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OT equivalent: Karelo-FInnish Soviet Socialist Republic
The Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Finnish: Suomen Sosialistinen Neuvostotasavalta, Russian: Финская Советская Социалистическая Республика) also known to speakers of Finnish and/or Finnic languages as the Suomi SSR and to Russian-speakers as the Finnish SSR, Soviet East Finland or East Finland originally found as the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Finnish: Karjalais-suomalainen sosialistinen neuvostotasavalta, Russian: Каре́ло-Фи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, Karelo-Finskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) and from 1996 to 1998 as the Soviet Republic of East Finland (Finnish: Itä-Suomen Neuvostoliitto, Russian: Советская Республика Восточная Финляндия, Sovetskaya Respublika Vostochnaya Finlyandiya) was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, that was established in 1940 after the Scandinavian-Soviet war and changed in 1998 to the Autonomous Republic of Karelia.
In 1940, after the Treaty of Finland, signed between Scandinavia and the Soviet Union, Finland was divided into a Soviet-controlled east, and a Scandinavian west. The eastern part became the the Karelo-Finnish SSR. However, in order to reconcile Finnic culture of the north with Soviet loyalty, Viktor Baburin allowed Otto Wille Kuusinen to unite the Finnic-speaking peoples of the north into a Finnish Soviet republic.
Kuusinen would go on to act as the Soviet foreign ambassador to Scandinavia.
After the downfall of the CPSU, the Karelia-Finnish Movement sprung up once again, forcing Soviet authorities to crack down in the Suomi SSR. A Russian, Ruslan Blatov was installed as the Supreme Soviet of East Finland. In 1998, the former Suomi SSR became the Autonomous Republic of Karelia.
History[]
Post-World War II[]
After the Second World War, out of respect for all the peoples in the Soviet Union, Baburin passed laws protecting the cultural autonomy of the Finnic peoples of East Finland, despite promoting Russian nationalism. Baburin viewed the Finnic peoples as one of the paramount allies of the Russians, and having contributed to Russian history and glory.
Therefore, Finnish was promoting as the de facto national language of the republic, alongside Russian, which was reserved for interactions outside the East Finnish SSR.
Despite following a State Atheist government, the Finnic peoples of the Finnish SSR were rather religious, and as an attempt to reconcile them with Russian culture, Baburin allowed the Finnish Orthodox Church to have its influence in the Finnish SSR.
However, the Finnish Orthodox in Scandinavian Finland were not embracive of Finnish Communists, seeing them as traitors to Finland, and of Scandinavia. Therefore, two "Finnish Orthodox" emerged, the Orthodox Church of Finland - with its full autocephaly and full independence from the Russian Orthodox Church, and the autonomous section in East Finland, coming under the control of the pro-Soviet Patriarchate of Moscow.
Nonetheless, the Lake Ladoga and East Finland became popular getaways for Soviet citizens.
During the Kruschev era, a large number of ethnic Russians migrated to the Finnish SSR, which many suspect was racially motivated by Kruschev. However, succeeding leader Brezhnev reversed Kruschev's pogroms, in which he and Paavo Prokkonen, who succeeded Otto Wilhelm Kuusinen as the Supreme Soviet of East Finland, to set a quota on the number of ethnic Russians settling in East Finland.
Post-communist era, 1989-present[]
In 1989, after the downfall of the CPSU, Vladimir Janhonen became the leader of the New Socialists of East Finland, and was an active supporter of President Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika and glasnost. However throughout those years, two radical separatist groups emerged, namely the Nordic Karelia Movement, a group advocating for a full return of Karelia to Scandinavia, and the Republic of Karelia, led by Johann Kaipainen, advocating for a completely independent Karelian state, although Scandinavian-aligned.
Therefore, President Gorbachev was forced to declare martial law in East Finland, and installed Ruslan Blatov as the Supreme Soviet of East Finland, causing even more outrage among the peoples of East Finland. Fyodor Kailajärvi however, led the opposition against Blatov, and proclaimed himself the Supreme Soviet of East Finland, with the majority of the people's support.
Kailajärvi became an active support of Boris Pokrovsky, who became Soviet president in 1996, and promised Kailajärvi that he would undo Gorbachev's martial law. As President Pokrovsky further attempted to distance the Soviet Union away from communism, and a shift into democracy, the Finnish SSR was re-named the Soviet Republic of East Finland. As a token of Pokrovsky's willingness to cooperate with Kailajärvi and the peoples of East Finland, he appointed Kailajärvi to be the Supreme Soviet of East Finland, and allowed him to represent East Finland in the Transitionary Council, established with President Vasily Belinsky of the Russian Republic.
Kailajärvi was among many of the leaders of the Soviet Union's non-Russian SSRs to voice their concerns and demands for autonomy, a demand that President Pokrvosky had no trouble granting. Therefore, as part of the Transitionary Council's plans, in place of the Finnish SSR, the Autonomous Republic of Karelia would take its place with Kailajärvi as its Governor.
This, in 1998, after the re-unification, the former Finnish SSR became the Autonomous Republic of Karelia.