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Wisdom of the Oppressed: Finnish Colonial Complicities in the Age of the Russian Empire

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Finnish Colonial Encounters

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Abstract

This chapter analyzes the diversity of attitudes toward Russian imperial politics that developed in the Grand Duchy of Finland (1809–1917), particularly in its later years. Though the Grand Duchy was an integral part of the Russian Empire, it also enjoyed a remarkable degree of autonomy owing to its self-governing status. Its form of self-government granted it the freedom to build political structures that developed to resemble those of a fully sovereign nation-state. When toward the end of the nineteenth century the Russian state-building process intensified, the Finns found themselves in a position familiar to many other colonized minorities within the Empire. As the demands for the unification of the Empire grew in Russia, so did the expressions that either demanded or resisted homogenization of the society in Finland. The experience of the attempted Russification of Finland offered a real possibility to develop equality-driven political insight and understanding, which emerged out of the experiences of political oppression. But this wisdom of the oppressed was largely lost when Finland’s own nation-building process got fully underway.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Imperial and postcolonial studies are no longer confined to dealing with the history of the overseas expansion of Europe alone, but include the process of colonialism seen as an intrinsic part of Western, or even human history as a whole. If one scratches the surface of the extensive and prodigiously cumulating literature of imperial and postcolonial studies, it soon becomes evident that even the countries without formal colonies or possessions, let alone empires, were intertwined with the complex processes of colonialism—be it in the form of mobile individuals, global trade, or simply in terms of the flow of goods, information, and ideas. For a recent discussion, refer, for example, to Cooper (2020).

  2. 2.

    Used either to proclaim or to denounce imperial rule, the concept of imperialism is known to communicate notoriously poorly both temporally and spatially. On English language definitions of “imperialism”, refer to Koebner and Schmidt (1964); on German language definitions of “Imperialismus”, refer to Walther (1982).

  3. 3.

    Ashcroft et al. (1998); Hobsbawm (1994).

  4. 4.

    Hobsbawm (1994, 60).

  5. 5.

    Wimmer and Min (2006, 870).

  6. 6.

    Robertson (1992).

  7. 7.

    Hobsbawm (1994).

  8. 8.

    Hobsbawm (1994, 78, 276–301).

  9. 9.

    Research materials for this chapter were originally collected in a project that was centered on the Great Strike of 1905 (funded by Kone Foundation). The research results were originally published in Rantanen and Ruuska (2009), and updated and enlarged for this volume (with the support of the Academy of Finland Grant 343605). All translations are by the authors.

  10. 10.

    Harrison (2005).

  11. 11.

    Jussila (2004); Klinge (1997).

  12. 12.

    Munck (1905, 327–328).

  13. 13.

    Kappeler (2001, 247).

  14. 14.

    Jussila (1979, 27–28).

  15. 15.

    For further information, see Klinge (1997).

  16. 16.

    Kappeler (2001).

  17. 17.

    Khodarkovsky (2020).

  18. 18.

    Danielson (1891, 16).

  19. 19.

    Kappeler (2001, 260–261); Jussila (2004, 530–533).

  20. 20.

    Anttila et al. (2009, 9).

  21. 21.

    Haapala et al. (2008).

  22. 22.

    For further information, see Luntinen (1985).

  23. 23.

    For further information, refer to Huxley (1990).

  24. 24.

    Lenin (1929, 64).

  25. 25.

    For further information, refer to Leino-Kaukiainen (1988, 421–629); Polvinen (1995); Huxley (1990).

  26. 26.

    See Pollari et al. (2008, 51); Huxley (1990, 193–201).

  27. 27.

    “Bobrikoff som författare,” Emilia, 19 May 1904, 3–4.

  28. 28.

    Den nya krigsmannaeden (1903).

  29. 29.

    “Åtalet mot V.N.”, Salomon, 19 May 1904, 1.

  30. 30.

    Toivo (1903).

  31. 31.

    Huxley (1990, 129–132).

  32. 32.

    Koebner and Schmidt (1964).

  33. 33.

    Fria Ord, 14 January 1903, 1.

  34. 34.

    Fria Ord, 18 February 1903, 1; 20 May 1903, 5.

  35. 35.

    Fria Ord, 25 January 1903.

  36. 36.

    Refer also to Bhabha (1994).

  37. 37.

    Reuter (1928). See also Zilliacus (1920).

  38. 38.

    Westermarck (1899, 652–659); Reuter (1899, 699–715).

  39. 39.

    Rantanen (2014).

  40. 40.

    Särkkä 2022.

  41. 41.

    Kotenko (2021, 17–31).

  42. 42.

    Fria Ord, 9 February 1903; 18 February 1903, 10; 20 May 1903; Moab i sin örtagård! 1901.

  43. 43.

    Toivo (1903).

  44. 44.

    Protokoll fördt at Finska Aktiva Motståndspartiets ordinarie årsmöte av 18 nov. 1906, VP, KA.

  45. 45.

    Castrén (1905).

  46. 46.

    Kappeler (2001); Hechter (1975, 10).

  47. 47.

    Quoted in Kappeler (2001, 208).

  48. 48.

    Quoted in Polvinen (1984, 167–168).

  49. 49.

    Kemiläinen (1998).

  50. 50.

    Anttila et al. (2009); Pollari et al. (2008).

  51. 51.

    Sarvi (1906, 34–35).

  52. 52.

    Sundberg (1985, 38–39).

  53. 53.

    For a classical definition of the concept “internal colonialism”, refer to Hechter (1975). For a recent discussion, refer to Kumar (2020).

  54. 54.

    Alkio (1919, 23–24).

  55. 55.

    Plundering af den finska statskassan. Emilia, 19 May 1904, 1–2.

  56. 56.

    Engman (2009, 142–149); Haapala (1995).

  57. 57.

    Peltonen (1895); Rasila (1961, 177).

  58. 58.

    Rasila (1961, 191); M.A.B., “Tauti on parannettava, ei salattava. Vaaraa katsottava suoraan silmiin I-II,” Työmies, 82, 11 April 1899; 83, 12 April 1899.

  59. 59.

    R. N., “Suometarianismens frukter,” Fria Ord, 26 February 1903, 1.

  60. 60.

    Komitealta Lapinmaan taloudellisten olojen tutkimista varten 1905; Isaksson (2001, 202–203).

  61. 61.

    See, for example, Curzon (1906, 107).

  62. 62.

    Huxley (1990, 24–29).

  63. 63.

    Engman (2008, 136–138).

  64. 64.

    Blomstedt (1911, 927–928).

  65. 65.

    See Ashcroft et al. (1998).

  66. 66.

    Saarenheimo (1980, 29).

  67. 67.

    Finland, 7, January 1900, 5.

  68. 68.

    H. R. “Suomen tuleva sotalaitos,” Sosialistinen aikakauslehti, 15–16, 1 September 1906, 365–372.

  69. 69.

    See, for example, Porter (2008).

  70. 70.

    See, for example, Drechsler (1980); Scheulen (1998).

  71. 71.

    Lisänen kristillisen kulttuurityön historiaan. Nuori Suomi, 8, 23 February 1906, 64.

  72. 72.

    Alapuro (1988, 2).

  73. 73.

    Wesselink (1991, 71–96).

  74. 74.

    Young (2001, 27, 57–58, 73–84, 98–99, 383–389). See also Khodarkovsky (2020, 287).

  75. 75.

    For further information, refer to Said (1995).

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  1. Tampere, Finland

    Pekka Rantanen & Petri Ruuska

  2. Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Timo Särkkä

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  1. Department of European and World History, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Raita Merivirta

  2. Department of European and World History, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Leila Koivunen

  3. Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Timo Särkkä

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Rantanen, P., Ruuska, P., Särkkä, T. (2021). Wisdom of the Oppressed: Finnish Colonial Complicities in the Age of the Russian Empire. In: Merivirta, R., Koivunen, L., Särkkä, T. (eds) Finnish Colonial Encounters. Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80610-1_2

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