Lapua movement
The Lapua movement , also Lappo movement , ( Finnish : Lapuanliike , Swedish : Lapporörelsen ) was a fascist popular movement in Finland and existed from 1929 to 1932.
After the world economic crisis , like in many other European countries, a fascist movement also formed in Finland. The Lapua movement was initially constituted as a mass movement of the political right with a blocking function against communism and initially directed its entire political activity exclusively against the activities of the Finnish Communist Party , which at that time was predominantly the “ fifth column of Moscow” in Finland . The movement had its roots in anti-communist circles within politics, business and science and in right-wing rifle associations . She was an influential force in the Finnish political landscape for some time. The movement mainly acted as a lawful party and supported the election of Pehr Evind Svinhufvud as prime minister , on its initiative also the restrictive laws against the political activities of the left parties go back, and it was the decisive force behind the constitutional amendment, which made Finland a parliamentary democracy converted into a strongly authoritarian presidential regime. At the same time, the extra-parliamentary political activity of this party was characterized by acts of violence against political opponents, which mostly included activists and members of left-wing parties, including political murder . The decline of the movement began from 1931 with internal conflicts between the moderate, who saw their goal largely achieved through the elimination of the communists from the public and political life and the constitutional amendment, and the radical forces oriented towards National Socialist Germany and Fascist Italy , their goal was a complete transformation of Finland into a fascist state. Towards the end of 1931, the movement's mass political base began to dwindle, so that it finally had to disband in 1932. The Patriotic People's Movement (Finnish: Isänmaallinen Kansanliike ) founded in 1932 functioned informally as the successor party until it was dissolved under pressure from the Soviet Union in 1944.
Web links
Bibliography
- Encyclopedia of National Socialism Wolfgang Benz, Section Finland, 972765735