Aarne Saarinen

Aarne Armas Saarinen (born December 5, 1913 in Degerby, Siuntio , † April 13, 2004 in Helsinki ) was a Finnish communist politician and trade unionist . He was chairman of the Communist Party of Finland from 1966 to 1982 .

Life

Saarinen was born into a working-class family in Siuntio, a predominantly Swedish-speaking rural community west of Helsinki. Saarinen's father was a stone grinder who joined the Red Guards at the end of the Finnish civil war in 1918 and then fled to Soviet Russia. However, he soon returned to Finland and was briefly detained in a prison camp. In 1927 the family moved to Helsinki, where Saarinen completed his Swedish-language training, which he had started in Siuntio. When he arrived in Helsinki, Saarinen spoke practically no Finnish, he first had to learn the Finnish language from books. From 1932 to 1945 he worked as a stonemason . Saarinen married in 1933, his marriage lasted more than sixty years until the death of his wife, Helmi. He had three children with her. In 1934 Saarinen joined the stonemasons branch of the construction workers' union and began to support the now illegal CP of Finland ( Finnish Suomen communistinen puolue , SKP). The party, along with all other communist organizations, had been banned in 1930 and worked underground. In 1938 Saarinen became the union secretary for his branch.

At the end of the Winter War (1939-1940) between Finland and the Soviet Union, Saarinen fought at the front in a Finnish regiment. Saarinen also served Finland in the Continuation War from 1941 onwards and only returned home after the armistice in September 1944.

Saarinen joined the legalized SKP in 1944 and became a functionary of the construction workers' union in 1945. In 1951/52 Saarinen studied at the Sirola Institute of the SKP. From 1952 to 1954, Saarinen was general secretary of the international association of the timber construction trade union and at the same time deputy general secretary of the world trade union federation . From 1954 to 1966 he was finally chairman of the construction workers' union of Finland. Under Saarinen's chairmanship, the number of members rose from 27,000 to over 60,000. He was also able to implement a pension system for workers with short-term contracts.

1962 Saarinen was elected for the first time for the Democratic Union of the Finnish People ( Finnish Suomen kansan demokraattinen liitto , SKDL) in parliament (until 1970, again 1972-1983). In early 1966 Saarinen was elected chairman of the SKP. The conflict within the SKP broke out shortly after the party congress when the SKP joined the center-left government under the Social Democrat Rafael Paasio . The advocates of an opposition policy under Taisto Sinisalo - also referred to as "Taistoists" after him - represented the orthodox communist, Moscow-loyal minority in the party, while the majority under Saarinen represented eurocommunist positions. For example, Saarinen publicly criticized the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia in 1968 - including on television - while the Taistoists welcomed the Soviet intervention. Saarinen did not withdraw his criticism even when he was urgently asked to do so by the Soviet ambassador in Helsinki, Andrei Kowalew. In 1969 both Saarinen and Taisto Sinisalo traveled to Moscow. Saarinen was confirmed in office at the 1970 party congress and Sinisalo was elected second chairman. Saarinen was always concerned with the unity of the SKP, a split in the party could be avoided under his chairmanship.

After resigning as party chairman in May 1982, Saarinen wrote for the SKDL newspaper Kansan Uutiset (German: “People's News”). He also published two volumes of memoirs.

From 1962 to 1970 and from 1972 to 1983 Saarinen was a member of the Helsinki City Council. In 1962, 1968, 1978 and 1982 he was a member of the electoral council for the presidential election. Saarinen was also a member of the board of the central organization of the Finnish trade unions ( Finnish Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö , SAK) for many years .

Works

Yhteistyön viitat ja karikot . 1973
Suomalaisen communist kokemuksia . 1984
Kivimies . 1994

literature

A. Thomas Lane (ed.): Biographical dictionary of European labor leaders . Volume 1 (A-L). Westport / London, Greenwood 1995, p. 830.
Aarne Saarinen , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 50/1983 of December 5, 1983, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Saarinen, Aarne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Saarinen, Aarne Armas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Finnish communist politician, member of the Reichstag and trade unionist
DATE OF BIRTH	December 5, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH	Degerby, Siuntio
DATE OF DEATH	April 13, 2004
Place of death	Helsinki