View source for Lapua Movement

{{short description|Far-right political movement in Finland (1929–32)}}
{{Refimprove|date=May 2012}}
{{expand Finnish|date=June 2023|topic=hist}}
{{Infobox militant organization
| name             = Lapua Movement
| logo             = Lapuan liike.svg
| caption          = 
| dates            = 1929–1932
| leader           = [[Vihtori Kosola]], [[Iivari Koivisto]], [[Vihtori Herttua]]
| motives          = Outlawing communism in Finland (''initially'')<br>
Setting up right-wing dictatorship (''later'')<ref>Ylikangas, Heikki: Käännekohdat Suomen historiassa: pohdiskeluja kehityslinjoista ja niiden muutoksista uudella ajalla. Helsinki: WSOY, 1986. {{ISBN|9510137456}}.{{page?|date=October 2022}}</ref>
| ideology         = [[Fascism]]<ref>{{cite book  | last = Mühlberger | first =Detlef | title =The Social Basis of European Fascist Movements| year =1987 | publisher =Routledge| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=suENAAAAQAAJ&q=Falangism,+National+Syndicalism,+Integralism+and+National+Socialism | isbn =0709935854}}</ref><ref name="Feldman">{{cite book|author=Matthew Feldman|title=Fascism: The 'fascist epoch'|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xeHuSpHzqGUC&pg=PA255|year=2004|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0415290197|page=171}}</ref>{{refn|name=first|}}<ref name="fascism">{{cite web |title=fascism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/fascism |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=2025-04-20}}</ref>
* [[Greater Finland]]<ref name="fascism">{{cite web |title=fascism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/fascism |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=2025-04-20}}</ref>
* [[Finnish nationalism]]
* [[Anti-communism]]
* {{nowrap|[[Authoritarian conservatism]]}}
| position         = [[Far-right politics|Far-right]]
| crimes           = [[Assault]], [[murder]], [[kidnapping]], [[rioting]]
| attacks          = [[Vaasa riot]]<br>[[Ståhlberg kidnapping]]<br>[[Mäntsälä rebellion]]
| status           = Outlawed in 1932
| size             = {{nowrap|At least 40,000 (1930 {{estimation}})<ref>Siltala, Juha (1985). ''Lapuan liike ja kyyditykset 1930''. Otava. {{ISBN|978-9511087168}}.{{page?|date=October 2022}}</ref>}}
| revenue          = 
| successor        = [[Patriotic People's Movement]]
| financing        = 
}}

The '''Lapua Movement''' ({{langx|fi|Lapuanliike}}, {{langx|sv|Lapporörelsen}}) was a radical [[Finnish nationalism|Finnish nationalist]], [[fascist]],{{refn|name=first|<ref>{{cite web | url=https://svenska.yle.fi/a/7-1338689 | title=När Finland var fem före att bli fascistiskt – högerradikala skjutsade den liberala president Ståhlberg till gränsen | date=20 October 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://svenska.yle.fi/a/7-1337941 | title=Lapporörelsen ville kuva vänstern med våld och terror | date=20 October 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/kultur/bokrecensioner/a/8wM3xr/bittra-veteraner-byggde-upp-den-finska-fascismen | title=Bittra veteraner byggde upp den finska fascismen | date=9 November 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.abo.fi/nyheter/nationalromantiken-spokar-i-ytterhogerns-sprakkonflikt/ | title=Nationalromantiken spökar i ytterhögerns språkkonflikt | date=5 March 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hbl.fi/artikel/6e53bdd0-0be9-45df-bb62-92c3b59fed90 | title=Finlands svårdefinierade, fascistiska historia | date=29 September 2020 }}</ref>}} pro-[[Nazi Germany|German]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kotila |first=Pirkko |date=2006 |title=Hertta Kuusinen – The 'Red Lady of Finland' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40404297 |journal=Science & Society |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=46–73 |doi=10.1521/siso.2006.70.1.46 |jstor=40404297 |issn=0036-8237|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and [[anti-communism|anti-communist]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Väyrynen |first1=Tarja |last2=Puumala |first2=Eeva |date=2015 |title=Bodies of War, the Past Continuous, and (Ar)rhythmic Experiences |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24569460 |journal=Alternatives: Global, Local, Political |volume=40 |issue=3/4 |pages=237–250 |doi=10.1177/0304375415612274 |jstor=24569460 |s2cid=147398590 |issn=0304-3754|url-access=subscription }}</ref> political movement founded in and named after the town of [[Lapua]]. Led by [[Vihtori Kosola]],<ref name=":0" /> it turned towards [[far-right politics]] after its founding and was banned after [[Mäntsälä rebellion|a failed coup d'etat attempt]] in 1932.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last1=Levitsky|first1=Steven|title=How Democracies Die|last2=Ziblatt|first2=Daniel|publisher=Crown|year=2018|location=United States}}{{ISBN?}}{{page?|date=October 2022}}</ref> The movement's anti-communist activities continued in the parliamentarian [[Patriotic People's Movement (Finland)|Patriotic People's Movement]].

== Background ==
At the [[6th World Congress of the Communist International]] [[Joseph Stalin]] ordered all communist parties around the world to accelerate [[Class conflict|class struggle]]. The order led to a higher level of communist activity in Finland in 1929 like the so-called "Red Day" of August 1st when communists organized countrywide protests. A general strike was also declared in November, although it failed to garner support and only 5–10% of workers participated in it.<ref name=":2" /> 

The movement originated in November 1929, after [[Young Communist League of Finland|Finnish communist youth]] paraded in the conservative and religious town of Lapua enraged [[Whites (Finland)|pro-White Guard]] locals, who subsequently attacked the performers physically. The momentum from this event was the catalyst for the formation of the Lapua Movement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siaroff |first=Alan |date=1999 |title=Democratic Breakdown and Democratic Stability: A Comparison of Interwar Estonia and Finland |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3232774 |journal=Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=103–124 |doi=10.1017/S0008423900010118 |jstor=3232774 |s2cid=154586914 |issn=0008-4239|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It was initially dominated by [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] [[nationalist]]s, emphasizing the legacy of the nationalist activism, the [[White Guard (Finland)|White Guards]] and the [[Civil War in Finland]]. The movement saw itself as the defender of what was won in the Civil War, supporting [[Lutheranism]], [[Finnish nationalism]], and [[anti-communism]].

Many politicians and high-ranking military officers were initially sympathetic to the Lapua Movement, as anti-communism was the norm in the educated classes after the Civil War. However, excessive use of violence made the movement less popular within a few months.

During the Civil War, [[Ostrobothnia (historical province)|Ostrobothnia]] had been one of the most important strongholds of the White army, and anti-communist sentiments remained extremely strong. Late in November 1929, the [[Young Communist League of Finland]] arranged meetings and protests in Ostrobothnian [[Lapua]]. As the nationalists saw it, the communists had "mocked God, the Lutheran Church, the 'bourgeois' fatherland, the Finnish army and General [[Mannerheim]]".<ref name=":2">Niinistö, Jussi, Suomalaisia vapaustaistelijoita / Finnish Freedom Fighters, NIMOX KY/Ltd., 2003, pp. 17–20;  Siltala, Juha, Lapuan liike ja kyyditykset, Otava, 1985, pp. 51–53;  Virkkunen, Sakari, Suomen presidentit I / Finland's Presidents I, Otava, 1994, pp. 192–193;  Salokangas, Raimo, "Itsenäinen tasavalta" / "An Independent Republic," p. 635 in Zetterberg, Seppo et al., eds., Suomen historian pikkujättiläinen / A Small Giant of the Finnish History, WSOY, 2003.</ref> This infuriated many of the townspeople, who put a violent end to the meetings. Anti-communist violence was hailed as justified and  praiseworthy. On 1 December an anti-communist meeting was held, attracting more than 1,000 people demanding an end to all communist activities. The movement quickly spread around the country, and in some provinces people other than communists were targeted as well, for example the group "[[Patriotic Citizens of Viitasaari]]" wanted to purge Jews and Freemasons from the country.<ref>Anttikoski, Riitta: Kun talonpojat marssivat. Helsingin Sanomat, 6.7.1980, s. 17. [https://www.hs.fi/lehti/hsarchive/1980-07-06/17 HS Aikakone (vain tilaajille)]</ref>

== Activities ==
{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote=Between God and Satan, white and red, no middle road exists. The hour of our destiny has arrived, we must align ourselves with one or the other. Two spirits are fighting today for world supremacy, one of them destructive, the other constructive. The [former's] aim is to enable someone—a Dictator-Jew or some small faction?—standing on the ruins of burnt-down homes and bloodstained churches, to exert tyrannical power at will in the name of the ‘proletariat’ while in fact solely pursuing his own interests.  The second spirit, by contrast, endeavors to preserve those values already created, and to build a new Finland based on godliness and the rule of law…There are only two kinds of people: the righteous and the godless. The divine world order and the teachings of the Christian Church know of no third possibility.|source=The movement’s newspaper, Lapuan Päiväkäsky (The Lapua Daily Order)<ref> The Finnish New Radical Right in Comparative Perspective, Jeffrey Kaplan, Published in Kyösti Pekonen, ed., The New Radical Right in Finland in the Nineties (Helsinki: University of Helsinki Press, 1999)</ref>}}
{{main|Political violence in Finland (1918–1932)}}
[[File:Eino Niemisen pahoinpitely.jpg|thumb|Lapua Movement supporters beating the "red officer" [[Eino Nieminen]] in front of the [[Vaasa]] courthouse during the [[Vaasa riot|4 June 1930 riot]].]]
After the events in Lapua, local politicians [[Kustaa Tiitu]] and [[Artturi Leinonen]] called a "national assembly" to the town to discuss the growing communist agitation. The assembly was attended by some two thousand people from across the country, and it drew up a list of demands, which was delivered to the [[Kallio III Cabinet|government]]. The demands were to remove communists from [[Parliament of Finland|Parliament]] and the military, to forbid speech that "desecrated the foundations of the Finnish people's sense of morality and justice" and to stop the [[Communist Party of Finland|Communist Party]], which had already been banned, from operating in Finland. Other assemblies were quickly organized in different parts of the country, and they all sent similar demands with some also adding that they were prepared to save the country "by other means", as well, should the government fail to act.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Siltala |first=Juha |title=Lapuan liike ja kyyditykset 1930 |date=1985 |publisher=Otava |isbn=978-951-1-08716-8 |location=Helsingissä |pages=53–55}}</ref>

The parliament quickly accepted amendments to the Associations Act, but amendments to the Freedom of the Press Act failed to gather sufficient support. Radicals among the Movement answered by attacking the communist paper ''Työn Ääni'' directly. The night of March 28th 1930 thirteen men broke into the paper's facilities and destroyed their presses.<ref name=":4" /> On April 4th seventy-two men publicly declared themselves responsible for the attack, but only the actual perpetrators and the main organizer, [[Yrjö Nikula]], were charged. The trial, which was held in [[Vaasa]] two months later, turned into a riot. After the judge called an intermission and people were leaving the courtroom, ''Työn Ääni'' employee and witness in the case, Eino Nieminen, was surrounded by supporters of the Movement, who accused him of being a "red officer". Nieminen was dragged to the street and beaten badly along with three other communists. [[Asser Salo]], ''Työn Ääni'' attorney, was abducted in a car to Lapua.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Siltala |first=Juha |title=Lapuan liike ja kyyditykset 1930 |date=1985 |publisher=Otava |isbn=978-951-1-08716-8 |location=Helsingissä |pages=75–78}}</ref>

The Movement used violence to apply pressure to the government and parliament to stop communist activity in Finland. Meetings held by leftist and labour groups were also interrupted, often violently. A common tactic was ''"[[Jussi Muilu|muilutus]]"'' or ''"kyyditys",'' which started with kidnapping and beating. After that the subject was thrown into a car and driven to the border with the [[Soviet Union]]. Many of the Finns deported by the Lapua Movement were later caught up in Stalin's [[Great Purge]] and executed; while persecuted in Finland as communists, Stalin accused them of being "Nationalists".<ref name=":3" />

After the Vaasa riot, witnessing the [[Kyösti Kallio]] led government's inability to control the situation, the Movement reiterated their demands with regards to communist organizations and papers and declared June 15th as the deadline for fulfilling them. The government was unwilling to use the military or the police to restore order, because it believed them to sympathize with the Movement. Instead President [[Lauri Kristian Relander|Lauri Relander]] asked former Prime Minister [[Pehr Evind Svinhufvud|P. E. Svinhufvud]], whom the Finnish right wing greatly respected, to negotiate with the movement. Svinhufvud convinced Kosola and the other leaders that there was a legal way to achieve their goals and aided them in formulating a plan to remove communists through parliamentary means.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Siltala |first=Juha |title=Lapuan liike ja kyyditykset 1930 |date=1985 |publisher=Otava |isbn=978-951-1-08716-8 |location=Helsingissä |pages=83, 87–88}}</ref>
[[File:Talonpoikaismarssi v.1930, osanottajia Senaatintorilla. (hkm.HKMS000005-00000unk).jpg|thumb|The Peasant March gathered on Senate Square]]
On July 1st the government brought the so-called Communist Laws to a vote and resigned the following day. Svinhufvud became the new prime minister as the Lapua Movement had wished, but he refused to make Vihtori Kosola a member of cabinet or to arrest communist members of parliament. In response Kosola ordered the abductions of members of parliament [[Jalmari Rötkö]] and [[Eino Pekkala]]. The Lapua Movement had planned a massive show of force, the "[[Peasant March]]", to be held on July 7th. Kosola was persuaded to release the abductees when Svinhufvud informed him that he would not be there to greet the marchers otherwise. The Peasant March gathered 12,600 men to Helsinki where they marched through the city, held speeches and sermons and were greeted by distinguished politicians and generals.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Siltala |first=Juha |title=Lapuan liike ja kyyditykset 1930 |date=1985 |publisher=Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava |isbn=978-951-1-08716-8 |location=Helsingissä |pages=109, 116-18, 120-22}}</ref> 

Of the Communist Laws, changes to the Freedom of the Press Act were this time accepted by parliament with a simple majority, but the Protection of the Republic Act was considered a constitutional law and thereby required a five sixths majority to pass immediately. [[Social Democratic Party of Finland|Social Democrats]] were only willing to accept the law for a three year temporary period, which meant that the Act only received a simple majority and had to be voted on by the next parliament. On July 15th the President disbanded the parliament and called for an election.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Siltala |first=Juha |title=Lapuan liike ja kyyditykset 1930 |date=1985 |publisher=Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava |isbn=978-951-1-08716-8 |location=Helsingissä |pages=128, 133–34}}</ref>

Failure to pass all the Communist Laws led to a new wave of abductions and beatings by the Lapua Movement over the autumn of 1930. Vihtori Kosola's outspoken goal was to let society deteriorate to a state of anarchy, which would make dictatorship a preferable alternative to people. Other more moderate leaders of the Movement however no longer accepted the abductions and, in September, convinced Kosola to stop them. Most notable cases over this period were the abduction of [[Väinö Hakkila]], a Social Democrat vice-chairman of parliament, and that of the municipal politician [[Onni Happonen]], who was killed and confirmed to not actually be a communist.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Siltala |first=Juha |title=Lapuan liike ja kyyditykset 1930 |date=1985 |publisher=Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava |isbn=978-951-1-08716-8 |location=Helsingissä |pages=135-36, 161-62, 168-69}}</ref> 

Before the election the Lapua Movement was also involved in electoral fraud. The Movement's violent reputation was used to intimidate socialist voters to either abstain or to vote for right wing candidates, Social Democratic Party members were harassed on the campaign trail and hustings were interrupted, and guards were organized around polling stations. Voters perceived as communists were also outright removed from electoral rolls.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Siltala |first=Juha |title=Lapuan liike ja kyyditykset 1930 |date=1985 |publisher=Otava |isbn=978-951-1-08716-8 |location=Helsingissä |pages=173–75}}</ref>

After the election right wing parties had the majority they needed to pass the remaining Communist Laws. Despite this the most infamous abduction was carried out on 14 October 1930 when the popular ex-president [[Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg]] and his wife [[Ester Ståhlberg|Ester]] [[Ståhlberg kidnapping|were kidnapped]] and taken to [[Joensuu]]. After this, general support for the movement collapsed. More moderate people left the movement, and extremists became more influential.

== Failed rebellion ==

In February 1932 a Social Democrat meeting in [[Mäntsälä]] was violently interrupted by armed Lapua activists. The event escalated to an attempted coup d'état known as the [[Mäntsälä rebellion]] ''(Mäntsälän kapina),'' led by the former Chief of Staff of Finland's army, [[Kurt Martti Wallenius|General Wallenius]]. Despite the appeals of Wallenius, the army and the White Guards were largely loyal to the government. Many historians believe the main reason for the failure was poor planning: the event just escalated from actions of the local chapter and the national organization came aboard later.<ref name=":4">Iltalehti Teema Historia: Lapuan liike, Alma Media, 2015, pp. 4–7.{{ISBN?}}</ref> The rebellion ended after President Svinhufvud gave a radio speech to the rebels. After a trial, the Lapua Movement was banned on 21 November 1932 under the Protection of the Republic Act, which Lapua itself had worked to get passed. Wallenius and about 50 other leaders were sentenced to prison.

== Legacy ==
[[File:Lapuan liike IKL 20190111T143714.jpg|thumb|Woven textile with the emblem of Lapua Movement or the Patriotic People's Movement, seen in the National Museum of Finland]]
After the Lapua Movement was banned, the [[Patriotic People's Movement (Finland)|Patriotic People's Movement]] was formed shortly thereafter. Like its predecessor, it also was nationalist and anti-communist. It had limited political success and was banned in 1944 on the orders of the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the [[Continuation War]].

== See also ==
* [[Continuation War]]
* [[Heimosodat]]
* [[History of Finland]]
* [[Minna Craucher]]
* [[Politics of Finland]]
* [[Vaps Movement]] (Estonia)
* [[Winter War]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
* {{cite book |last=Kirby |first=David |title=A concise history of Finland |url=https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof00davi_0 |url-access=registration |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-53989-0 }}

== External links ==
* {{commonscat-inline|Lapua Movement}}
{{Finnish far right}}
{{Fascism}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Finnish nationalism]]
[[Category:Political history of Finland]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Finland]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1929]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1932]]
[[Category:Lapua|Movement]]
[[Category:1929 establishments in Finland]]
[[Category:1932 disestablishments in Finland]]
[[Category:Fascism in Finland]]
[[Category:Banned far-right parties]]
[[Category:Anti-communist organisations in Finland]]
[[Category:Proto-fascist organizations]]
[[Category:Fascist parties]]
[[Category:Fascist militant groups]]
[[Category:Anti-communist terrorism]]