Edvard Gylling

Edvard Gylling
Edvard Gylling
Born	30 November 1881 (1881-11-30)
Died	14 June 1938 (1938-06-15) (aged 56)
Occupation	Finnish politician

Edvard Otto Vilhelm Gylling (30 November 1881 in Kuopio – 14 June 1938) was a prominent Social Democratic politician in Finland, later leader of Soviet Karelia.

He was a member of Parliament of Finland for the Social Democratic Party of Finland 1908–1917 and active during the Finnish Civil War as Commissar of Finance for the revolutionary "red" Finnish government. On 1 March 1918, a Treaty between the socialist governments of Russia and Finland was signed in St Petersburg. The Treaty was signed by Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin from the Russian side and by Council of Peoples Representatives of Finland Edvard Gylling and Oskari Tokoi.

After the Reds lost the war, Gylling fled to Sweden but later moved to the Soviet Union. He became one of the main leaders of the Karelo-Finnish ASSR as Chairman of Council of People's Commissars of the Karelo-Finnish SSR 1920–1935. He was accused of nationalism, removed in 1935 and arrested in 1937. There are some contradictions concerning Gyllings death. According to earlier Soviet sources, Gylling died in August 1944, but according to other sources he was actually executed earlier, 1940 or 1938. According to the most recent information, the most likely date of his execution was 14 June 1938. Gylling was poshumously rehabilitated by the Soviet authorities on 16 July 1955.