ABSTRACT
From 1809 to 1917, Finland was an autonomous Grand Duchy under the tsar of Russia. Hitherto the Russian government had respected the constitutional autonomy of Finland; they launched a policy of crude russification, involving open violation of the legal and constitutional rights of the country. Looking back over the scene of Finland in the 1920s one can see much that was conducive to the emergence of a fascist type of movement. The economic depression came to Finland early and was affecting the vital timber trade by 1928, immediately producing a crop of industrial disputes in which the communists and Vientirauha clashed forcefully. The meeting of 1 December was then imitated all over Finland, similar speeches were made, similar resolutions passed, and on 15 March 1930 a congress was held at Lapua to launch a national movement. The threat of violence was very much present in 1933, an election year in Finland.
