Nordia Geographical Publications 43: 1, 101–113 Maria Lähteenmäki Bad blood and humiliation: Finns’ experiences of the Moscow peace negotiations in 1940 Maria Lähteenmäki Professor of Arctic regions and Finnish history, University of Eastern Finland Abstract: The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union broke out 75 years ago, on November 30, 1939. From the viewpoint of the global situation, this was only a minor event on the northern periphery of Europe, but for Finland and its 3.5 million inhabitants, the state of war with this major socialist power was emotionally a question of life and death and an almost impossible test of survival. For the Finns, this bloody con- flict symbolized their struggles for sovereignty, their Finno-Ugric language, the Lutheran religion and Western cultural traditions. The most heated debates during the Moscow negotiations from March 6 to 13, 1940, nevertheless dealt with the concrete matter of the exact location of the new border between the two countries. This paper will focus on the Moscow meetings from the perspective of Väinö Voionmaa, professor of history and a full member of the Finnish delegation. He made notes on the discussions held during these encounters in his diary, which have been the main source of information for the paper. In previous studies Voionmaa’s role has been totally ignored, which inspired the author to analyse his roles and feelings in those dramatic days. Both choreography and culture of peace negotiations have got only little attention in historical studies as well. One surprising result of this study is the observation of how emotionally the top Russian leaders reacted to the Finns’ demands for minor border adjustments. Keywords: Peace negotiations, 1940, Väinö Voionmaa, Finnish-Russian border demarcation, diary as a source, emotions, experience Peace negotiations on focus still at war all the time the negotiations were going on, and it was therefore not thought The Winter War between Finland and the advisable that the Prime Minister, Risto Soviet Union started exactly 75 years ago, on Ryti, should be in the party, as there was a November 30, 1939 when Russian troops risk that he might not be allowed to return attacked to Finland without the declaration (von Fieandt 1970, 164). Eventually he did of war. The violent hostilities lasted the join them, however, to add weight to the next 105 days. The peace treaty of Moscow delegation. The other leading figures who was signed in March 12, 1940 and it come made up the party were State Counsellor into effect in the next day. The last act of J.K. Paasikivi, General Rudolf Walden and the war, however, began on 6th March 1940, professor Väinö Voionmaa (1869–1947), when the Finnish peace delegation left for representing the Social Democratic Party Moscow. The journey was regarded as a (SDP) and the Finnish Parliament as a dangerous one, as the two countries were whole. He was a long-standing Member of 101 Bad blood and humiliation: Finns’ experiences of... NGP Yearbook 2014 Parliament, a former government minister of subjective experience. On the other and chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign hand, the diaries of political figures can Affairs Committee. The historian Tuomo be deliberately phrased in the manner of Polvinen has suggested that Voionmaa was manifestos, i.e. they may be specifically “practically excluded” from the public dis- intended for publication. The diaries of cussions that formed part of the Moscow well-known figures are something special, negotiations (Polvinen 1995, 141, 145), however, and can be made use of virtually and at least it is known that his selection as in an encyclopaedic manner, as they have SDP representative in the delegation was been estimated to be sufficiently reliable by no means unanimous, since the cooling (Dawson 2000, 407–431; Stowe 2002).This of relations between him and the Foreign status has been achieved in Finland by the Minister, Väinö Tanner, in the course of edited and published diaries of president the war had meant that the latter had not J.K. Paasikivi for the years 1914–1956. supported his appointment at first (Soik- Voionmaa’s diary of his journey to kanen 1987, 132). In spite of everything Moscow is essentially a narrative, in the Voionmaa did come to be chosen for this form of notes made by an eye-witness, assignment, however, and Paasikivi later and it would appear that he never intended proposed him for the position of Prime his diaries to be published as such but that Minister in 1946 (Lähteenmäki 2014, 15). they served as notes for his own political We will be concerned in this paper with memoirs or other political writings. On how Voionmaa viewed the negotiations in the other hand, he was himself a historian March 1940 that brought the Winter War to and knew the documentary value of diaries. an end and eventually what role he played The public that he intended these diaries in them. The other aim of this study is to for was thus the Finnish people. Voionmaa open a view into the Finnish negotiators’ was one of the leading figures in the ways to communicate with each other and Finnish workers’ education movement, with the Russian delegation. a popular and prolific speaker who laid Voiomaa’s experiences of the journey emphasis on open access to knowledge and to Moscow will be analysed here on the the enlightenment of the less privileged basis of his unpublished diary pages for classes, and his diaries were written not the period 6.–13.3.1940, amounting to 43 only with an air of personal reflection separate, numbered handwritten sheets and discussion but also with a view to altogether.1 Private diaries are especially the production of information. He wrote rewarding as source material as they also them immediately after the events, partly convey something of the writer’s feelings in order to dispel the stress, expectations and mood, i.e. they delve into the world and disappointments that had accompanied the negotiations. He often commented on 1 Voionmaa and Paasikivi travelled to Moscow a second time on 18.3.–9.4.1940 to finalize the agree- conversations with other members of the ment, and Voionmaa again kept a diary, amounting Finnish delegation, evaluated their views to a further 80 pages. He had also written a diary and his own and deliberated on the lines of during the Tartu peace negotiations of 1920. Väinö Voionmaa archives. National Archives, Helsinki. argument selected by the group, its actions 102 Nordia Geographical Publications 43: 1, 101–113 Maria Lähteenmäki and its relations with the government to pick out the very typical Russian villages in Helsinki. Thus his diaries provide an with their main streets, and they would also onlooker’s perspective on the discourse have seen the occasional church or factory taking place while the Winter War was still as well before they landed on the edge of a going on. But even so, he is not speaking gigantic built-up area that formed part of solely as a politician and historian but is Moscow. The aircraft ended up in a heap of also examining the issues from the point of snow at the end of the runway and had to view of Finland as a whole. In this respect be pulled out by a tractor and towed to the the diaries are of a wider, national interest. airport. The men clambered out and were met by an official of the Swedish Foreign Ministry and the head of protocol from the The humiliated Stalin Russian Foreign Ministry. Russian cars took refuses to meet the Finns them to a small but well-appointed mansion on the Ostrovskaya Ulitsa in the centre of Since there were still fierce battles going Moscow. It was not a hotel but a sizeable on between the Finnish and Soviet armies private palace. Its rooms were resplendent on the Karelian Isthmus, the Finnish under their crystal chandeliers and there delegation travelled first to Turku by car and were delightful flower arrangements, vases then to Stockholm (Sweden) by air, from and paintings everywhere. The furniture where they continued to Moscow via Riga was of expensive hardwood and the salon (Latvia). There were no other passengers in had a grand piano in it. It transpired that the aircraft apart from the delegation and the Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany its interpreter, secretary and typist. As the Joachim von Ribbentrop had stayed in this journey was a clandestine one, the Finnish same mansion when he visited Moscow in negotiators were all provided with falsified August 1939 (Voionmaa’s diary 7.3.1940), passports by the Swedish Foreign Ministry. and during his stay he signed the so called Voionmaa’s identity was “Erik Magnus Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement. According Bergkvist, office manager” (Voionmaa’s to the pact Finland was a Soviet sphere of diary 6.3.1940). influence. The six and a half hour flight from The Friday 8th March 1940 was to Stockholm to Moscow was quite an Voionmaa’s mind an enormously exciting experience for Voionmaa, since air travel was one. The men spent most of the day not at all common at that time. Once they preparing for their visit to the Kremlin. came into Soviet air space the terrain was Their principal aim in the evening’s dominated by forest, although this became negotiations was to ensure that the sparser as they approached Moscow. The originally Finnish-Karelian city of Viipuri city of Moscow was not entirely unknown (Vyborg) remained a part of Finland, in to Voionmaa, as he had visited it as a spite of the fact that they were perfectly member of the Finnish delegation to the aware that the Finnish government had Tartu peace conference in 1920.