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Christian Workers' Union of Finland


The Christian Workers' Union of Finland (Finnish: Suomen Kristillisen Työväen Liitto; Swedish: Finlands kristliga arbetarförbund, abbreviated SKrTL) was a political party in Finland. The party was led by the industrial worker Antti Kaarne until 1918.

The party was founded in 1906, in the aftermath of the 1905 general strike. It had a radical Christian socialist profile. The program of the party was largely similar as that of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, but it could not reconcile with the atheism of the Social Democrats. The motto of the party was to "...on the basis of the Christian faith, liberate our people from the oppression of capital."

In the early years of the party, two distinct tendencies were active amongst its membership; a tendency dominated by priests that hoped that the party would enable them to win allies in the struggle against atheism, and a tendency led by Kaarne that sought to implement social reforms on the basis of Christian principles. Soon, however, the clergy-based faction was marginalized in the competition over the orientation of the party.

In the 1907 elections the party won two seats in the Eduskunta. It was represented in the assembly by Kaarne and Matti Helenius-Seppälä. The party retained both seats in the 1908 elections, but was reduced to a single seat in the 1909 elections. The SKrTL retained a single seat in elections in 1910 and 1911, but lost their parliamentary representation in the 1913 elections.


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