DISCUSSION

The Migration of Identity: Critics Confounded/Karelian Fever Explained

”Are my eyes really brown?” Hum- appears to follow a career that is olution emerged most notably in phrey Bogart, in the role of an beset with contradiction. the events that led to the Finnish American expatriate, asks Major My critics on the other hand civil war. In the heated party de- Heinrich Strasser, the Nazi com- contend that both Gylling and the bates of 1917, Gylling opposed a mander of German troops in Casa- Finnish Social Democratic party workers’ insurrection to seize blanca. Bogart is wide-eyed with to which he belonged were un- power.7 He sought to safeguard disbelief as he reads Strasser’s note- qualifiedly Marxist. Echoing Carl ’s newly won and fragile book filled with misinformation Ross,3 whom they do not cite, independence rather than imitate about himself and other enemies of they state that the Finnish Social the Bolsheviks in social revolu- the Third Reich in North Africa. Democrats adopted the Erfurt pro- tion. In fact, Gylling’s position, I had a similar reaction when I gram of German Marxism at the shared by many in the party, was read the Hudelson/Sevander essay party’s founding, and that fact suf- to call for the withdrawal of Rus- about my work on the recruitment fices to explain its subsequent sian troops in Finland on the of North American Finns to Kare- politics. They claim that ”Histori- grounds that it was too risky to lia in the early 1930s, which ap- ans of Finland are unanimous in rely on the support of the Bolshe- peared in a recent issue of Siir- their descriptions of the Finnish vik government whose hold on tolaisuus-Migration.1 Bogart’s [Social Democratic] party during power, they believed, would be character mockingly suggests that this time as Orthodox Marxist.”4 short-lived.8 error and irrelevance arise from The truth about Gylling and Kustaa Rovio numbered ideology and fanaticism. Hudel- Finnish Social Democracy is far among those who supported son and Sevander monomaniacal- more compelling than the fiction Gylling’s position. Then head of ly insist ”Karelian fever cannot be of my critics. Upon founding their the Helsinki militia, Rovio understood without appreciating party in 1903, the Finnish Social looked with dismay at the forma- its roots in Marxist ideology.”2 Democrats almost immediately tion of units of Red Guards and I will argue that the phenomena split into two groups.5 One group Civil Guards, both groups set on known as Karelian fever are far in Helsinki wanted to separate it- conflict.9 Rovio would later share more complex; grounded in histo- self from the bourgeoisie in the the administration of Karelia with ry, culture, and ethnicity; and fight against Russification. The Gylling. hence more comprehensible than other, in Tampere, sought to coop- Once the civil war began, the ideological motivation that erate with bourgeois groups to Gylling did everything that he Hudelson and Sevander insist unite the Grand Duchy in opposi- could to prevent radical elements upon. tion to Tsarist oppression. The di- from taking over the leadership of Edvard Gylling, who is central vision plagued Finnish Social De- the Social Democratic party.10 He to any discussion of Karelian fe- mocracy up to 1917. As one lead- remained a firm opponent of revo- ver, presents a paradox that my ing figure in the party explained lution, still seeking a peaceful so- critics have failed to understand. it, Finnish Social Democracy in its lution to the conflict despite the A Social Democrat who opposed early years attempted to cope with violence that had begun to engulf the uprising of 1918 yet served in both class struggle and the strug- Finland by late January 1918.11 the revolutionary government, a gle for national independence.6 It is true that Gylling joined the Finnish nationalist who adminis- Gylling’s preference for Finn- revolutionary government. His tered a Soviet republic, Gylling ish independence over social rev- expertise in finance and econom-

24 DISCUSSION

ics (Gylling had been Chairman of of Russian Marxists as irrelevant both to Russification and to the the Seim’s Board of Overseers for for Finland. According to Yrjö continuing dominance of Swed- the Bank of Finland) made him Sirola, Lenin’s writings were al- ish culture in Finland. Gylling’s indispensable in that regard. On most unknown in Finland in those doctoral dissertation analyzed the March 8, 1918; he assumed the years.17 exploitation of Finland’s rural position of Minister of Finance in Gylling was not unqualifiedly poor under Swedish rule.19 He the revolutionary government.12 Marxist, Orthodox or otherwise, went on to become the Social But he was its last member to ca- as my critics insist. He was a Finn- Democrats’ expert on agrarian is- pitulate, hoping to the end to ne- ish nationalist, reform minded and sues. gotiate a compromise peace with progressive, who opposed class Gylling’s role as the architect the Whites. Only a price on his warfare and social upheaval, par- of the Social Democrats’ agrarian head compelled him to flee Fin- ticularly within a small and vul- policy and leading expert on the land.13 nerable national group like the rural poor in the Seim confronted Gylling did not join the thou- Finns. His partnership with Kustaa him with the dilemma that threat- sands of Red Finns who found ref- Rovio, subsequently so important ened Finland’s autonomy as sure- uge in the new Russian Soviet So- for the cause of Karelian fever, be- ly as Russification, namely the cialist Republic. Instead he went gan at the time of the Finnish civil massive migration of its rural poor to Stockholm. From there he pro- war because both men shared an to North America in the years be- posed to Lenin that the Red Finns aversion to social upheaval in fore World War I. As a pioneer in who had managed to cross the bor- Finland and to alignment with the application of statistical meth- der should be settled in Karelia, Lenin’s new regime. Finnish iden- ods to social questions,20 Gylling creating a distinctive Finnish en- tity is critical to an explanation of knew just how many Finns consti- clave within the new Bolshevik their conduct both in Finland and tuted the North American Finnish state.14 Lenin had no interest in the . diaspora, a fact that he would later Gylling’s novel proposal, and it In 1996 the Karelian State Ar- put to good use in Karelia. came to nought in 1918. chive produced an extensive ex- It is one of the many ironies to Gylling made the same propos- hibition of Gylling photos and arise from Finland’s civil war that al two years later. This time Lenin documents which the archive’s di- Gylling became the leader of a listened.15 Facing tough negotia- rector N.Ia.Kop’ëv generously put Soviet autonomous republic. His tions over Karelia after repeated at my disposal. Prof. Irina Takala career of reform and compromise, attempts by Finland to seize the of Petrozavodsk State University, of respectability and intellectual region, he now saw Gylling’s pro- with equal generosity, placed at achievement, had sooner prepared posal as a way to consolidate the my disposal her encyclopedic him for the so-called ”ministerial Russian Republic’s claim to it. knowledge of the former Party Ar- socialism” that some Finnish So- Theirs was nonetheless a peculiar chive of Karelia. It was she who cial Democrats pursued in the ear- partnership. Gylling had by now led me to the Special Sector docu- ly 1920s, that is the effort to form a joined the recently formed Finn- ments to be discussed below, em- coalition with bourgeois par- ish Communist party, but he made phasizing their unique impor- ties.21 Edvard Valpas, who had led an odd member of the new party. tance for understanding Karelian the only decidedly Marxist fac- Having opposed revolution in fever. tion within Finnish Social De- Finland in 1917–1918; he still The material in the State Ar- mocracy before 1917, the so- advocated parliamentary means chive permits an overview of called Siltasaarelaisuus group, re- to bring about social change in his Gylling’s career before and after mained in Finland.22 former homeland.16 He also had a 1917. Before he was a Social Dem- Gylling came to Karelia not be- great deal to learn as a new party ocrat, Gylling had belonged to the cause of long time sympathies for member. In the years before 1917, political grouping known as the Bolshevism or even Marxism. He Finnish Social Democrats had re- Old Finns.18 The Old Finns were came to Karelia because he had garded the interminable conflicts socially progressive and opposed carefully negotiated with Lenin

25 DISCUSSION

conditions to maintain the auton- danger threatens Karelia of losing workers’ uprising in Finland later omy and Finnish character of the its national character.”26 that year and insulating the former region. According to Gylling the Less than a year before, in the Grand Duchy from the revolution- Russian Central Executive Com- summer of 1929, Kustaa Rovio ary turmoil in Petrograd, his mittee had decreed in 1920 that had joined Gylling in the admin- friendship with Lenin notwith- Karelia would have ”its own or- istration of Karelia. Rovio’s ten- standing. gans of self rule with broad free- ure in Karelia coincides precisely It is time now to turn to the Spe- dom of action.”23 with the period of Karelian fever; cial Sector documents and what The Karelian archival docu- his previous career in the Soviet they tell us about the motives be- ments at my disposal reveal the Union helps explain his support hind Karelian fever.32 It is ludi- ways in which Gylling imple- of it. From 1920 to 1926 Rovio crous to compare these docu- mented those guarantees. An ex- had overseen the military training ments, as my critics do, to doc- pert in state finance, Gylling of Finns in Leningrad.27 He then tored evidence of the sort used ”in quickly acquired control of the served as rector in Leningrad of the political trials of the Stalin Karelian state budget, negotiating the Communist University for era.”33 The Special Sector docu- the rights to keep 90% of the au- Western Minority Nationalities.28 ments were secret, internal inves- tonomous republic’s income in In other words, Rovio like Gylling tigatory material, precisely of the Karelia.24 His language decree of had devoted himself almost ex- sort now being used by reputable 1924 insured the dominance of clusively to the cause of Finns scholars both in and the Finnish over Russian.25 In one while in the Soviet Union. West to write the social history of sense it could be said that Gylling Once in Karelia, Rovio defend- the Soviet Union. In the absence had resolved the conflict that had ed Gylling’s policy of Finniciza- of open sources to record public divided the Finnish Social Demo- tion.29 In all official photos of opinion, the investigations of the crats before 1917. By crafting a Rovio in Karelia that I have seen, NKVD remain to provide a wealth measure of independence for he sits or stands next to Gylling. of material to understand Soviet Karelia under the aegis of the dic- Such placement, I believe, sym- society and politics from the in- tatorship of the proletariat, he had bolizes the close working rela- side. merged national independence tionship the two men had. They On a personal note, I offered my with the resolution of the class were removed from positions of copies of those documents to Mr. struggle. power in Karelia within months of Hudelson. He responded, ”Don’t By 1930 the resolution had each other, punished for their na- bother. I can’t read a word of broken down, and Gylling’s pri- tionality policy.30 them.” I find it a peculiar practice mary concern became how to My critics contend that I claim indeed to condemn documents maintain the Finnish character of that ”Soviet Russia did not mat- which you are incapable of assess- Karelia. He now faced a demo- ter” for Rovio.31 I can only re- ing or even comprehending. graphic dilemma of a sort that he spond that Rovio’s career clearly Prior to investigation of the had been all too familiar with be- suggests a commitment to his own Special Sector documents, I had fore 1917. Gylling expressed this Finnish identity over any other. become dubious of the traditional concern at the time that he noted Between his arrest and execution explanations of Karelian fever of the need for an enlarged force in in 1937, it is safe to surmise that the sort that Hudelson and Karelia to meet the elevated pro- he regarded the Soviet experiment Sevander offer. I noticed that duction quotas set by the First with dubiety. My critics also note while recruiters had ostensibly Five Year Plan. Gylling then peti- that Rovio sheltered Lenin, then sought a work force for Karelia to tioned the Central Committee for on the run from the Provisional help build socialism, the recruit- permission to bring Finns from the Government in the summer of ment had remained confined to USA and Canada ”because other- 1917. Rovio’s deed should not Finnish communities and to Finn- wise bringing in tens of thousands obscure the fact that he joined ish language publications. Such of new [non-Finnish] cadres, the Gylling in trying to prevent a recruitment was not difficult to

26 DISCUSSION

conduct. Many Finnish-Ameri- have in my possession a Finnish where. Unfortunately, Aino Ku- cans remained demographically language pamphlet entitled Karl usinen does more than ”suggest” segregated as well as linguistical- Marx written by N. Lenin. The that Corgan worked for Soviet se- ly isolated. The recruitment mes- Työmies Society, which Matti curity. She states explicitly that sage could reach them quickly. At Tenhunen then directed, pub- he was a ”secret assistant” of ”a the same time I began to wonder if lished it in Superior, Wisconsin, wily agent whose true name was the medium were not itself the in 1921. In 1931 to 1934 Ten- Gorin.”39 I asked Mrs. Sevander if message: Finns were wanted be- hunen sought those who could she had ever known Aino Kuusin- cause they were Finns. read that pamphlet to go to Kare- en or knew of her father to associ- Richard Impola’s translation of lia. It did not matter whether they ate with her. ”Oh, yes,” was her re- Ernesti Komulainen’s autobio- had actually read it or not. ply. ”She was at our house all the graphical novel A Grave in Kare- Sevander has done yeoman time.” If true, Kuusinen was in a lia,34 coupled with the revelations service in her research among the position to know the nature of in the Special Sector documents, survivors of Karelian fever. I do Corgan’s activities. confirmed my earlier surmise. Like not deny her claim to possess hun- The issues that divide me from the NKVD interrogators, I too asked dreds of testimonies that confirm my critics lie at the heart of the the same basic question: just what ”the ideological motives for the work of the Migration Institute had brought the wave of North majority of these people.”38 But and this publication: what en- American Finns to Karelia in the the questions you pose determine courages or impels people to mi- first place? In the Special Sector the answers you will receive. grate from one homeland to an- documents I found that Matti Ten- Those whom I have interviewed in other. Gylling sought to recreate hunen had insisted in his recruit- depth whether in Finland, Karelia, in Karelia the Finnish homeland ment speeches that ”people can or North America confirm, when that he had left behind in 1918. sign up and go [to the Soviet Un- queried, the importance of Finn- Those who went to Karelia in the ion] without political convic- ish identity combined with Kare- early 1930s had not immediately tions.”35 What mattered, according lia’s Finnish character to explain flocked to the Soviet Union in the to one of those who heard him, ”not why they or their parents were early 1920s as soon as the Bolshe- to let the Finnish nation die...we willing to go. My own surmise is viks launched the first Marxist must Finnicize Karelia...”36 that those who went, whether as state. North American Finns went In Komulainen’s novel Ten- Leftist visionaries, or seeking an when they were recruited as Finns hunen becomes Hentunen. One escape from the Great Depression to a Finnish homeland to insure, character ruefully remembers that or simply adventure, perceived a as Gylling stated, ”the national Hentunen had recruited North measure of security in the expec- character” of Karelia. In sum, American Finns, ”telling them tation that they would find in Marxist ideology will not suffice that the Soviet Government had Karelia the same Finnish culture to explain the motives of either decided to make Karelia a totally that were leaving behind in North the recruiters or the recruited to Finnish speaking area.”37 America. Karelia in the early 1930s. Gylling’s language law of 1924 The issue of Oscar Corgan, had attempted to do just that. Sevander’s father, is naturally a I should note that I do not deny sensitive one for her. She has craft- Tenhunen’s Marxist sympathies. I ed a heroic portrait of him else- Alexis Pogorelskin

Notes

1 Richard Hudelson, Mayme 2 Ibid., p. 32. vian Studies, no. 4, v. 60 Sevander; ”A Relapse of Kare- 3 Ibid.; Carl Ross, ”The Utopi- (1988), p. 486. lian Fever,” Siirtolaisuus-Mi- an Vision of Finnish Immi- 4 H/S, p. 32. gration, 2/2000, pp. 31–35. grants: 1900–30,” Scandina- 5 John H. Hodgson. Communism

27 DISCUSSION

in Finland. A History and In- sekritiikkiä (Leningrad: Kirja, ver,” http://www.d.umn.edu/ terpretation (Princeton: Prin- 1928), p. 105 as cited in Hodg- hist/Karelia/index2.html. See ceton Univ. Press, 1967), p. 5. son, p. 148. ”Historians Speak.” The value of Hodgson’s book 17 Hodgson, p. 48. Hodgson cites 26 Rovio i Giulling, ”V Tsk VKP,” lies, in part, in the fact that, extensive memoir literature 9 March 1930; GA O-p DFK, writing in the early 1960s, he by both Sirjola and f.5002, op.2, r.11, l.21. was able to correspond with O. W. Kuusinen on this point. 27 Hodgson, p. 86. surviving members of the Finn- 18 Hodgson, p. 7. 28 Hodgson, p. 156. ish SD Party. He relies on their 19 Edvard Gylling. Suomen Torp- 29 Ibid. Rovio argued that with- testimony to document his ac- parilaitoksen Kehityksen pää- out the dominance of Finnish, count of the party. piirteet Ruotsinvallan aikana. ”the formation of an autono- 6 Yrjö Sirola, ”Rabochaia revo- Helsinki, 1909/Tsentral’nyi mous republic [out of Karelia] liutsiia v Finliandii v 1918g.” Gos Arkhiv KASSR, Kino- would have been nonsensi- Proletarskaia revoliutsiia, fono-fotodokumenty, E. Gyl- cal.” no. 8, v.79 (August 1928), p. ling, no. 12. 30 See especially, E. Giulling, 169. 20 Gylling served as an actuary ”Vykorchevat’ korni natsion- 7 Hodgson, p. 40–41, 51. For a in the Central State Bureau of alizma, Krasnaia Karelia (29 full discussion of Gylling’s Finland, 1908–1912 and in October 1935). In the article role in 1917, see pp. 20–52. the same capacity in the Sta- signed by Gylling, but not 8 Ibid., p. 60. ”Gylling as late as tistical Bureau of Helsinki, written by him, he appears to December 1917 sought the 1912–1918. See Giulling. ”Bi- denounce his entire policy in withdrawal of Russian troops ografiia,” Gosudarstvennyi Karelia as a nationalist devia- and was a vigorous champion Arkhiv Obshchestvenno-po- tion. of Finnish independence.” liticheskikh Dvizhenii Formi- 31 H/F, p. 32. 9 Ibid., p. 50. rovanii Karelia, f.3, op.6, 32 These documents can be 10 Ibid., p. 65. r.2633, l.31. (henceforth GAO- found in the former Partarkhiv 11 Ibid., p. 69. Only Karl Wiik pDFK) Karel’skogo obkom VKP(b), and Gylling ”sought to the 21 Hodgson, pp. 121–129. now GAO-pDFK, Osobyi sek- very end a peaceful solution.” 22 Ibid., pp. 5–10 and 124. tor, f.3, op.5, kor. 207, d.277. 12 Tsentral’nyi Gosudarstvennyi 23 Rovio i Giulling, ”V Tsk VKP,” (Hereafter Osobyi sektor.) Arkhiv Karel’skoi ASSR. 9 March 1930; GAO-pDFK, 33 H/F, p. 33. (Henceforth Tsentral’nyi Gos. f.5002, op.2, r.11, l.17. 34 Ernesti J. Komulainen. A Arkhiv KASSR.) Kino-fono- 24 Ibid.; Tsentral’nyi Gos. Arkhiv Grave in Karelia (Ann Arbor: fotodokument, no. 14. KASSR. Kino-fono-fotodoku- Braun-Brumfield, 1995). 13 Ibid., no. 15. menty, E. Gylling, no. 29 (ex- 35 Osobyi sektor, l.5. 14 Hodgson, p. 147. cerpt from minutes of Obkom 36 Osobyi sektor, l.42. 15 Ibid., 148; Gylling was able to Bureau meeting of 19 May 37 A Grave in Karelia, p. 112. communicate with Lenin via 1926. f.689, op.1, d.29/334, 38 H/F, p. 33. a member of the Soviet Trade l.9.). 39 Aino Kuusinen, The Rings of Delegation in Stockholm. See 25 Tsentral’nyi Gos. Arkhiv Destiny: Inside Soviet Russia Tsentral’nyi Gos Arkhiv KASSR, f.690, op.3, d.1/9, l. from Lenin to Brezhnev (New KASSR., f. 2795, op.1, d.1/8, 107. Further discussion re- York: Wm. Morrow and Co., l.22. garding Gylling’s Finniciza- 1974), p. 94. 16 Suomen työväen vallanku- tion of Karelia can be found mous 1918: Arviota ja it- on my web site ”Karelian Fe-

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