Revolutionary ferment in Finland and the origins of the civil war 1917–1918

Abstract

Finland on the eve of independence was a country in which the great mass of the population lived on and earned its living from the land. Of the total 1917 population figure of 3,345,660, 84 per cent still lived in the countryside. Almost two-thirds of the population were dependent upon farming and forestry for their livelihood. In comparison with Sweden, the rate of population growth in Finland after 1860 was higher; but Finland's economic ability to absorb this growing population was much weaker than that of her neighbour. Whereas the proportion of the Finnish population dependent for its livelihood upon industry and handicrafts grew from 7.4 per cent in 1880 to 15.2 per cent in 1910, the corresponding Swedish figures were 17.4 per cent and 32.0 per cent. Urbanisation was also far more advanced in Sweden than in Finland. Emigration helped to alleviate the problems of rural overpopulation, and reached a peak period in the decade 1900–1910, but even then the proportion of Finnish emigrants to the total population remained much lower than the proportions in the other Nordic countries.1

Suomen tilastollinen vuosikirja 1943, (Helsinki, 1944), p. 7. V. Rasila, Torp parikysymyksen ratkaisuvaihe, (Helsinki, 1970), pp. 18–19. On migration, see R. Kero Migration form Finland to North America in the years between the United States civil war and the first world war, (Turku, 1974).

Suomen tilastollinen vuosikirja 1943, (Helsinki, 1944), p. 7. V. Rasila, Torp parikysymyksen ratkaisuvaihe, (Helsinki, 1970), pp. 18–19. On migration, see R. Kero Migration form Finland to North America in the years between the United States civil war and the first world war, (Turku, 1974).

Notes

Suomen tilastollinen vuosikirja 1943, (Helsinki, 1944), p. 7. V. Rasila, Torp parikysymyksen ratkaisuvaihe, (Helsinki, 1970), pp. 18–19. On migration, see R. Kero Migration form Finland to North America in the years between the United States civil war and the first world war, (Turku, 1974).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

D. G. Kirby

David Kirby, born 1942, lecturer in Baltic history, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London. Publications include Finland and Russia 1808–1920. From Autonomy to Independence. A Selection of Documents edited and translated by D. G. Kirby. (Landon, 1975).