Hertta Kuusinen — The “Red Lady of Finland”

Abstract

Hertta Kuusinen (1904–1974), widely dubbed the “Red Lady of Finland,” was the most prominent female Finnish Communist in the post–Second World War era. Along with her father Otto Wille Kuusinen, she was one of the few Finnish Communists to win recognition on the international stage. Yet while her father was more readily associated with the Soviet Union than with the country of his birth, Hertta's reputation was founded on her work as a Finnish communist. Indeed, for much of the postwar period Kuusinen personified the Finnish Party. One of the leading communists in parliament from 1945 until she resigned her seat in 1971, she was also a member of the Party's central leadership throughout this period. She was also active on the international stage and ended her career working for the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF). This preeminence did not come without cost, both personal and political. Kuusinen's influence reflected both her own personality and skills and the peculiar position of the Finnish Party within the international communist movement. Her political role is inseparable from her life story.