.

There was nothing like this in Suomi before. Even in those days when the Land of a Thousand Lakes maintained friendly relations with the USSR. Some historians, of course, published some works. But mostly behind the scenes, they were available mainly to a narrow circle of specialists. Snellman, on the other hand, promises openness and publicity in his project. Making it clear that all self-respecting Finns are simply obliged to know their own history in its entirety, without any cuts.

The SP correspondent managed to communicate with him with the help of mutual acquaintances and intermediaries, including virtual ones.

On Alex's Facebook page, the first thing that catches your eye is a splash with portraits of Russian emperors and their associates. Here is Alexander the First, who liberated the Finnish principality from the Swedish domination. And his grandson, Alexander II, is still revered in Suomi as a national hero. It is to him that this country owes its own Constitution, which made it possible to develop the language, preserve traditions, and create its own democratic institutions (parliament). On the main square of Helsinki - Senate Square - a monument was erected to our Alexander the Liberator. The historic central street bears his name - Aleksanterinkatu. And it never occurred to anyone, no matter how relations with the eastern neighbor developed over the past decades, to demolish the monument, rename the street. Even after the "winter war" of 1939/40 …

"SP": - Why exactly now, when Russophobia is flourishing in the EU with the hard hands of overseas conductors, have you decided to tackle this topic?

- Because in such a situation, we in our country risk becoming "not remembering kinship" - so, it seems, they say in Russia in such cases? Our project "Imperial Period" was created more than half a year ago, in October 2016. It is designed for those Finnish researchers who deal with Finnish-Russian relations and mutual influences in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There are many such researchers. But most of them are people of considerable age. And the younger generation of our scientists, when studying the history of Finland, rarely uses Russian-language sources and specialized literature. Therefore, the Finnish history of the 19th century is often viewed as if in a vacuum …

"SP": - That is, one-sided?

- Yes, without considering the imperial context. As if there were no more than a hundred years when my country, the Grand Duchy of Finland, was an integral part of Russia. We set ourselves the goal of rectifying this situation. We would like to unite Finnish researchers working on this topic and draw their attention to Russian sources, to the general historical background of events. This, in turn, will help the development of Finnish-Russian scientific cooperation.

"SP": - I understood correctly: do you invite colleagues from the Russian Federation to participate in the project?

- Our activity will be carried out both in the form of the exchange of electronic messages through the "Imperial period" network, and in the course of general meetings, seminars, organized, in particular, in St. Petersburg.

Not so long ago, A. Snellman published a book that is directly related to the theme he declared in the "Imperial Period". It traces the evolution of the Finnish aristocracy, whose roots are in Russia. Many of these people played a prominent role in the formation of the statehood of Suomi. Alex admits that while working on the book, he discovered a lot of interesting things. At the same time, she complains about the problem with access to sources. “We now set ourselves the goal of uniting Finnish researchers working on this issue,” he writes. "And draw their attention to Russian sources, to the general historical background of events, and also to develop Finnish-Russian scientific cooperation in order to quickly gain access to digitized materials."

Together with colleagues, Alex Snellman is also creating a virtual library of Russian-language literature in Finland. Last winter she received a bibliographic catalog for the years 1813−1972 as a gift.

In Suomi, Snellman's initiative has generated considerable interest. And for someone it became a real revelation. After all, those Finnish citizens who today are under 40 years old grew up on history textbooks in which there was practically no place for the “Russian period of Finland”.

“Unfortunately, this is so,” states the well-known Finnish political scientist Johan Beckman. “But I think it’s not too late to rectify the situation. How it was done in the 1950s. The good-neighborliness and cooperation established between Finland and the USSR after the end of World War II is a shining example to all peoples.

"SP": - I have heard from Finnish politicians, businessmen, diplomats that "Finland is in many ways the creation of Russian emperors" …

- And there is. The main state and democratic institutions of Finland were created as part of the Russian Empire. With the help of Russia, its authorities, the Finnish culture and art, the Finnish language developed. Finland flourished as part of the empire. This is recognized today even by those who like to "throw stones" towards Russia, accusing it of almost all mortal sins. Recently, one of our politicians from the True Finns party, MP Rejo Tossavainen, wrote in his blog that “as part of the Russian Empire, Finland was more independent than as part of the European Union”.

"SP": - It is difficult to disagree with this, knowing what Suomi acquired, being a part of Russia, and what it lost when it joined the EU.

- Having become one of the countries of the European Union, Finland lost its currency. Our laws are now subject not to internal, but to all-European directives. We do not even have our own border, only the Schengen one … And as part of the empire, there were all the privileges and signs of an independent state. Finnish officers and officials held high positions. They fought together with the Russians against the Turks.

"SP": - It is interesting that this year marks the centenary of independence of the Finnish state, and two hundred years - of the Finnish police. How can this be?

- In fact, the Finnish state was created in 1809, shortly after Russia drove the Swedes from our land. And as a state of Finland for more than two hundred years. And the figure "one hundred" was chosen by the current politicians so as not to link the country's independence with Russia.

The Finnish political scientist Beckman agrees with the Russian military historian Fyodor Zorin, head of the Department of the Military-Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering Troops, and Signal Corps.

“It’s a sin to complain about Russia, it’s the Finns,” Fyodor Gennadievich thinks.- Of all the pre-revolutionary provinces of the Russian Empire, the Grand Duchy of Finland was the most prosperous. And they did not live in poverty. And they had their own currency …

"SP": - … And dachas were built along the coast of the Gulf of Finland, then renting them out for a considerable fee in rent to wealthy Russians.

- Quite right! And they also won geostrategically, with reliable protection behind them - the imperial army. The empire itself did not become too rich with the acquisition of Finnish lands. Yes, there are more subjects, and with them taxes. But, perhaps, that's all. Suomi is a poor country in itself, deprived of resources. In doing so, the Russian emperors made several miscalculations. So, Alexander the First, having freed the Finns from Swedish bondage, for some reason gave them the Vyborg fortress, which in 1939 had to be returned to our country with the help of weapons. Alexander III, who replaced him, began to "press" them for reason and without reason, apparently fearing that they would not become infected with the revolutionary bacillus. Which, of course, could not but cause dissatisfaction with the Finns, their rejection of the Russians. This hostility was inherited by their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. Hence, to some extent, the current anti-Russian sentiments among the Finnish establishment, successfully "fueled" by the Americans.