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Prime Minister Juha Sipilä at the opening of the Pro Finlandia – Finland’s Road to Independence exhibition

Government Communications Department
Publication date 4.12.2017 13.30
Speech

(subject to changes)

Hyvät kutsuvieraat, bästa gäster,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

One hundred years ago, on 4 December 1917, the Senate of Finland adopted a proposal on a new form of government for Finland, and the justifications for this, for submission to Parliament the same day. The same evening, the Senate adopted in a plenary session Chairman P. E. Svinhufvud’s statement on making a Declaration of Independence to the people of Finland. This Declaration, dated exactly 100 years ago, is displayed in its original form in this exhibition.

The Parliament, which had assumed sovereignty in Finland on 15 November, adopted Finland’s Declaration of Independence on the proposal of Representative Santeri Alkio on 6 December 1917.

That day is celebrated as Finland’s Independence Day, even though Independence Day could equally well be 15 November.

Finland’s road to independence was a multi-stage process. The Diet of Porvoo, held in March 1809, may be considered as its starting point. The war between Sweden and Russia, which had just ended, had brought to an end Finland’s more than 650 years’ connection with Sweden, and Finland had become an autonomous Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire.

Finland’s position vis-à-vis Russia was exceptional. Finland’s internal government was the responsibility of Finland’s own Senate, which gained full access to Finland’s tax revenue.

Finland retained its old legislation from the period of Swedish rule, the Lutheran religion, its own governmental institutions and the Swedish language as the country’s language of administration. A customs border was established between Russia and Finland in 1812. In the same year, the regions that had been restored to Russia in the 1721 Peace of Uusikaupunki and the 1743 Peace of Turku were reincorporated into autonomous Finland.

The new governmental arrangement quickly proved to be beneficial, which dispelled the undisputed longing in the early years for the link with Sweden. The centuries-long period of fear and war ended. The vast Russian Empire offered nearly limitless opportunities to develop economic prosperity. The St. Petersburg economic area absorbed all the agricultural and forestry products that Finland could sell there. Tens of thousands of Finnish peasants, artisans and professionals in various fields moved to the city.

Finland only had small military units of its own, but thousands of Finns made careers in the Russian army and navy – around 500 of them rising to the rank of admiral and general. Gustaf Mannerheim is certainly the best known of them today, but certainly not the only one.

Most of Poland as well as the Baltic countries also belonged to the Russian Empire. This promoted economic and cultural relations between these countries and Finland. St. Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw and Krakow were the centres of art and music.

The Kalevala poetry culture linked Finland and Estonia, a large group of Lithuanian soldiers were based in Finland, and Finnish Jäger units fought during the First World War at Liepaja, Misa River and the Gulf of Riga.

After the Russian Revolution, Poland and the Baltic countries achieved and maintained their independence. Finnish volunteers took part in Estonia’s and Latvia’s fight for freedom. Mannerheim’s old and close links with Poland played an important role during Russia’s chaotic civil war from 1918 to 1921.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

A centuries-long common history connects Finland and the countries – Russia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – featured in this National Archives’ Pro Finlandia exhibition, which opens in the centenary year of our independence.

Our common history before independence was not always easy. In the final decades of the 19th century, Russia launched a unification policy, which threatened to undermine the foundations on which the institutions of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland had been built. During the reign of Nicholas II, attitudes towards the Tsar changed radically – through the Russification measures, he was deemed to have broken the explicit sovereign pledge given to Finland.

Opposition grew both in bourgeois circles and among the labour movement, which absorbed radical ideas from Russia.

Finland’s independence took place in turbulent circumstances amidst the Russian Revolution. The Bolshevik Council of People’s Commissars, led by Lenin, approved Finland’s Independence on the last day of 1917. Four days later, Finland’s independence had also been recognised by Sweden, France and Germany. The final peace treaty, however, was not signed until 14 October 1920.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

The National Archives’ Pro Finlandia exhibition presents original documents and other material relating to key development stages of the Grand Duchy of Finland. The exhibition and accompanying 750-page book give a deep and diverse picture of Finland and its relations with this year’s featured countries, which were all part of the Russian Empire.

This exhibition is very topical in many respects. A knowledge of history helps us understand the background and circumstances that governed the relations between countries in the inter-war years and in the decades following the Second World War.

The series of four exhibitions and publications produced by the National Archives in the period 2014–2017 has been a magnificent addition to the celebration of the centenary of Finland’s independence. It tells us about how the Finland that set out on the road to independence one hundred years ago was built. The effective institutions and extensive international relations as well as women’s equality and modern ideals developed during the period of autonomy imparted a credibility that enabled the new republic to be accepted as a sovereign state among other sovereign states.

With these words, I hereby declare the National Archives’ fourth Pro Finlandia exhibition to be open!