SKDL
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Finnish People's Democratic League
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|---|---|
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| Finnish name | Suomen Kansan Demokraattinen Liitto |
| Swedish name | Demokratiska Förbundet för Finlands Folk |
| Founded | October 29, 1944 |
| Dissolved | 1990 |
| Merged into | Left Alliance |
| Newspaper |
Vapaa Sana 1944–1956 Kansan Uutiset 1957–1990 |
| Student wing | Socialist Student League |
| Youth wing | Finnish Democratic Youth League |
| Women's wing | Democratic Women's League of Finland |
| Children's wing | Democratic Union of Finnish Pioneers |
| Ideology |
Socialism Communism Marxism Anti-Capitalism |
| Political position | Left-wing to far-left |
Finnish People's Democratic League (Finnish: Suomen Kansan Demokraattinen Liitto, SKDL; Swedish: Demokratiska Förbundet för Finlands Folk, DFFF) was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic Party. It was founded in 1944 as the anti-communist laws in Finland were repealed due to the demands of the Soviet Union, and lasted until 1990, when it merged into the newly formed Left Alliance. At its time, SKDL was one of the largest leftist parties in democratic Europe, with its main member party, the Communist Party of Finland, being one of the largest communist parties west of the Iron Curtain. The SKDL enjoyed its greatest electoral success in the 1958 parliamentary election, when it gained a support of approximately 23 per cent and a representation of 50 MPs of 200 total, making it the largest party in the Eduskunta.
SKDL joined several Finnish governments. The first SKDL minister was Yrjö Leino who took office in November 1944. After the 1945 parliamentary election SKDL was a major player in the Paasikivi III coalition with social democrats and parties of the centre, and in 1946 SKDL's Mauno Pekkala became the prime minister. The Pekkala government led the state until summer 1948, after which the SKDL didn't participate in any coalitions until 1966. The late 1960s governments, led by social democrats and including centre, were called popular front by the SKDL. The party left the government in spring 1971 but returned in 1975. Kalevi Sorsa's third coalition was the last one SKDL was in, until December 1982.
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