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Finland The Rise of Finnish Nationalism
The eighteenth century had witnessed the appearance of
embryonic Finnish nationalism. Originating as an academic
movement, it incorporated the study of linguistics,
folklore, and
history, which helped to establish a sense of national
identity
for the Finnish people. The leading figure of this
movement was
professor Henrik Gabriel Porthan of the University of
Turku. The
work of Porthan and others was an expression of the Finns'
growing doubts about Swedish rule, and it prefigured the
rise of
Finnish nationalism in the nineteenth century.
In the nineteenth century, Finland witnessed the rise
of not
one but two national movements: Finnish-language
nationalism and
Swedish-language nationalism. The creation of the
independent
Finnish state in the twentieth century was made possible
in large
part by these nationalist movements.
Finnish-language nationalism arose in the nineteenth
century,
in part as a reaction against the dominance of the Swedish
language in Finland's cultural and political life. The
ethnic
self-consciousness of Finnish speakers was given a
considerable
boost by the Russian conquest of Finland in 1809, because
ending
the connection with Sweden forced Finns to define
themselves with
respect to the Russians. At first the Russian government
generally supported Finnish linguistic nationalism, seeing
it as
a way to alienate the Finns from Sweden and thereby to
preclude
any movement toward reintegration. For the same reason,
the
Russians in 1812 moved the capital of Finland from Turku
to
Helsinki, bringing it closer to St. Petersburg. Similarly,
after
a catastrophic fire in Turku, the University of Turku was
moved
to Helsinki in 1827. The University of Helsinki soon
became the
center of the Finnish nationalist movement.
Finnish-language
nationalism, or the Fennoman movement, became the most
powerful
political force in nineteenth-century Finland. A famous
phrase of
uncertain origin that was coined in the early nineteenth
century
summed up Finnish feelings as follows: "We are no longer
Swedes;
we cannot become Russians; we must be Finns."
The leading Finnish nationalist spokesman was Johan
Vilhelm
Snellman (1806-81), who saw increasing the use of the
Finnish
language as a way for Finland to avoid assimilation by
Russia.
Snellman stressed the importance of literature in
fostering
national consciousness; until the nineteenth century,
however,
there had been almost nothing published in Finnish except
for
religious works. The publication in 1835 of the
Kalevala,
the Finnish folk epic, filled the void, and in the late
twentieth
century the Kalevala continued to be the single
most
important work of Finnish literature. Its author was a
country
doctor named Elias Lönnrot, who, while practicing medicine
along
Finland's eastern border, compiled hundreds of folk
ballads that
he wove together into an epic poem of nearly 23,000 lines.
In the
years following the publication of the Kalevala,
numerous
other works of Finnish literature were published. Of
special
importance was the work of the Swedish-language poet Johan
Ludvig
Runeberg (1804-77), who authored a collection of poems
called
The Tales of Ensign StAl. The first poem of the
cycle,
called "Our Land," was soon set to music, and it became
the
national anthem of Finland.
The growth of the militant and increasingly powerful
Fennoman
movement threatened the traditional dominance of the
Swedish
speakers in Finland, who reacted by forming a
Swedish-speaking
nationalist countermovement, the Svecoman movement. The
main idea
of the Svecomans was that the Swedish-speakers of Finland
were a
separate nation from the Finnish-speakers and needed to
preserve
their Swedish language and culture. The Svecomans became a
small
but powerful political movement that won the backing of
much of
the Swedish-speaking community in Finland.
A third political faction at this time was the
short-lived
Liberal Party. This party sought to obtain reforms for
Finland,
especially freedom of the press, greater self-government,
and
increased economic freedom. It was split, however, by the
growing
language controversy, and most of its members were
absorbed into
either the Fennomans or the Svecomans.
Emerging as a debate among educated Finns, the
nationalist
movement reached ever wider circles of the Finnish people
in
succeeding decades in the nineteenth century. Major
breakthroughs
for the Finnish-language movement were made possible by
Russia's
humiliating defeat in the Crimean War (1853-56), which
opened up
an era of reform in Russia. For example, in 1858 Finnish
was
established as the language of local self-government in
those
administrative districts where it was spoken by the
majority of
the inhabitants.
When Poland revolted in 1863, the Finns remained at
peace,
and the Russian government showed its gratitude by
granting the
Finns two major imperial edicts. The first summoned the
Finnish
Diet for the first time since 1809, an event that had
long-term
repercussions. The Diet enacted legislation establishing a
separate Finnish monetary system and creating a separate
Finnish
army. The subsequent regular meetings of the Diet gave the
Finns
valuable experience in parliamentary politics. The second
edict
of 1863 was the Language Ordinance, which over a period of
twenty
years gave the Finnish language a status equal to that of
Swedish
in official business. Although Swedish speakers found ways
of
blocking the full implementation of the Language
Ordinance, it
still made possible a vast expansion of the Finnish
language
school system. Ultimately, the Language Ordinance led to
the
creation of an educated class of Finnish speakers, who
provided
articulate mass support for the nationalist cause.
Data as of December 1988
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