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Finland Social and Economic Developments
Over the centuries, Finland underwent various political
changes, but its society and economy remained fairly
static. At
the beginning of the nineteenth century, Finland was a
predominantly agrarian country; about 90 percent of its
population was engaged in farming. The scourges of war and
famine
had kept down the population, which in 1811 numbered just
1
million, only about 4 percent of which lived in cities.
Except for some copper, Finland was without important
mineral
deposits. During the nineteenth century, its sole natural
resource was timber, and this became to be the basis on
which
industrialization was launched. By the mid-nineteenth
century,
wood was beginning to be in short supply in Central Europe
and in
Western Europe, but at the same time it was needed in
unprecedented quantities for railroad ties, mineshaft
supports,
construction, and paper production. Finland thus found a
ready
and expanding market for its wood.
The development of the lumber industry was retarded for
a
time, however, by the lack of a modern economic
infrastructure.
Into the breach stepped the Finnish government, which
promulgated
a number of measures aimed at creating the needed
infrastructure.
Railroads and inland waterways were developed, beginning
in the
1850s and the 1860s, to connect the interior of the
country with
the coast; and harbor facilities were built that, through
merchant shipping, connected Finland with the rest of the
world.
In addition, the Bank of Finland and the monetary system
were
reorganized, antiquated laws restricting economic activity
were
repealed, and tariff duties on many items were reduced or
were
abolished; thus, the Finnish government promoted
industrialization and general progress in Finland.
The 1860s and the 1870s witnessed a tremendous boom in
the
Finnish lumber industry, which put Finland on the road to
industrialization. Between then and 1914, the lumber
industry
spawned a number of associated industries for the
production of
wood pulp, paper, matches, cellulose, and plywood. The
profits
earned in these industries led in turn to the creation of
numerous other enterprises that produced, among other
things,
textiles, cement, and metal products. Finland's leading
trading
partner by 1910 was Germany, followed by Russia and
Britain. The
trade in lumber products also stimulated the rise of a
relatively
large and modern Finnish merchant marine, which, after
1900,
carried about half of Finland's foreign trade. Meanwhile,
however, the steady conversion of merchant shipping from
woodenhulled sailing ships to iron-hulled and steel-hulled
steamships
curtailed Finland's traditional export of naval stores.
The growth of industry was accompanied by the emergence
of an
urban working class. As in early industrialization
elsewhere, the
living and working conditions of the new industrial
laborers were
poor, and these laborers sought to improve their situation
through trade unions. Trade unions were legalized in 1883,
and
soon a number of them were established, including, in
1907, a
national trade union organization, the Finnish Trade Union
Federation (Suomen Ammattijarjestö--SAJ). Workers founded
a
political party in 1899 to represent them in the Diet, and
in
1903 it was renamed the Finnish Social Democratic Party
(Suomen
Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue--SDP). By the elections of
1907, the
SDP was already the largest single party in politics. Both
the
SAJ and the SDP were heavily influenced by their
counterparts in
Germany, and, as a consequence, their doctrines had a
pronounced
Marxist character. The SDP grew even more radical, in part
because of the resistance of the middle class parties to
virtually all aspects of social reform, but also because
of its
strict adherence to the Marxist dogma of class conflict.
One
example of its radicalism was its persistent unwillingness
to
cooperate with any of the other political parties. Another
was
its program, which began in 1911 to change from upholding
the
right of farmers to own their own land to demanding that
land be
nationalized--a change that cost the SDP most of its
support
among agricultural laborers.
In spite of industrialization, Finland in the early
twentieth
century was still predominantly an agrarian state.
Agriculture
also had undergone modernization, however, a process that
had had
a significant impact on Finland. The introduction of the
potato
in the eighteenth century had significantly reduced the
threat of
famine; the gradual introduction of scientific
agricultural
techniques during the nineteenth century had brought about
further increases in productivity.
The ultimate consequence of this increased agricultural
productivity was a significant increase of the population
from
865,000 in 1810 to 2,950,000 in 1910. Some of this surplus
rural
population was absorbed by the growing urban factory
centers, but
the rest of these people were forced to stay on the land.
Because
the amount of arable land in Finland was limited, about
twothirds or more of the agricultural population was
relegated to
the status of tenant farmers and landless agricultural
laborers.
These people's lives were precarious because of their
large
numbers and their dependence on the vagaries of the
harvests. The
tsarist government did little on their behalf, and the
Diet,
which was dominated by middle-class interests, showed no
great
concern for them. As a result, from about 1870 to 1920,
approximately 380,000 people left Finland, more than 90
percent
of them for the United States. Of those remaining in
Finland,
many were initially attracted by the SDP, until its
pronounced
atheistic outlook and its aim of nationalizing land
alienated
them. A program of land reform, begun after independence,
eventually integrated these agricultural laborers into the
Finnish economy.
One expression of popular discontent with the status
quo
during the nineteenth century was the rise of religious
movements
that challenged the formalistic and rationalistic Lutheran
state
church. Of special significance was the Pietist movement,
in
which the farmer-evangelist Paavo Ruotsalainen (1777-1852)
was
the most important figure
(see Lutheran Church of Finland
, ch.
2). The Pietists popularized the notion of personal
religion, an
idea that appealed to the agrarian population. Pietism
eventually
had much influence within the Lutheran Church of Finland;
it was
also influential among Finnish emigrants to the United
States,
where, among other things, it provided an effective
counterweight
to Finnish political radicalism.
Data as of December 1988
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