Abstract
The success of the policy of coexistence which has developed between Finland and her great power neighbour ultimately has to be measured against the respect shown for the principle contained in Article 6 of the 1948 FCMA-Treaty. This article, which expresses a classic norm of international law, pledges the parties to the treaty to observe the principle of ‘the mutual respect of sovereignty and integrity and that of the non-interference in the internal affairs of the other state’. Some of the gravest doubts in Western minds about the character of post-war Finnish-Soviet relations have arisen in just this area. The Soviet understanding of this principle has not exactly coincided with Western views. In addition, Article 6 of the Finnish treaty has not remained comparable with similarly phrased articles in the Soviet FCMA-treaties with the Eastern bloc countries, since the latter articles were qualified by the Soviet pronouncements regarding the ‘socialist commonwealth’ towards the end of the 1960s. This thesis, which was popularised in the West as the ‘Brezhnev doctrine’, gave the notion of ‘socialist unity’ priority over the principle of noninterference in internal affairs, but bypassed Finland which clearly lay outside the ‘socialist commonwealth’.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes and References
J. H. Hodgson, Communism in Finland: a History and Interpretation (Princeton: 1967) pp. 202–14.
Report on the international situation, 22 September 1947. M. Rush (ed.), The International Situation and Soviet Foreign Policy, p. 130.
See Y. Leino, Kommunisti Sisäministerinä (Helsinki: 1958) p. 242. For Zhdanov’s view that the USSR had made ‘a mistake in not occuyping Finland’,
see M. Djilas, Conversations with Stalin (New York: 1961) p. 155.
See A. Upton, The Communist Parties of Scandinavia and Finland (London: 1973) pp. 285–93.
Meeting of Swedish Ambassador in London (Hägglöf) in British Foreign Ministry, 3 February 1950. H. Rautkallio, ‘Vuoden 1950 Presidentinvaalien Ulkoiset Paineet eli Kuinka Paasikivi Yritettiin Kaataa Ulkopolitiikalla’, Suomen Kuvalehti, 10 (1982) 24–7.
Report by G. M. Malenkov. L. Gruliow (ed.), Current Soviet Policies: The Documentary Record of the 19th Communist Party Congress and the Reconstruction after Stalin’s Death (New York: 1953) p. 103.
O. W. Kuusinen, ‘Finland’s New Foreign Policy’, New Times (Moscow), 15 (1947) 7–8.
Interview in the late 1960s. V. V. Pohlebkin, J. K. Paasikivi ja Neuvostoliitto (Espoo: 1980) pp. 112–13.
Letter to J. Virolainen on 17 September 1958. M. Tyrkkö and K. Korhonen (eds), Urho Kekkonen Kirjeitä Myllystäni 1, pp. 45–6.
D. Borisov, ‘A New Government’, International Affairs (Moscow), 10 (1958) 98.
2Letter to on 17 September 1958. Tyrkkö and Korhonen, Urho Kekkonen Kirjeitä Myllystäni 1, pp. 44–5.
Discussions in Washington on 16 September 1961. M. Jakobson, Veteen Piirretty Viiva, p. 235.
Letter on 10 April 1963. Tyrkkö and Korhonen, Urho Kekkonen Kirjeitä Myllystäni 1, p. 157.
Speech in Riga on 11 June 1959. N. S. Hruštšev, Neuvostoliitto ja Pohjola, p. 89.
Meeting on 17 October 1965, described by Kekkonen in letter on 6 January 1966. Tyrkkö and Korhonen, Urho Kekkonen Kirjeitä Myllystäni 1, pp. 250–1.
Meeting with Macmillan during official visit to Britain in May 1961. Cited in Jakobson, Veteen Piirretty Viiva, pp. 207–8.
O. Borg and J. Paastela, Communist Participation in Governmental Coalitions: The Case of Finland (Tampere: Univ. of Tampere Department of Political Science Research Reports, 59, 1981) pp. 17–18.
Ibid., p. 22.
Cited in ibid., p. 37.
Ibid.
Cited in J. Iivonen, A Ruling Non-ruling Communist Party in the West: the Finnish Communist Party (Tampere: Univ. of Tampere Department of Political Science occasional papers, 32, 1983) p. 26.
S. Serbin, ‘USSR-Finland: Good Neighbourly Relations’, International Affairs (Moscow), 5 (1983) 53.
Letter on 19 October 1963. Tyrkkö and Korhonen, Urho Kekkonen Kirjeitä Myllystäni 1. p. 173.
Speech on 7 January 1962. T. Vilkuna (ed.), Urho Kekkonen Puheita ja Kirjoituksia II, p. 220.
Letter to Ambassador R. Seppälä on 20 January 1962. Tyrkkö and Korhonen, Urho Kekkonen Kirjeitä Myllystäni 1, pp. 133–4.
See speech by Paasikivi on being inaugurated into office on 1 March 1950. J. K. Paasikivi, Paasikiven Linja I, p. 131.
See speech by Kekkonen in memory of Stalin on 6 March 1953. T. Vilkuna (ed.), Urho Kekkonen Puheita ja Kirjoituksia I, p. 285.
See speech by N. A. Bulganin in Lahti. Helsingin Sanomat, 11 June 1957.
Speech on 25 September 1964. T. Vilkuna (ed.), Urho Kekkonen Puheita ja Kirjoituksia II, p. 342.
Letter on 29 April 1963. Tyrkkö and Korhonen, Urho Kekkonen Kirjeitä Myllystäni 1, p. 164.
Letter on 23 January 1968. M. Tyrkkö and K. Korhonen (eds), Urho Kekkonen Kirjeitä Myllystäni 2, p. 10.
See R. Wihtol, ‘The 1978 Finnish Presidential Elections’, Yearbook of Finnish Foreign Policy (1977) 59–64.
For the foreign policy views of the candidates, see R. Lehtinen, ‘Foreign Policy in the Presidential Election Campaign’, Yearbook of Finnish Foreign Policy (1981).
Article by Yu. Kuznetsov, Pravda, 20 November 1981. Assessed in Finnish papers: Uusi Suomi, 21 November 1981; Helsingin Sanomat, 21 November 1981.
For example, Tass assessment of Koivisto’s visit, on 12 March 1982, Helsingin Sanomat, 13 March 1982; and comment by Soviet Deputy Prime Minister N. Talyzin on anniversary of the FCMA-Treaty, Helsingin Sanomat, 6 April 1982.
U. K. Kekkonen, Tamminiemi (Helsinki: 1980) pp. 59–60.
See J. Steele and E. Abraham, Andropov in Power: From Komsomol to Kremlin (Oxford: 1983) pp. 24–35.
See ibid., pp. 36–8.
E. Salminen, Aselevosta Kaappaushankkeeseen: Sensuuri ja ltsesensuuri Suomen Lehdistössä 1944–48 (Keuruu: 1978) pp. 54–5, 60.
O. Kuusinen, ‘The Finnish Foes of Peace and their Artifices’, New Times (Moscow), 25 (1951) 11.
Vapaa Sana, 18 November 1956. See K. Killinen, ‘The Press and Foreign Policy’, in Finnish Foreign Policy (Helsinki: Finnish Political Science Association, 1963) p. 210.
Speech on 8 June 1957. N. S. Hruštšev, Neuvostoliitto ja Pohjola, p. 23.
Speech on 27 November 1962. T. Vilkuna (ed.), Urho Kekkonen Puheita ja Kirjoituksia II, p. 259.
See speech concerning the foreign policy ‘opposition’ on 25 September 1964. Ibid., pp. 338–9.
Kekkonen writing under pseudonym Liimatainen, 6 April 1974. M. Tyrkkö and K. Korhonen (eds), Urho Kekkonen Nimellä ja Nimimerkillä 2, pp. 261–3.
V. Smirnov, Hyvän Naapuruuden Tiellä, p. 89. For the restraints on Finnish broadcasting and television, see D. Fields, ‘Finland: How Much Self-Censorship Remains?’, Index on Censorship, 2 (1982) 16–18.
Copyright information
© 1985 Roy Allison
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Allison, R. (1985). The Soviet Interest in Finnish Internal Affairs. In: Finland’s Relations with the Soviet Union 1944–84. St Antony’s/Macmillan Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17768-4_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17768-4_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-17770-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-17768-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)