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FINNISHCONSUMPTION FINNISHCONSUMPTION AnEmergingConsumerSociety betweenEastandWest Editedby VisaHeinonen&MattiPeltonen FinnishLiteratureSociety•Helsinki StudiaHistorica83 ISBN978-952-222-522-1 ISSN0081-6493 www.finlit.fi Painotyö:HansaprintOy,Vantaa2013 CONTENTS Acknowledgements...........................................................................7 Introduction:TheFormationoftheFinnishTypeofConsumer SocietybetweentheEastandtheWest,the1950sand1960s.......... 10 VisaHeinonen PARTI.THEMAKINGOFTHEFRUGALCONSUMER TheFinnishConsumerMentalityandEthos:AttheIntersection betweenEastandWest.................................................................. 42 VisaHeinonenandMinnaAutio ACountryofDecentConsumers:TheRoleofAlcohol inEverydayFinnishLifeinthe1950s............................................ 88 MattiPeltonen ImaginingEconomy.FinlandiaNewsreelsBuildingupsharedImagery inthe1950sandearly1960s........................................................ 104 MinnaLammiandPäiviTimonen Anglo-AmericanPopMusic,FinnishTango,andtheControversial ImagesofModernityinFinlandinthe1960s............................... 124 JannePoikolainen 5 PARTII.CONSUMPTIONASSPECTACLE: AGEOFTHETELEVISION,AFFLUENCE ANDMEDIATISATIONOFCONSUMERSOCIETY TelevisionCreatingFinnishConsumerMentalityinthe1960s.... 154 JukkaKortti TheLegalizingofRouletteandChangesinFinnishConsumer Cultureinthe1960sand1970s................................................... 180 RiittaMatilainen AccidentalTraders–FinnishTouristsintheSovietUnion inthe1950s–1970s...................................................................... 206 HannaKuusi FromBackgroundtoForeground:MusicProductsforProduction andConsumptionSpaces............................................................. 230 KaarinaKilpiö Afterword SummerhousesandSaunas,ParksandLibraries –PlacesofPrivateandPublicConsumptioninFinland............... 254 MattiPeltonenandVisaHeinonen Listofcontributors.......................................................................260 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is the result of hard work of devoted people. The idea to produce a collection of texts examining the emerging Finnish consumer society originated in discussion in our KuMu-seminar that we started as a part of post-graduate training project funded partiallybytheUniversityofHelsinki.Asaby-productaresearcher community called the Transformation of the Consumer Society (in Finnish Kulutusyhteiskunnan Muutos or in short KuMu) was born.Wewouldliketothankverymuchallthescholarswhohave participatedourseminarsandcontributedtodiscussionsduringthe years.Theresearchcommunitycontinuesitswork.Especially,wewould like to thank Professor Emerita Anne Murcott and Professor Frank Trentmann (Birkbeck College, University of London) for valuable ideasandpointingouttheimportanceofinternationalcomparisons, whenourprojectwasinitsinitialstate.Also,wewouldliketothank theanonymousrefereesselectedbytheFinnishHistoricalSocietyto evaluateourmanuscriptforverygoodandencouragingcomments,our publisherTheFinnishLiteratureSocietyfortakingourmanuscriptto theirpublishingprogramandRaunoEndénfortakingcareofourbook projectasthepublisher’srepresentative. VisaHeinonenandMattiPeltonen Helsinki,November2013 7 HelsinkiWorker’s MotoristClub’smembers gatheredaroundanew Triumphmotorcycle inHakaniemi,Helsinki, in1952.Photographer YrjöLintunen(Kansan Arkisto). INTRODUCTION:THEFORMATION OFTHEFINNISHTYPEOFCONSUMER SOCIETYBETWEENTHEEAST ANDTHEWEST,THE1950SAND1960S VisaHeinonen INTRODUCTION After the Second WorldWar, Finland experienced very rapid social structuralchangeandurbanizationespeciallyduringthe1960s.Modern convenienceslikerunningwaterandanindoortoiletbecameeveryday necessitiestomanyFinnishhouseholds.Thestandardoflivingrose rapidly. Following the international trend, increasing individualism proceeded slowly and was related to the rising commercial culture. Especiallyfromthe1960sonwards,phenomenalikeadvertisingand fashionbecameimportantarenaswherethepopularcultureflourished. WhatwerethespecialfeaturesofthetransitionprocessoftheFinnish consumersociety?HowdidtheFinnishcasestandoutfromboththe USandWesternEuropeandevelopmentandfromthedevelopmentin EasternEuropeancountries? The essential concepts under scrutiny are the consumer society and its transition. The emphasis of this introductory article is on the post- Second World War decades until the 1980s. Methodologically, the focus is on historical comparison of the crucial trends in social structural change in society in Finland. The Finnish transition will be compared to the trajectories apparent in some Western European countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and England. Finland is a very 10 interesting case of consumer society transition between the West and the East. The Soviet Union became an important partner in economic cooperation soon after the war, because of the bilateral trade treaty. At the same time, American influences like advertising and commercial popular culture broke through in Finland. During the 1920s and 1930s Finland still received its most important cultural influences from Germany. The American influence in business life started to increase gradually during the 1950s. The advertising business in particular embraced American advertising and marketing ideas during the 1950s and 1960s. The retailing models like self-service, the new ideas of housing and suburban building and the influences of commercial youth culture and music came from the United States, often via Sweden (Pantzar 2000; Heinonen 1998; Heinonen & Konttinen 2001; Kilpiö 2005; Kortti 2003; Lammi 2006; Peltonen, Kurkela & Heinonen 2003). The transition towards a modern consumer society in Finland during the first three post-war decades was interestingly characterized by both Eastern and Western influences adapted from the neighbouring countries of Sweden and the Soviet Union, the most important trading partners being West Germany and the United Kingdom, other Western and Eastern European countries and also from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. FROMRATIONINGANDSCARCITYTOTHE BREAKTHROUGHOFTHEMODERN CONSUMERSOCIETY SoonaftertheSecondWorldWar,Finnsfacedthebitterfactofhaving beenonthelosingsideinthewaralongwithcountrieslikeGermany andItalyinEuropeandJapanoutsideEurope.Finlandgotcaughtup inthewarbecauseofbeingattackedbySoviettroopsintheautumn of1939.TheWinterWarlasteduntilMarch1940.Afteraninterim peace,FinlandbecameinvolvedinawaragaininJune1941,thistime alliedwithGermanywhichhadattackedtheSovietUnion.Afterthe bitter and hard years 1942 and 1943, Finland finally succeeded in detachingitselffromthewarwiththeSovietUnionbyconcludinga truce.ThedefeatinthewarcostFinnsaveryheavyprice.TheSoviet 11 Unionrequiredthatitsformerallies,theGermanforces,hadtobe expelledfromLapland,FinlandlostmostoftheKarelianIsthmusand other territories and the Soviet Union claimed reparation payments of300millionUSdollarstobepaidmostlyintheformofindustrial goods(Eloranta&Kauppila2006,225–226;Heinonen1998,179). Theextremeshortageofalmosteverythingwasrelievedonlybyslow efforts in foreign trade with Sweden. The material and financial support in the form of credit in favourable terms given by Sweden wasespeciallyimportantimmediatelyafterthewar.In1945Finland’s mostimportanttradingpartnerswereSweden,theSovietUnion,Great BritainandDenmark(Aunesluoma2011,94–99;Pihkala1988,22). SoonthereaftertheSovietUnion,GermanyandtheUnitedStatesalso becameimportant. When foreign trade was started after the war, consumer goods became available little by little. The Soviet Union, Germany and the UK were the most important trade partners of Finland for several decades after the war (Pihkala 1988, 73). During the 1950s the trade between Finland and Sweden was at an exceptionally low level, but the importance of Sweden soon gained strength in the 1960s (Aunesluoma 2011, 216). Since then Sweden has remained among the most important trading partners. The trade between Finland and the Soviet nionU was bilateral: Finland imported mostly raw materials from the Soviet Union and exported the products of the wood and metal-processing industries, the textile industry and food products. According to the trade agreement of 1947 the Soviet Union received a most-favoured nation treatment (Pihkala 1988, 23). In 1948 Finland and the Soviet Union concluded the