Minority nationalism and visions of socialist unity in the post-war Finnish labour movement, 1944–1949

Abstract

The interpenetration of nationalism and socialism is a seminal problem for understanding 20th century labour movement history. This article approaches the issue of ideological interpenetration by way of a close examination of the relationship between minority nationalism and socialist unity during a formative phase for the Finnish labour movement in the post-war period. More precisely, the article investigates the Swedishspeaking minority within the Finnish labour movement and its attempt to unify different ideological factions in the labour movement through minority nationalism. The article contributes to the study of the relation between socialism and nationalism by extending the discussion to include national minorities and their relation to the socialist labour movement. The main theoretical innovation of the article is the concept of socialist minority nationalism. This concept will function as a heuristic tool for analysing the intersection of nationalism and socialist classconsciousness within the Finnish labour movement. The Swedish-speaking agents of the Finnish labour movement, and their socialist Finland-Swedish identity-project, has hitherto been neglected in Finnish labour history. Through historical investigations of national or ethnic minorities, or other past and present marginalized groups and individuals in labour history, it is possible to problematize the hegemonic historical narratives of the majority.

Muukalaisten seksualisointi sodanjälkeisessä suomenruotsalaisessa tehdasyhteisössä

“…10 Uusimmassa suomalaisessa työväenhistorian tutkimuksessa on sen sijaan nostettu esille suomenruotsalaisen vähemmistönationalismin vaikutus ruotsinkielisessä työväenliikkeessä ja työväen arjessa 1900-luvulla. 11 Myös uusimmassa historiallisessa nationalismitutkimuksessa on siirretty analyyttista katsetta "tavallisten" ihmisten kokemuksiin ja käytäntöihin, joilla nationalismia on tuotettu alhaaltapäin. 12 Artikkelini hakee inspiraatiota tästä tutkimussuuntauksesta, jossa tutkimuskohteena on työväen kokemukset (etno)nationalismista ja se, miten työväki ei ainoastaan toiminut vastaanottavana osapuolena vaan myös nationalismin agenttina.…”

Minority Nationalism and Socialism

“…Whilst Swedish-speaking socialists were undertaking a socialist class struggle against their bourgeoisie counterparts within the Swedish-speaking minority, they had to also stand up for their linguistic rights among the Finnish-speaking majority. 8 This also opens up a perspective on social and minority national rights, which were at the centre of the political struggle of the Swedish-speaking labour movement, as a distinct form of what can heuristically be analysed as socialist minority nationalism. The significance of using minority nationalism as an analytical tool is to delineate a clear division between the concepts of the nation (as an ethnic-linguistic community) and the nation state (as a civic community including or excluding one or multiple nations).…”

“…For example, the dispute over Wiik's political heritage would lead to a severe divide in the Finnish-Swedish labour movement, which in turn threatened to have a serious impact on the entire SDP and its future during the postwar years in the late 1940s. 7 However, the Swedish-speaking labour movement must not be reduced to a personality cult around K. H. Wiik; it was more the ideas he put forward that the members listened to and which they could relate to in their social and political reality. It has been claimed that the Swedish-speaking labour movement and working class faced a dual exclusion: as an ideological minority in the bourgeoisie dominated Finland-Swedish ethnic group and as a linguistic ethnic minority in the Finnish labour movement.…”