Finland Under German Control Events of the Period of Chaos and Foreign Invasion Preceding the Fall of Viborg

Civil war, later complicated by the German invasion, has been the central fact in the history of Finland since the declaration of its independence in December, 1917. The internecine strife was precipitated by the coup d'État which the Finnish Socialists effected in January, 1918. It so happened that the representatives of the propertied classes had the majority in the Diet which severed the century-old connection between Finland and Russia. As for the Government which this Diet has set up to rule the independent republic, all its members belong to middle-class parties. Headed by Mr. Svinhufud, a Young-Finn leader, it includes one Svekoman, two Agrarians, three Old-Finns, and six Young-Finns.

The dissatisfaction of the Socialist elements, which are very strong in Finland, with this rÉgime soon grew so intense that they decided to overthrow it by armed force. The Red Guard, that is, detachments of armed workmen organized by the Finnish Labor Party, seized Helsingfors, dissolved the "bourgeois" Government, and formed a Socialist Cabinet under the leadership of Senator Kullervo Manner. The revolutionists did not, however, succeed in capturing Mr. Svinhufud and his associates. These fled north and established their headquarters at Vasa, (Nikolaystadt,) on the Gulf of Bothnia. Since then the half-starved country has been the arena of bloody clashes between the Red troops and the forces supporting the Vasa Government, which consist largely of middle-class elements and are known as the White Guards.

It is an open secret that Russia rendered substantial assistance to the Finnish revolutionists. Most of the weapons in their possession are from Russian arsenals, and Russian soldiers who lingered on in Finland even after the Bolsheviki had agreed to withdraw the Russian troops stationed there have been fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Finnish Red Guards. It is reported that on several occasions the Finnish Red Guards were reinforced by Red Guards from Petrograd. Moreover, in its organization the Finnish Socialist Workmen's Republic is a copy of the Russian Soviet Republic. The Red Finns have the same hierarchy of Soviets, and they affect the administrative terminology of the Bolsheviki.

RED FINLAND

The Finnish Socialists should not, however, be treated as identical with the Russian Bolsheviki. The difference between them is probably due to a difference of civilization, for culturally the dissimilarity between a Russian and a Finn is as great as it is linguistically and ethnically. It is noteworthy that unlike the Bolsheviki they regard their own rule as a transitional, provisional rÉgime. Speaking on Feb. 14, 1918, at the first meeting of the Finnish Central Soviet, Kullervo Manner, President of the Commissariat of the People of Finland, said among other things:

One of the foremost aims of the great revolution of Finland's workers is to build the proud edifice of a political democracy on the ruins of the fallen power of the Junkers. * * * As soon as the enemy of the people has been defeated throughout the country shall the people of Finland be given an opportunity through referendum to accept a new Constitution. The People's Commissariat intends shortly to put before the Central Soviet a proposal for a fundamental law through which will be laid the ground for a real representation by the people and a firm foundation for the future of the working class.

Although the Finnish Socialists are united with Russia by co-operation and common aspirations, they do not desire to join the Russian Federation. Finnish socialism identifies itself with the cause of Finnish nationalism. It was the Socialists that were the stanchest advocates of Finland's secession from Russia, and it was they that, by calling a general strike, forced the Diet to adopt immediately the Independence bill in November, 1917.

The notion of Finland's complete sovereignty forms the basis of the peace concluded early in March, 1918, between the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Finnish Socialist Workmen's Republic, "in order to strengthen the friendship and fraternity between the above-mentioned free republics." According to this pact, published on March 10, Russia hands over to the Independent Finnish Socialist Republic all its possessions in Finland, including real estate, telegraphs, railways, fortresses, lighthouses, and also Finnish ships which had been requisitioned by the Russian Government before or during the war. Article IX. provides for "free and unimpeded access for the merchant ships of the Russian and Finnish Socialist Republics to all seas, lakes and rivers, harbors, anchoring places, and channels" within their territories. The next article establishes uninterrupted communication, without trans-shipment, between the Russian and Finnish railways. Article XIII. contains the provision that "Finnish citizens in Russia as well as Russian citizens in Finland shall enjoy the same rights as the citizens of the respective countries."

GERMAN HAND IN FINLAND

If "Red" Finland has had the support of the Russian Bolsheviki, "White" Finland has found a most enterprising ally in Germany. The Vasa Government has been working in direct and now open contact with Berlin. It is overwhelmingly pro-German. The relation between the two Governments early assumed the character of vassalage on the part of the Finns. This is evidenced by the peace agreement which official Finland concluded with Germany on March 7. Its full text will be found elsewhere in this issue.

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Since the beginning of the war the Germans have been conducting in Finland an active campaign of espionage and propaganda through a host of agents and sympathizers. The propaganda found a favorable soil among the propertied classes, and especially among the landed gentry of Swedish extraction. On the other hand, the persecutions which the Czar's bureaucracy inflicted upon the nation, and against which neither the French nor the British press uttered any adequate protest, drove some of the patriotic Finns into the arms of Russia's enemies. A number of Finnish youths escaped to Germany and entered the ranks of the German Army. The University of Helsingfors played a prominent part in this movement. In 1915 an entire battalion made up exclusively of Finns fought under the German colors, while no Finns served in the Russian Army, exemption from military service being one of the ancient Finnish privileges respected by the Imperial Russian Government.

After the March revolution, and especially after the fall of Riga, the efforts of the German agents, with whom Finland now fairly swarmed, were directed toward fomenting Finnish separatism. In fact, the Swedish press asserted that from the very beginning of the war the Germans had spent large sums of money in trying to fan the Finns' smoldering discontent with Russia. At the same time Germany endeavored to enlist the sympathies of the White Guards, (skudshÄr,) which the middle classes were hastily organizing, ostensibly for the purpose of assisting the militia and protecting the population from robbers. Berlin was so successful in its task that as early as October, 1917, the head of the Russian Bureau of Counterespionage in Finland spoke of the skudshÄr as "the vanguard of the German Army." The Finns who served in Wilhelm's army and were thoroughly indoctrinated with German military science and German ideals were returned to their native country, and it was they that took upon themselves to officer the White Guards. Some of the weapons and munitions used by the latter were secured from Sweden, but most of them came from Germany and were probably a part of the Russian booty. The above-mentioned Russian official declared, in an interview published in a Petrograd daily in October, 1917, that German submarines appeared regularly off the Finnish coast and delivered arms and ammunition to Finnish vessels.

ATROCITIES ON BOTH SIDES

The White Guards, commanded by General Mannerheim, fought the revolutionists with varying success but without achieving a decisive victory. Several towns in the south were the scene of prolonged battles in which many lives were lost, notably Tammerfors, the important industrial centre, where fierce fighting raged throughout the second half of March. The factory districts in the north were also the scene of stubborn fighting. A number of women were seen in the ranks of the Red Guards.

The two warring factions created a reign of "Red" and "White" terror in the country. Both committed frightful atrocities. On April 17, Oskari Tokoi, the Commissionary for Foreign Affairs in the Socialist Cabinet, protested to all the powers against the manner in which General Mannerheim treated his Red Guard prisoners. He pointed out that, while the Red Guards regarded the captured White Guards as prisoners of war, the Government troops, having taken a number of prisoners, shot all the officers and every fifteenth man of the rank and file. On the other hand, the corpses of many White Guards were found unspeakably mutilated.

Immediately after the outbreak of the Socialist rebellion, the official Government conceived the idea of appealing for foreign military aid against the revolutionists. On Jan. 30 such an appeal was reported to have been sent to Sweden. The cause of White Finland had many sympathizers in that country. The Finnish White Guards had a recruiting office in Stockholm, and a number of Swedish volunteers fought in their ranks. A considerable portion (12 per cent.) of the Finnish population are Swedes, mostly members of the higher classes. In addition, the two countries have common historical memories, for Finland was a Swedish province for six centuries, from the time of Erik VIII., King of Sweden, till the Russian annexation in 1809.

The Swedish Government did not, however, elect to intervene. It is not certain whether Stockholm refused its assistance because Finland refused to cede the Aland Islands to the Swedes as a compensation for their services, or because, as Mr. Branting asserts, Sweden was to intervene "as the creature and ally of Germany." The only step the Swedes took was to send a military expedition to the Aland Islands, in response to several appeals from their population, which is mostly Swedish. This measure was decided upon by the Swedish Parliament on Feb. 16 and was effected two or three days later.

The Aland Archipelago, consisting of about ninety inhabited islets and situated between Abo on the Finnish coast and Stockholm, belongs to Finland. Its strategic importance for Sweden is aptly characterized by an old phrase which describes it as "a revolver aimed at the heart of Sweden." The mission of Sweden's troops was to clear the islands, by moral suasion if possible, from the bands of Russian soldiers and Finnish White and Red Guards which for some time had been terrorizing the population. The Bolshevist garrison offered stubborn resistance to the landing of the Swedish forces.

THE GERMAN INVASION

At noon on March 2 a German detachment occupied the Aland Islands. The next day the German Minister at Stockholm informed the Swedish Government that Germany intended to use these islands as a halting place for the German military expedition into Finland, undertaken at the request of the Finnish Government for the purpose of suppressing the revolution. He gave assurances that Germany sought no territorial gains in effecting the occupation and would not hinder the humanitarian work of the Swedish Supervision Corps in the islands. On March 22 the Main Committee of the Reichstag rejected, by 12 votes against 10, the motion of the Independent Social Democrats to evacuate the Aland Islands and cease interfering with the internal affairs of Finland.

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Mr. Branting, the Swedish political leader, denounced the talk that Finland, deserted by Sweden, turned to Germany in despair, as "gross hypocrisy." He is convinced that a secret agreement existed between Finland and Germany long before the outbreak of the civil war, and that Finland wants to be a dependency under Germany rather than a member of a Scandinavian federation of States. Some members of the Diplomatic Corps in Washington were also reported to believe that the civil war was merely a specious pretext for inviting Germany to restore order in the country, and that the negotiations which brought about the German intervention had been going on secretly for months.

March passed in preparations for the expedition. On the morning of April 3 the Russian icebreaker Volinetz, which had been captured by the White Guards, piloted a German naval squadron, consisting of thirty-six ships, into the Finnish waters of HangÖ, which is the extreme southwestern point of the Finnish coast, within a few hours of Helsingfors. During the afternoon the Germans landed on the peninsula of HangÖ a force which, according to an official German statement, comprised 40,000 men under General Sasnitz, 300 guns, and 2,000 machine guns. The next day the Berlin War Office issued the following statement: "Eastern Theatre—In agreement with the Finnish Government, German troops have landed on the Finnish mainland." Later more German detachments were landed at Abo.

According to one report, the Germans, upon their landing, opened negotiations with the Finnish Socialists, but their overtures were apparently rejected. The Russian Government immediately protested to Germany against the landing in Finland. The German Government replied by demanding that the Russian war vessels in Finnish territorial waters should either leave for Russian ports or disarm, according to Article 5 of the Brest-Litovsk treaty, on or before midday, April 12. The Bolsheviki ordered the commander of the Baltic fleet to carry out this demand. Four Russian submarines were fired upon and sunk by the Germans at HangÖ during the landing and several other Russian warships were blown up by their own crews for fear of being captured by the Germans.

VIEW OF FINNISH LAKE REGION NEAR FAVASTELLIUS