ABSTRACT
By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Finnish political system and the structure of the country’s society retained some old Swedish features (the Diet, the fairly few restrictions imposed on civic activities, the freedom of the peasants) which made the country differ from Russia. However, the inadequate operative capacity of the political system (the emperor was the major obstacle of reforms) and the problematic issues in the social structure (the large role still played by agriculture, rural over-population and the undeveloped labour market conditions) were factors promoting instability, associating Finland with Eastern Europe to a greater extent than Scandinavia.
