Arvo Aalto

Arvo Aulis Aalto (born July 13, 1932 in Rovaniemi ) is a former Finnish politician . He was general secretary of the Communist Party of Finland from 1969 to 1984 and chairman of the party from 1984 to 1988. From 1977 to 1981 he was the Finnish Minister of Labor .

Life

Aalto, the son of a stonemason and a seamstress, learned the mason trade after visiting. From 1947 to 1955 worked in his profession. In 1952 he joined the Communist Party of Finland ( Suomen communistinen puolue , SKP). In 1955/56 he trained primarily in economic issues at the Sirola Institute, the SKP party school. He then worked as the economic secretary of the party organization in Lapland until 1959. Between 1960 and 1964 he served as one of the SKP district secretaries for Rovaniemi. During his stay abroad in 1961/62, including in Moscow , his function was suspended. From 1965 to 1969 he was the first secretary of the SKP district leadership in Rovaniemi. Aalto belonged to the party's eurocommunist majority wing . In 1969 he was elected general secretary of the party. He was considered a close confidante of the party chairman Aarne Saarinen .

From May 15, 1977 to March 23, 1981, Aalto was Minister of Labor, first in the Sorsa cabinet, then in the Koivisto cabinet . He gave his portfolio to Jouko Kajanoja , SKP party chairman from 1982 to 1984. In May 1984 Aalto was on the XX. Party congress elected party chairman. He held this office until his resignation on May 23, 1988. During his time as party chairman, the Orthodox, Moscow-loyal party wing around Taisto Sinisalo split off from the SKP in 1985/86 .

In 1988 Aalto published his autobiography Elämäni miljoonat .

Web links

• Arvo Aalto in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
• Finnish Government Page (Finnish)
• Short biography on Uppslagsverket Finland (Swedish)