Socialist Electoral Organisation of Workers and Smallholders
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Communist Party of Finland
Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue |
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|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | SKP |
| Founded | August 29, 1918 |
| Legalized | 1944 |
| Dissolved | 1992 |
| Split from | Social Democratic Party of Finland |
| Succeeded by | |
| Youth wing | Young Communist League of Finland |
| Ideology |
|
| Political position | Far-left |
| National affiliation | Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL) |
| International affiliation | Comintern |
| Colors | Red |
The Communist Party of Finland (Finnish: Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue; Swedish: Finlands Kommunistiska Parti; abbreviated SKP) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944.
The SKP did not participate in any elections with its own name. Instead, front organisations were used. In the 1920s the communists took part in the Socialist Workers' Party of Finland (1920–1923) and the Socialist Electoral Organisation of Workers and Smallholders (1924–1930). Both were banned by the state. In 1944, a new front, Finnish People's Democratic League was formed. The SKP controlled these fronts but they always had a prominent minority of non-communist socialists.
In 1918 the Reds lost the Finnish Civil War. The Social Democratic Party of Finland had supported the losing side, and several of its leaders were exiled in the Soviet Russia. Some of these exiles founded the Communist Party of Finland in Moscow.
The SKP was illegal in Finland until 1944, and members could be imprisoned. After the Continuation War the SKP dominated the Finnish People's Democratic League, which was founded in 1944 as an umbrella organization of the radical left wing.
The era of the Cold War was the "golden age" of Communists in Finland. Between 1944 and 1979 support of the Finnish People's Democratic League was in the range of 17%–24%. Communists participated in several cabinets, but Finland never had a communist Prime Minister or President. In the mid 1960s the U.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 40 000 (1.44% of the working age population). with the SKP's main rival for domination of the political left being the Social Democratic Party of Finland. The competition was very bitter in trade unions and other leftist organizations.
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