The
Social Democratic Party of Finland (in
FinnishFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a Finnish dialect, are spoken...
:
Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue,
SDP) is one of the most influential
political partiesA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
in
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
, along with the
Centre PartyThe Centre Party is a centrist political party in Finland. It is one of the three largest political parties in the country, along with the Social Democrats and the National Coalition Party...
and the
National Coalition PartyThe National Coalition Party is a liberal conservative political party in Finland founded in 1918....
. It has been in the
CabinetA Cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of government, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or Executive Committee.- Overview :...
for long periods of time, the last time in 1995–2007, and has set many fundamental policies of the Finnish state. SDP's social democratic politics are generally more moderate than those of the parliament's other
left-leaningIn politics, left-wing, political left, leftist and the Left are terms used to describe a number of positions and ideologies. They are most commonly used to refer to support for changing traditional social orders or for creating a more egalitarian distribution of wealth and privilege...
party, the
Left AllianceThe Left Alliance is a socialist political party in Finland. It was founded on the basis of the Finnish People's Democratic League and the Communist Party of Finland in 1990 and two other communist organizations merged into it later....
. SDP aims to group together people in order to achieve social democratic goals: a society in which freedom, equality, solidarity and co-operation thrives in a peaceful and clean environment. SDP is a member of the
Socialist InternationalThe Socialist International is a worldwide organisation of democratic socialist, social democratic, socialist, and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
. SDP has a close relationship with the
Central Organisation of Finnish Trade UnionsThe Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions, usually referred to by the acronym SAK is the biggest trade union confederation in Finland...
.
In the early 20th century SDP steadily commanded some 40% of the vote, but after the
Finnish Civil WarThe Finnish Civil War was a part of the national and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The war was fought in Finland from 27 January to 15 May 1918, between the forces of the Social Democrats led by the People's Deputation of Finland, commonly called the "Reds" , and the forces of...
of 1918,
communistsCommunism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. Karl Marx posited that communism would be the final stage in human...
split from the party to form the
Communist Party of FinlandThe Communist Party of Finland was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944.- Early stages :...
. After that, SDP has commanded 20–29% of the total votes in all elections where communists or their fronts have been allowed to operate. Even after support for the communist electoral organization
SKDLFinnish People's Democratic League was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic Party...
dwindled in the 1980s, SDP's share of the popular vote has remained at 21–28 percent. The Social Democratic Party has about 59,000 members.
Jutta UrpilainenJutta Pauliina Urpilainen is the current Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland . She was elected in June 2008 as the first female chairman of the SDP....
is the party's current leader.
Tarja HalonenTarja Kaarina Halonen is the 11th and current President of Finland. The first female to hold the office, Halonen had previously been a member of the parliament from 1979 to 2000 when she resigned after her election to the presidency...
was SDP's winning candidate for
presidency of FinlandThe President of Finland is the Head of State of Finland. Under the Constitution of Finland, executive power is vested in the President and the government, with the President possessing extensive powers. The President is elected directly by the people for a term of six years. Since 1991, no...
in 2000 and 2006. The two preceding presidents have been SDP members as well. In the
2007 parliamentary electionThe 2007 Finnish parliamentary election was held on March 18 2007. Early voting was possible from the 7–13 March. Two hundred MPs were elected from 15 constituencies....
, SDP received 21.4 percent of the vote and lost 8 seats to bring its total down to 45. In 2008 municipal elections, SDP continued its decline with the largest drop since 1960.
Note that despite the fact that "sosiaali" in
FinnishFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a Finnish dialect, are spoken...
has a long "a", the name of this party is spelt with a short "a", for historical reasons. The official name (as registered in Finland's party registry) is
Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue / Finlands Socialdemokratiska Parti r.p.
History
The party was founded as the Finnish Labour Party (in Finnish:
Suomen Työväenpuolue) in 1899. The name was changed to the present form in 1903. The party remained a chiefly extra-parliamentary movement until the
universal suffrageUniversal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and noncitizens...
of 1906, after which SDP's share of the votes and seats at best reached 47% in 1916, when the party secured a majority in the parliament. This was the only time in the history of Finland when one party has had a majority in the parliament. It lost its majority in the 1917 election and in 1918 started a rebellion that escalated into the
Finnish Civil WarThe Finnish Civil War was a part of the national and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The war was fought in Finland from 27 January to 15 May 1918, between the forces of the Social Democrats led by the People's Deputation of Finland, commonly called the "Reds" , and the forces of...
.
Former SDP members created the
Finnish Socialist Workers' RepublicThe Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic was a short-lived Finnish socialist government, established by a revolution just prior to the Finnish Civil War and in the aftermath of the Great October Socialist Revolution...
. The war resulted in most party leaders on all levels being killed, imprisoned or seeking refuge in Soviet Russia. In addition, the process leading to the Civil War and the war itself had stripped the party of its legitimacy and respectability in Finnish political life in the eyes of the right-wing majority. However, the political support for the party remained strong, and in the elections of 1919, the party, reorganised by
Väinö TannerVäinö Tanner was a pioneer and leader in the cooperative movement in Finland, and Prime Minister of Finland from 1926 to 1927 ....
, gained some 80 of the 200 seats in the parliament. Some refugee Social Democrats founded the
Communist Party of FinlandThe Communist Party of Finland was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944.- Early stages :...
in
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
in 1918. Although the Communist Party was banned in Finland until 1945, the support of the Finnish working class was in the following elections divided between the Social Democrats and organizations acting as communist fronts.
It became the life's work of
Väinö TannerVäinö Tanner was a pioneer and leader in the cooperative movement in Finland, and Prime Minister of Finland from 1926 to 1927 ....
to regain the SDP's reputation as a party capable of dealing with serious matters, such as governing Finland. The result was a much more
patrioticPatriotism is love of and/or devotion to one's country. The word comes from the Greek patris, meaning fatherland. However, patriotism has had different meanings over time, and its meaning is highly dependent upon context, geography and philosophy....
SDP, leaning less to the left and relatively isolated from its
NordicThe Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories which include the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
sister parties.
P.E. Svinhufvud'sPehr Evind Svinhufvud af Qvalstad was the President of Finland from 1931 to 1937. Serving as a lawyer, judge, and politician in the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland, he played a major role in the movement for Finnish independence...
animosity however kept SDP out of the government during his presidency in 1931-1937. With the exception of a brief period in 1926, SDP was excluded from Cabinet participation until
Kyösti KallioKyösti Kallio [IPA: kyøsti kallio] was the fourth President of Finland . He was a prominent leader of the Agrarian League, and had previously been Prime Minister four times and Speaker of the Parliament six times .Kyösti Kallio was born in Ylivieska, Finland...
was elected President in 1937. During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the party played a central role in a series of broad coalition Cabinets, symbolizing national unity forged in response to the threat of the
USSRThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
in the
Winter WarThe Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939, three months after the German invasion of Poland and the start of World War II, and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
in 1939-40.
During the first few months of the
Continuation WarThe Continuation War The Continuation War The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II....
(1941-1944) the country, the parliament, and the Cabinet were divided on the question whether Finland's army should stop at the old border and thereby demonstratively refrain from any attempts of conquests. The country's dangerous position called however for national unity, and the party's leadership chose to refrain from any visible protests. This decision is often indicated as one of the main reasons behind post-war division and the high percentage of Communist voters in the first elections after the Continuation War.
After the
Continuation WarThe Continuation War The Continuation War The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II....
, the Communist Party was allowed to work openly, and the main feature of Finnish political life during period 1944–1949 was fierce competition between the Social Democrats and the Communists for voters and control of the labor unions. At this time, the political field was divided roughly equally between the Social Democrats, Communists and the Agrarian League, each party commanding some 25% of the vote. In the post-war era, the Social Democratic party adopted a line defending the Finnish sovereignty and democracy in line with the Agrarian League and other bourgeois parties, finally leading to the expulsion of the Communists from the Cabinet in 1949. However, it remained obvious that the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
was much more openly critical against SDP than against the "openly"
bourgeoisHistorically, the bourgeoisie were a social class of people, characterized by their ownership of capital and the related culture. They were a part of the middle or merchant classes of European feudalism, where their power came from employment, education, and wealth, as distinguished from those...
parties.
Because of the anti-communist activities, the CIA of the United States funded the party. The money was laundered by giving it to Nordic sister parties, which delivered it, or to organizations that bought "luxury goods" such as coffee abroad and imported them and sold them with a high profit; the post-war
rationingRationing is the controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...
served to inflate prices.
In the presidential election of 1956, SDP's candidate
Karl-August FagerholmKarl-August Fagerholm was Speaker of Parliament and three times Prime Minister of Finland . Fagerholm became chairman of the Social Democrats after the armistice in the Continuation War...
lost with only one single elector's vote to
Urho KekkonenUrho Kaleva Kekkonen was a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland and later as President of Finland . Kekkonen continued the "active neutrality" policy of President Juho Kusti Paasikivi, which came to be known as the Paasikivi-Kekkonen Line...
. Fagerholm would act as a Prime Minister in 1956-1957 and 1958-1959. The latter Cabinet was, however, forced to resign due to Soviet pressure, leading to a series of Agrarian League Cabinets. In 1958 a faction of the party resigned and formed the
Alliance of Finnish Workers and Small Farmers (
TPSLSocial Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders was a political party in Finland. TPSL originated as a fraction of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, headed by Emil Skog and Aarre Simonen. The party was founded in 1959, had seats in the parliament in 1959–1970 and was dissolved in 1973...
) around the former SDP chairman Emil Skog due to the election of Väinö Tanner as party chairman. The dispute was over several issues: should SDP function as an interest group or not, and should they co-operate with the anti-Communists and right-wingers or President Kekkonen, the Agrarians and Communists. During the 1960s, this fraction dwindled, its members returning little by little to the SDP or joining the Communists. The founder himself, Emil Skog, returned in 1965, and in 1970, the fraction lost its seats in the parliament.
Only in 1966, SDP was able to satisfy the Soviet Union about its friendly attitude towards her and could return to the Cabinet. Since then, SDP has been represented in most Finnish Cabinets, often cooperating with the Centre Party (former Agrarian League), but sometimes also with the National Coalition Party.
The most recent opposition period in addition to the current (2007–) occurred in 1991–1995, when the Cabinet was formed by the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party.
Prime Minister Lipponen headed cabinets 1995-2003. During this time, the party adopted its current pro-European line and contributed actively to the Finnish membership in the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
in 1995 in concert with the Cabinet. SDP won 53 of the 200 seats in Parliament in the March 16, 2003 elections, which ended in a very close run with the Centre Party. As a result, SDP's chairman
Paavo LipponenPaavo Tapio Lipponen is a Finnish politician and former reporter. He was Prime Minister of Finland from 1995 to 2003 , and Chairman of the Finnish Social Democratic Party from 1993 to 2005...
became the
SpeakerThe term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the powers to discipline members who break the...
of Parliament, and the Centre chairwoman
Anneli JäätteenmäkiAnneli Tuulikki Jäätteenmäki, Master of Laws was the first female Prime Minister of Finland, in office from April 17, 2003 to June 24, 2003....
became
Prime MinisterA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician. In many systems, the prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet, and...
for a coalition Cabinet that also included the minor
Swedish People's PartyThe Swedish Peoples' Party is a Swedish-speaking minority and mainly liberal party in Finland. The party is a member of Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party.-History and electorate:...
beside the two major partners. SDP had eight portfolios in the Cabinet. After two months Jäätteenmäki resigned due to a scandal and was replaced by
Matti VanhanenMatti Taneli Vanhanen is the current Prime Minister of Finland, as well as Chairman of the Keskusta . In the second half of 2006 he was President of the European Council...
.
Latest elections
In the
2007 electionsThe 2007 Finnish parliamentary election was held on March 18 2007. Early voting was possible from the 7–13 March. Two hundred MPs were elected from 15 constituencies....
, the party lost eight seats and finished with the third place. The chairman of the largest party, Matti Vanhanen, was named Prime minister, but he selected the second-most popular National Coalition party, the Greens and the Swedish People's Party to the cabinet, leaving the Social Democrats into the opposition.
Eero HeinäluomaEero Olavi Heinäluoma is the former Chairman of the Finnish Social Democratic Party. In June 2008, he was replaced by Jutta Urpilainen....
did not immediately resign as a party chairman. However, he announced his withdrawal from the next vote for party chairman on the next party conference, where he was replaced by
Jutta UrpilainenJutta Pauliina Urpilainen is the current Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland . She was elected in June 2008 as the first female chairman of the SDP....
.
Most SDP members are over 60 years old. Some 60% of members are men.
Prominent Social Democrats
- Oskari Tokoi
Antti Oskari Tokoi was a leader of the Social Democratic Party of Finland who served in the short-lived revolutionary government of 1918.-Background:...
- Yrjö Sirola
Yrjö Elias Sirola was a Finnish socialist politician, teacher, and newspaper editor...
- Founder of the Communist Party of FinlandThe Communist Party of Finland was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944.- Early stages :...
.
- Väinö Tanner
Väinö Tanner was a pioneer and leader in the cooperative movement in Finland, and Prime Minister of Finland from 1926 to 1927 ....
: Prime Minister, Foreign Minister during the Winter WarThe Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939, three months after the German invasion of Poland and the start of World War II, and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
- Karl-August Fagerholm
Karl-August Fagerholm was Speaker of Parliament and three times Prime Minister of Finland . Fagerholm became chairman of the Social Democrats after the armistice in the Continuation War...
: Prime Minister, Speaker of Parliament
- Rafael Paasio
Kustaa Rafael Paasio was a prominent Finnish politician and editor from Social Democratic Party. He served as Prime Minister of Finland twice ....
: Prime Minister
- Kalevi Sorsa
Taisto Kalevi Sorsa was a Finnish politician who was Prime Minister of Finland four times: 1972-1975, 1977-1979, 1982-1983 and 1983-1987 and at the date of his death still held the Finnish record of most days of incumbency as prime minister...
: Prime Minister
- Mauno Koivisto
Mauno Henrik Koivisto [IPA: mɑuno henrik koiʋisto] was the President of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served as Prime Minister 1968–1970 and 1979–1982...
: President 1982–1994
- Martti Ahtisaari
Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari is a former President of Finland , 2008 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and United Nations diplomat and mediator, noted for his international peace work....
: President 1994–2000
- Erkki Tuomioja
Erkki Sakari Tuomioja was the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland between 2000 and 2007. He is currently a member of the Finnish Parliament...
: Foreign Minister 2000–2007
- Paavo Lipponen
Paavo Tapio Lipponen is a Finnish politician and former reporter. He was Prime Minister of Finland from 1995 to 2003 , and Chairman of the Finnish Social Democratic Party from 1993 to 2005...
: Prime Minister 1995–2003 and Speaker of Parliament
- Tarja Halonen
Tarja Kaarina Halonen is the 11th and current President of Finland. The first female to hold the office, Halonen had previously been a member of the parliament from 1979 to 2000 when she resigned after her election to the presidency...
: President 2000–
List of party Chairmen
- Nils Robert af Ursin - 1899-1900
- J. A. Salminen - 1900
- K. F. Hellstén - 1900-1903
- Taavi Tainio - 1903-1905
- Emil Perttilä - 1905-1906
- Edvard Valpas - 1906-1909
- Matti Paasivuori
Matti Paasivuori was a Finnish politician from Social Democratic Party. Paasivuori was the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party on three occasions: 1909–1911, 1913–1917 and 1926–1930....
- 1909-1911
- Otto Wille Kuusinen - 1911-1913
- Matti Paasivuori
Matti Paasivuori was a Finnish politician from Social Democratic Party. Paasivuori was the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party on three occasions: 1909–1911, 1913–1917 and 1926–1930....
- 1913-1917
- Kullervo Manner
Kullervo Manner was a Finnish Communist leader. Manner was a member of Social Democratic Party and a member of the parliament 1910-1917, and the speaker of the parliament prior the declaration of independence...
- 1917-1918
- Väinö Tanner
Väinö Tanner was a pioneer and leader in the cooperative movement in Finland, and Prime Minister of Finland from 1926 to 1927 ....
- 1918-1926
- Matti Paasivuori
Matti Paasivuori was a Finnish politician from Social Democratic Party. Paasivuori was the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party on three occasions: 1909–1911, 1913–1917 and 1926–1930....
- 1926-1930
- Kaarlo Harvala - 1930-1942
- Väinö Salovaara - 1942-1944
- Onni Hiltunen
Onni Alfred Hiltunen was a Finnish politician, minister in several cabinets and chairman of the Social Democratic Party ....
- 1944-1946
- Emil Skog - 1946-1957
- Väinö Tanner
Väinö Tanner was a pioneer and leader in the cooperative movement in Finland, and Prime Minister of Finland from 1926 to 1927 ....
- 1957-1963
- Rafael Paasio
Kustaa Rafael Paasio was a prominent Finnish politician and editor from Social Democratic Party. He served as Prime Minister of Finland twice ....
- 1963-1975
- Kalevi Sorsa
Taisto Kalevi Sorsa was a Finnish politician who was Prime Minister of Finland four times: 1972-1975, 1977-1979, 1982-1983 and 1983-1987 and at the date of his death still held the Finnish record of most days of incumbency as prime minister...
- 1975-1987
- Pertti Paasio
Pertti Kullervo Paasio is a Finnish politician from the Social Democratic Party.Paasio participated in the municipal politics of Turku and was elected into the municipal council in 1965. Paasio became member of the Parliament in July 1975, however, he lost the seat in the 1979 parliamentary...
- 1987-1991
- Ulf Sundqvist
Ulf Sundqvist on) is a former chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, a minister in four cabinets in 1970s and a banker in 1980s....
- 1991-1993
- Paavo Lipponen
Paavo Tapio Lipponen is a Finnish politician and former reporter. He was Prime Minister of Finland from 1995 to 2003 , and Chairman of the Finnish Social Democratic Party from 1993 to 2005...
- 1993-2005
- Eero Heinäluoma
Eero Olavi Heinäluoma is the former Chairman of the Finnish Social Democratic Party. In June 2008, he was replaced by Jutta Urpilainen....
- 2005-2008
- Jutta Urpilainen
Jutta Pauliina Urpilainen is the current Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland . She was elected in June 2008 as the first female chairman of the SDP....
- 2008-
External links