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Finland Finland in the Era of Consensus, 1966-81
The parliamentary elections of 1966 marked a major
turning
point in Finnish politics. As in most of the recent
Finnish
parliamentary elections, the main debate centered on
domestic
issues. One issue in 1966 was the need to promote economic
development in the northern part of Finland, which was
lagging
behind the more prosperous southern part of the country.
The
parliamentary elections were a great victory for the
socialist
parties, which gained 103 seats, their first absolute
majority in
parliament since 1916 (see
table 4, Appendix A). Changes
in the
leadership of the SDP--which under a new party chairman,
Rafael
Paasio, had become more temperate in its attitude toward
the
Soviet Union--had made the SDP a viable partner in the
government. Kekkonen thereupon took the major step of
allying his
Kesk with the SDP and with other leftist parties in order
to help
achieve a greater measure of cooperation in Finnish
politics. The
Red-Earth coalition was thus revived, and the communists
enjoyed
their first participation in government since 1948.
Center-left
coalition governments dominated Finnish politics for
several
elections after 1966, and this cooperation among center
and left
parties contributed to a growing consensus in Finnish
political
life.
The core of the developing consensus politics was the
participation of all market sectors in major economic
decisions.
This had begun earlier, but was now intensified. A
milestone, for
example, was the conclusion in March 1968 of the Liinamaa
Agreement, the first comprehensive settlement among the
economic
interest groups that regulated agricultural prices,
workers'
wages, and industrial productivity. This agreement brought
together the trade union organization, SAK, the employers'
organization, STK, and the Confederation of Agricultural
Producers (Maataloustuottajain Keskusliitto--MTK). The
agreement
was made possible in large part by Kekkonen's active
intervention. In succeeding years, the creation of package
deals
to regulate conflicts among the various sectors of the
economy
became a regular feature of political life. One important
government-sponsored meeting among these various economic
interests, at the Korpilampi Motel near Helsinki in 1977,
led to
the coining of the phrase "the spirit of Korpilampi" to
describe
this growing spirit of cooperation.
Another milestone in Finland's development was reached
in
1969 with the amalgamation of two competing trade union
organizations--the smaller, communist-dominated SAJ and
the
larger, Social Democrat-dominated Confederation of Finnish
Trade
Unions (Suomen Ammattiyhdistysten Keskusliitto--SAK)--into
the
Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (Suomen
Ammattiliittojen Keskusjarjestö--SAK). By the 1980s, it
had
succeeded in organizing about 85 percent of Finland's
total work
force, one of the highest percentages in the world.
Between the watershed election of 1966 and the late
1980s,
there were several more parliamentary elections.
Throughout these
elections, the SDP remained the largest party, and Kesk,
the KOK,
and the SKDL competed for the next three positions. A
series of
center-left governments came into power from 1966 to the
1980s,
and these generally broad-based coalitions--together with
the
package deals for regulating conflicts in the
economy--helped to
make this period the most politically stable in the
history of
the Finnish Republic. Although there was some instability
at the
cabinet level, where until recent years there was a new
cabinet
nearly every year, the presidency added stability; between
1946
and the late 1980s, Finland had only three presidents.
The pathbreaking center-left cabinet of 1966, which was
headed by the Social Democrat Rafael Paasio as prime
minister,
lasted until 1968 (see
table 5, Appendix A). Conflicts
over
economic issues, especially incomes and prices policy,
brought
the downfall of the Paasio cabinet and the formation of a
new one
under the Social Democrat, and head of the Bank of
Finland, Mauno
Koivisto. This cabinet, which lasted until the
parliamentary
election of 1970, included the three socialist parties,
Kesk, and
the SFP.
In spite of the growing consensus in Finnish politics,
the
1970s witnessed increased votes for non-government parties
and
sustained conflicts in parliament. In the 1970
parliamentary
elections, for example, Kesk lost about one-third of its
strength, and the KOK, which was not part of the
government, rose
from fourth place among parties to second. Even more
striking,
the SMP, which relied on small, economically vulnerable
farmers,
increased its vote almost tenfold. In addition, the
conflicts
among the parties were so intense that no coalition could
be
established, and, instead, a nonpartisan caretaker
government was
installed. It lasted sixty-three days. Finally, a
broad-based
coalition was established under the Kesk politician Ahti
Karjalainen. This coalition included Kesk, the SDP, the
SKDL, the
SFP, and the Liberal People's Party (Liberaalinen
Kansanpuolue--
LKP). The SKDL withdrew from this government in 1971
because of
conflicts within the party. Karjalainen's coalition fell
in late
1971 because of disagreement over economic issues,
especially
inflation, the balance of payments, and growing
unemployment. New
parliamentary elections were called for early 1972, two
years
ahead of schedule. Another nonpartisan caretaker
government held
power until the election.
The results of the 1972 elections were similar to those
of
the 1970 elections, except that the KOK fell from second
place to
fourth. Political conflicts among the parties, however,
still
kept a workable coalition from being formed, and, as a
result, a
minority SDP government was created with Paasio as prime
minister. It lasted five months. President Kekkonen's
direct
intervention helped to bring about the formation of a
coalition
under the Social Democrat Kalevi Sorsa in the fall of
1972; this
four-party coalition included the SDP, Kesk, the SFP, and
the
LKP. The Sorsa government held together until the 1975
parliamentary election, an uncommonly long time in recent
Finnish
history.
Finland's growing economic difficulties, which stemmed
from
the world economic crisis that began in 1973, provided the
background for the parliamentary elections of 1975. The
SKDL
increased its vote to almost 19 percent, making it the
second
largest party. Following the election, the parties were
reluctant
to agree on terms for a coalition government. Kekkonen
thereupon
appointed Keijo Liinamaa, a retired Kesk leader, as prime
minister of a caretaker government that lasted about five
months.
Kekkonen's direct, public intervention made possible the
formation of a large, five-party (the SDP, Kesk, the SKDL,
the
SFP, and LKP) coalition with the Kesk politician Martti
Miettunen
as prime minister. The following year, the SDP and the
SKDL left
the coalition as a result of conflicts with the other
parties.
The Miettunen government fell in 1977 because of Finland's
continuing economic difficulties, and a center-left
government
was formed under Kalevi Sorsa, Finland's sixtieth
government in
sixty years. Included in the five-party coalition were the
SDP,
Kesk, the SKDL, the SFP, and LKP. The following year, the
SFP
withdrew from the coalition because of conflicts with the
other
parties, but the Sorsa government lasted until the 1979
parliamentary election.
The main issues in the 1979 parliamentary election were
unemployment and taxation. The election witnessed a
resurgence of
the KOK, which became the second largest party, behind the
SDP,
but was still excluded from governmental coalitions (see
table 6,
Appendix A). A major political crisis, called the
"Midsummer
Bomb," was unleashed by a Kesk leader's incautious
statement that
the KOK was kept out of power because it was unacceptable
to the
Soviets, although in reality domestic political
considerations
may have played a role in its exclusion from the
government.
Another protest against the established consensus was
registered
in the 1979 election by the Finnish Christian League
(Suomen
Kristillinen Liitto--SKL), which represented a religious
backlash
against secularization and which polled 4.8 percent of the
total
vote. Nevertheless, a center-left coalition was
established under
Koivisto; the coalition included the SDP, Kesk, the SKDL,
and the
SFP, and it lasted until early 1982, when Koivisto was
elected
president.
Corresponding to the growth of political consensus in
Finland
was the increase in social consensus: the divisions of
previous
decades, especially the conflicts between language groups
and
between the working class and the middle class,
diminished.
The Swedish-speaking minority declined steadily in the
twentieth century from 350,000, or 13 percent of the
population,
in 1906 (the year the SFP was founded to protect the
interests of
Swedish speakers), to about 300,000, or 6 percent of the
population, in the 1980s. The decline has been attributed
both to
emigration to Sweden (largely for economic reasons) and to
the
gradual Finnicization of society. Swedish remains one of
the two
official languages of Finland, nevertheless, and a
separate
Swedish-language educational establishment is maintained
(see Swedish-speaking Finns
, ch. 2).
The slow decline of the communist vote in Finland since
the
1960s has been interpreted as a sign that the wounds
caused by
the civil war have gradually healed and that Finland has
achieved
a larger measure of national integration. In the seven
parliamentary elections from 1945 to 1966, the SKDL won 20
to 25
percent of the popular vote and a correspondingly large
representation in parliament. Active participation in the
government, beginning in 1966, was followed by a decline
in its
electoral success. In 1969, Finnish communists dropped the
aim of
revolution from their program.
One major problem that developed in these years,
however, was
the urban-rural cleavage, which was compounded by regional
differences. The relatively urbanized, industrialized, and
prosperous south and west contrasted strongly with the
basically
rural, agrarian, and less prosperous north and east. The
protest
vote was typically stronger in the north and the east than
it was
elsewhere. The government has tried to relieve discontent
with
subsidies for the smaller, less-prosperous farmers and
through
other social welfare measures
(see Agriculture
, ch. 3).
During the postwar era, Finland changed from a
primarily
agrarian society to an urban society, from a land of
peasant
proprietors to a modern society with a predominance of
urban-
dwelling, white-collar and blue-collar workers
(see Demography
, ch. 2;
Social Structure
, ch. 2). Along with the changes in
social
and in economic circumstances went changes in popular
attitudes;
in particular, cosmopolitanism increased. Just as modern
productive technology has made possible an unprecedented
material
prosperity, so also has modern communications technology
speeded
the diffusion of new ideas, breaking down Finland's
cultural
isolation. In the process, however, traditional values
have come
under assault by cultural imports from Western Europe.
President Kekkonen exerted a formidable influence on
Finland's development during his long tenure as president
from
1956 to 1981. He was re-elected in 1962 and in 1968 by
larger
percentages of votes than any other Finnish president had
ever
received. In 1973 his term of office was extended for four
years
by special act of parliament. This extension, it now
appears, was
designed to reassure the Soviets that Finnish foreign
policy
would remain the same, despite the free-trade agreement
with the
EEC that was concluded in 1973. It was evidence of
Kekkonen's
international stature that he hosted the Conference on
Security
and Cooperation in Europe from 1973 to 1975, a conference
that
culminated in the signing of the Helsinki Accords in 1975.
By
then Kekkonen was generally recognized as indispensable to
Finnish politics, and he was re-elected again in 1978 with
the
support of all major parties. Bad health forced him to
resign in
October 1981 at the age of 81; he lived in retirement
until his
death in 1986. His successor as president, the Social
Democrat
Mauno Koivisto, began his term of service in January 1982.
The great majority of the Finnish people and their
political
parties have continued to agree on the Paasikivi-Kekkonen
Line as
the basis of Finland's foreign policy. Only a few
political
extremists have opposed it, and they have been excluded
from any
role in formulating foreign policy. A tiny splinter group
from
the conservatives appeared during the 1970s as a protest
against
Kekkonen's allegedly too pro-Soviet foreign policy. Since
1980
this group has been called the Constitutional Party of the
Right
(Perustuslaillinen Oikeistopuolue--POP), but it has
achieved
virtually no influence.
* * *
Although there are a number of useful historical works
about
Finland, in English, the best sources are in Swedish and
Finnish.
A good introduction to Finnish history is Eino Jutikkala's
A
History of Finland. Anthony F. Upton's well regarded
The
Finnish Revolution, 1917-1918 deals with a crucial
episode in
modern Finnish history. Risto Alapuro's State and
Revolution
in Finland is a sophisticated examination of the
social
forces involved in the formation of the Finnish state. C.
Leonard
Lundin's Finland in the Second World War was a
pioneering
work when it appeared in 1957 and is still considered the
definitive book on the subject in English. Lundin's essay
on
Russification in Edward C. Thaden's Russification in
the
Baltic Provinces and Finland, 1855-1914 is a solid
work on
that subject. D.G. Kirby's Finland in the Twentieth
Century is an interpretive history of the period
through the
1970s. Among the best available works that analyze the
development of Finland's foreign policy since World War II
is Roy
Allison's Finland's Relations with the Soviet Union,
1944-
84. There is a useful collection of speeches by
President
Urho Kekkonen, edited by Tuomas Vilkuna titled
Neutrality: The
Finnish Position. (For further information and
complete
citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of December 1988
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